When did you hit your first plateau?
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Adipose refers to fat tissue0
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I got the Doctor Who reference...
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I lost 44 pounds at a consistent rate. Now I've been on a year and seven month plateau (on purpose).
I say this because plateau is just another word for eating too much (eating at maintenance).
Do you weigh your food?
Do you log everything you eat?
Do you do you own research to ensure you are using accurate entries?
Do you log your exercise? If so, where do you get those calories burns from?
Unfortunately, for some of us, even though we're not eating at maintenance, we still plateau. In my case, I'm actually eating between my 1200-1400 range, when my BMR is 1525, and I work out 6 days per week (moderate to intense, TurboFire with weights etc) with no cheat meals. However, I've had a string of metabolism issues in the past and had a few days where I, for whatever reason, just not hungry went under 1200 calories. Sometimes your body just holds on to what it can for a little bit until you increase intensity and change around some calories.0 -
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i didnt
lost 101 pounds over 9 months till now0 -
I'm -66, four pounds from goal, no plateau.
However, I stalled for a couple of weeks when I started running (this is common when a person begins a new exercise program, although it didn't happen with lifting or any videos I've done). The weight wooshed off eventually.
I recently stalled for a couple of weeks when I developed a nightly ice cream habit. If you stay on top of your diet, you won't plateau.0 -
tbbhealthanista wrote: »I lost 44 pounds at a consistent rate. Now I've been on a year and seven month plateau (on purpose).
I say this because plateau is just another word for eating too much (eating at maintenance).
Do you weigh your food?
Do you log everything you eat?
Do you do you own research to ensure you are using accurate entries?
Do you log your exercise? If so, where do you get those calories burns from?
Unfortunately, for some of us, even though we're not eating at maintenance, we still plateau. In my case, I'm actually eating between my 1200-1400 range, when my BMR is 1525, and I work out 6 days per week (moderate to intense, TurboFire with weights etc) with no cheat meals. However, I've had a string of metabolism issues in the past and had a few days where I, for whatever reason, just not hungry went under 1200 calories. Sometimes your body just holds on to what it can for a little bit until you increase intensity and change around some calories.
Science demonstrates eating at a calorie surplus causes weight gain, eating at a calorie deficit causes weight loss, and eating the same amount your burn causes maintenance, also commonly called a plateau. Unfortunately, none of us get to defy science.
If you are maintaining then you either have an underlying medical issue messing with your metabolism (pretty rare) or you are eating more calories than you realize through the unintentional underestimating of calories in and/or the unintentional overestimating calories burned (exceedingly common).
If you are plateauing/maintaining, I suggest you weigh food, log everything you eat, and ensure that you are using correct entries. If you eat your exercise calories back, then eat only about 75%. Accuracy really helps in this scientific game of weight management, and doing the things I mention is really the only way to know how much you are really eating.
Finally, as to the bold part: your body does not randomly hold onto anything. Weight management is all about the balance of calories in/calories out. Also, I don't understand what you mean about "change around calories". A calorie is a calorie not matter where it comes from, but certain foods provide different nutrients. So, calories and nutrition are not one in the same.
I am a big believer in exercise, so if you increase the intensity of your exercise you are increasing your calorie deficit, or creating a deficit where there was none.
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First, it is important to note that during plateaus, weight fluctuates. It just goes up and down centered around the same weight for weeks or months.
My first plateau was about 9 months in... I was getting impatient and cut calories to a very low level to get a bigger deficit (no changes in logging method, weighed food before, during, and after... only change was quantity of food). That resulted in a quick gain over the following 3 weeks. After a few weeks without loss, I increased calories to a smaller deficit and had a "whoosh" of everything I had gained. Probably water retention.
