Need a little advice....

rubberducky88

So far this thing has been relatively easy.... Sticking to 1300/1400 calories a day, eating within my macros. Losing steadily 1-2lbs a week etc.

Now I've hit the lower end of the 140s, it's like hell.
I get down to 142 and I can't seem to get past it!
I'm 5'4", female and 26 years old. I still have weight to lose.

Does anyone have any ideas? Do I need to drop my calories? Up my calories?
I do HIIT 5-6 days a week, I also drink 2-3L water a day so that's not the issue.

I'm just getting disheartened, as I feel like I'm following all the 'rules'

TIA xx

missiontofitness

Do you weigh your food on a food scale and use USDA entries?

dtsbrown

Sounds like your doing great. It is normal to have these plateaus. I suggest measuring yourself as the scale can be deceiving at times. Inches lost may be more accurate. Maybe a few days of increasing your calories so when you go back down it confuses your body so it does not get stuck on the lower calories as the norm. Also change up your exercise routine muscle confusion is good.

malibu927

dtsbrown wrote: »

Sounds like your doing great. It is normal to have these plateaus. I suggest measuring yourself as the scale can be deceiving at times. Inches lost may be more accurate. Maybe a few days of increasing your calories so when you go back down it confuses your body so it does not get stuck on the lower calories as the norm. Also change up your exercise routine muscle confusion is good.

Your body doesn't get confused

How log has it been since you lost weight? Are you logging 100% of what you eat? How do you determine how much you're eating (food scale, measuring cups, eyeballing portions)? How do you determine how much you burn exercising? Do you eat those calories back, and if so how much? Can you open up your diary for extra advice?

ashleighmxxx

Have you tried maybe some interval training or circit training to shock your body? I stuck to the same boring routine at the gym and got so fed up stepping on the scales thinking ive worked so hard why haven't i lost weight my boyf suggested trying different kinds of training to 'shock' the body, if you keep doing the same thing each day your body will get used to it if you shock your body with different things weight loss is much more effective! (Hope this helps) x

TimothyFish

Keep it up and you'll get there.

Sued0nim

how long have you stalled for?

Quasita

Generally speaking, 3 months is a good rule to go by before becoming concerned by a steady plateau. A lot of people who see consistent losses will get discouraged the first time they have 2 weeks in a row where they weigh in at the same number but 2 weeks is nothing to be concerned about. It's natural and normal to have periods of time where you do not lose. If you wait on that 3 month rule, most of the time, you'll start losing before you hit that 3 month point and you'll forget about the worry

Some people do find some benefits in doing interval eating, with high/low days, but it basically just comes down to what routines work best for you. Everything ultimately pans out to the same result, so they find in most studies... Whether you go Paleo, low carb, fast/spike, the results after 6 months are typically the same. Personally, I would look at your workouts and your food, and consider changing things up simply because the things that worked best for us at the start are often not the best once we've seen some successes.

999tigger

3 months?
HIIT 5-6 days a week? Why? What does it consist of? How long?

lukos05

Congratulations on the road so far! My 2 cents is that I like to change workout regimens every 30 days so that I minimize plateaus. I also have found that increasing my weight-lifting rather than cardio (even intervals) gives my metabolism a boost as I gain muscle to burn more calories. I agree with Quasita: the 3 month rule is definitely true regarding plateauing, so try a new workout series and see if that helps. Right now I am loving Chalean Extreme which has a different routine every month for 3 months with 5 different workouts a week that focus on weight-training 3 days a week and cardio/intervals twice a week. While my weight-loss has slowed, this series has really toned me up with lean muscle - no bulk, I promise! Like dtsbrown suggested, I would start focusing on measurements rather than the scale and make your goals more of a dress-size, caliper-determined fat percentage issue rather than weight alone. You have accomplished so much of which you should be proud; just remember that the scale is not the real determining factor of health, despite what damn BMI calculators and bathroom numbers say.

terbusha

You're doing awesome! If you've hit a sticking point, then you'll need to change something up to get the ball rolling again. If you're eating ~1300 cal/day, I wouldn't try to eat less. What are your macros? Doing a diet that is higher in protein can help with reduction of body fat. Also, are you doing strength training? I would incorporate that if you are not already.

If you're looking for a change of pace for HIIT, you should try doing some sprint intervals. Go for 10-15 seconds as hard as you can. Take 2-3 minutes to recover and hit it again. If you do that for 4-6 sets, you'll be wiped out. It's a great workout, and simple to do.