I've hit a plateau!!

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Jurra13
Jurra13 Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My goal weight is around 130. I weigh 150 right now. I've been stuck between 146-156 for the past year and a half.

I've been going to the gym and running alot more. And lifting weights. My arms are toning up but my belly/love handles are going nowhere. Any advice on core workouts?
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Replies

  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    count calories. You are eating more than you think or you have a medical issue and still eat more than you think.
  • Allelito
    Allelito Posts: 179 Member
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    How many calories are you consuming per day? If you're looking to lose weight, you need to fix what you eat, not do different workouts. (Even though adding workouts will help create a caloric deficit)
    Eat less if you're not losing!
  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
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    Allelito wrote: »
    Eat less if you're not losing!

    Or eat more.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Weight loss comes down to eating less than you burn. If you aren't tracking your calories, you can't be sure you're doing that.
  • Jurra13
    Jurra13 Posts: 13 Member
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    Over the past couple weeks I've definitely changed what I eat. I've cut out soda and started portioning. I can eat about the same amount of food as a football player. I usually eat 2-3 huge meals. But like I said over the past few weeks I've drastically cut down on portions and eat about 5-6 small meals through out the day. I've noticed with my change in no soda or sugary drinks I feel alot better.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    Jurra13 wrote: »
    Over the past couple weeks I've definitely changed what I eat. I've cut out soda and started portioning. I can eat about the same amount of food as a football player. I usually eat 2-3 huge meals. But like I said over the past few weeks I've drastically cut down on portions and eat about 5-6 small meals through out the day. I've noticed with my change in no soda or sugary drinks I feel alot better.

    This does not mean calorie deficit which is how you lose weight.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Jurra13 wrote: »
    Over the past couple weeks I've definitely changed what I eat. I've cut out soda and started portioning. I can eat about the same amount of food as a football player. I usually eat 2-3 huge meals. But like I said over the past few weeks I've drastically cut down on portions and eat about 5-6 small meals through out the day. I've noticed with my change in no soda or sugary drinks I feel alot better.

    But are you tracking and weighing what you eat?

    community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101#latest
  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
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    Jurra13 wrote: »
    Over the past couple weeks I've definitely changed what I eat. I've cut out soda and started portioning. I can eat about the same amount of food as a football player. I usually eat 2-3 huge meals. But like I said over the past few weeks I've drastically cut down on portions and eat about 5-6 small meals through out the day. I've noticed with my change in no soda or sugary drinks I feel alot better.

    It's difficult to help without being able to look at your food diary and also know your stats.

    It's also hard to know where you stand without seeing what you burn every day and the track the food you're eating. You might be eating too much or too little, but without knowing exactly what your intake is, it's tough to see.

    You need to track your food for a while and see where you stand.
  • girlviernes
    girlviernes Posts: 2,402 Member
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    We need some stats, age, gender, height, starting weight?
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,714 Member
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    Jurra13 wrote: »
    My goal weight is around 130. I weigh 150 right now. I've been stuck between 146-156 for the past year and a half.

    I've been going to the gym and running alot more. And lifting weights. My arms are toning up but my belly/love handles are going nowhere. Any advice on core workouts?
    If you've not been consistent with calorie intake that year and a half, it's NOT a plateau.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

  • Jurra13
    Jurra13 Posts: 13 Member
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    I don't weigh what I eat, no.
    And I just started tracking what I eat today.

  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Jurra13 wrote: »
    I don't weigh what I eat, no.
    And I just started tracking what I eat today.

    Ok that's a start. Not going to say "it takes time" but you need to find out what is working and what is holding you back, so I would track and eat 1500 calories a day for now (not 1200) and give it atleast a month. And when I mean track, yes ...I mean track it to the calorie. You need to be consistent to see if it's working.

    Food type doesn't matter, we need to see why you're not consistently losing. It could very well be that you may already be a good weight and you need to be even more precise and consistent to lose more weight.

    If after a month you have no results, then go up or down in cals.

    How tall are you? How active is your lifestyle?
  • maillemaker
    maillemaker Posts: 1,253 Member
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    You are basically on maintenance within a window of 10 pounds for the last 18 months.

    You need to eat fewer calories (or exercise more).

    Careful logging is the key.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Jurra13 wrote: »
    I don't weigh what I eat, no.
    And I just started tracking what I eat today.

    Well then the good news is that you are not in a plateau. Get a digital kitchen scale and weigh any food that you can and then log it all. If there is some reason why you cannot weigh it, use measuring cups/spoons. If there's a reason why you can't do that (e.g., eating out) learn how to judge portion sizes. If you google "portion size chart" you'll get a ton of charts that show you how to do that. Log everything. Eat the goal that MFP gives you. If you exercise, log those calories and eat at least half of them. If you are losing to quickly or slowly eat more or fewer of those exercise calories.
  • itscattopaz
    itscattopaz Posts: 10 Member
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    Hello! Are you carefully logging your calories? But more importantly--are you eating your exercise calories back? If you are sure that you are eating a low level calorie amount, then eat your exercise calories back and do a caloric titration--increase by 100 each day for 3 days, then titrate down to the original amount. This keeps your metabolism always guessing and helps with weight loss in my experience.
    Example:
    Day 1 1200
    Day 2 1300
    Day 3 1400
    Day 4 1300
    Day 2 1200
    And so on. And then just add your exercise calories to it. I've find that's helped.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    itscattopaz wrote: »
    Hello! Are you carefully logging your calories? But more importantly--are you eating your exercise calories back? If you are sure that you are eating a low level calorie amount, then eat your exercise calories back and do a caloric titration--increase by 100 each day for 3 days, then titrate down to the original amount. This keeps your metabolism always guessing and helps with weight loss in my experience.
    Example:
    Day 1 1200
    Day 2 1300
    Day 3 1400
    Day 4 1300
    Day 2 1200
    And so on. And then just add your exercise calories to it. I've find that's helped.

    She said she hasn't started logging until today, and your metabolism does not need to be "guessing"
  • Jurra13
    Jurra13 Posts: 13 Member
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    I'm 24 , 5'7" , 150 pounds, female.

    I guess that makes sense, I have not hit a plateau because I haven't been consistent.

  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    itscattopaz wrote: »
    Hello! Are you carefully logging your calories? But more importantly--are you eating your exercise calories back? If you are sure that you are eating a low level calorie amount, then eat your exercise calories back and do a caloric titration--increase by 100 each day for 3 days, then titrate down to the original amount. This keeps your metabolism always guessing and helps with weight loss in my experience.
    Example:
    Day 1 1200
    Day 2 1300
    Day 3 1400
    Day 4 1300
    Day 2 1200
    And so on. And then just add your exercise calories to it. I've find that's helped.

    I know it's your experience but that is not what happens.
  • girlviernes
    girlviernes Posts: 2,402 Member
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    Jurra13 wrote: »
    I'm 24 , 5'7" , 150 pounds, female.

    I guess that makes sense, I have not hit a plateau because I haven't been consistent.

    Also, your BMI is in the normal range, so I think this is just a comfortable weight for your body to maintain. Not so much a plateau as your weight! Losing will be tricky, you need to have a small deficit which means you need to be quite precise about your logging. Good luck!

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