Less than a month later, I started a real plateau (not a gain this time), which lasted nearly 6 months. Close to 2 months into this plateau, I tried a version of IF for 6 weeks. During IF, I had rather large weight fluctuations (there was a point when I gained 9 lbs. in a few hours before losing most of it by the next day). The way the IF diet was structured gave me a large calorie surplus every other day and a huge deficit on alternating days. In total, it ended up being a large surplus, though. Despite the fluctuations up and down, I really didn't gain or lose... I just stayed within a larger range centered around the same weight. After 6 weeks of IF, I returned to a small daily deficit. Two months later, I had a big whoosh and entered into a new "range." I have no idea what triggered the whoosh.
After that plateau/whoosh, I began another plateau immediately and was stuck in the same weight range for nearly 4 months. I began eating nothing caloric except protein powder and glucose tablets (for low blood sugars). On day 2 of that, I was in a low level of ketosis (blood ketones of 0.6 mmol/L), but soon dropped out of ketosis (0.3 mmol/L by day 3). This also kept me at a very low calorie level (about 1,000 calorie deficit per day). By day 6, I had lost almost 6 lbs... much more than I should have even for that low of a calorie level. I figure the odd diet triggered a whoosh. But I started gaining at that point and quit that as a result. I returned to a small daily deficit again.
Some people see my experience and call me a liar, which annoys me a lot. I frankly don't care if you believe me or not... I'm just sharing my experience for the benefit of others who are in a plateau and are frustrated. Just know that, despite what some users will tell you, plateaus are real.0 -
A plateau is when you're doing it wrong
A stall on the other hand (eg fewer than 6 weeks, generally 2-3) is a very standard part of my weight loss, weight loss is not linear
That's why patience and apps / sites that track trend lines and extrapolate the path of weight loss are so useful. When you look back with months of data it all looks quite even, it's only when you're in it that you think you're stalling. I just wish I'd done trendweight right from the start and had a full 14-15 months and 56lbs of data to look back on
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During my last run of weight loss, I dropped nearly 70 lbs without a solid plateau (there were weeks here and there). Then I went three months of less than 1lb a month lost. What had happened was that I had left one job and become much more sedentary, but I never thought to adjust my calories (I had a lot on my mind at the time).0
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I'm 7 months in and no plateau. I've had a week or two with no loss, but thats normal. not a plateau.0
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I've never hit one. I definitely took a break of sorts, but I just lost the right mindset.
Plateaus don't have to be part of your weight loss like a lot of people seem to think. As you lose, keep adjusting your calories (and weighing your food!) and you'll never plateau.0 -
I hit mine right on the high end of a healthy weight for my height. And then every 5 pounds after haha. Every time, I had to do something to tighten up my logging/tracking. No longer could I eyeball foods at the salad bar for lunch-lunch had to be weighed and packed. I had to drop my calorie goal Monday-Friday to give me a little wiggle room on Saturday.0
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You can actually tell when I hit that ice cream hard:
I think that as long as you log what you eat, you're not going to have any mystery plateaus. Health issues and exercise water weight stalls aside, of course. Weigh your food, adjust your calories when you've lost a fair amount, know where your maintenance is and don't go over that too often (although I definitely go to parties and enjoy holidays).
The majority of people who come on here crying "plateau!!" should just take a diet break and come back with a fresh mind for accuracy.0 -
I was paragliding in Arizona, didn't watch where I was going, and hit a plateau. Broke my arm too.0
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I remember my 1st plateau...I started at 250lbs and I got to 210lbs. 40lbs in - and I sat there for 8 long months. I tried decreasing my calories because "you are eating too much!" was the go to the response of the sheeple of MFP. This did not work. I tried taking a diet break - nothing. I tried fasting, drinking more water, changing my exercise, exercised less, lifted more, lifted less. Ate more protein, ate less carbs, ate more carbs, changed the macros...8 months was a long time to try different things! None of it was working. I even went to the DR. to check for medical issues - nothing. Perfect in everything.
I then purchased the bodymedia armband (a calorie tracking device) because I had come too damn far to just give up! I found out that I was under eating by about 500-800 calories, basically - my deficit was too large. I was burning way more than what I thought.
I increased my calorie intake (drastically) for a month and BAM - weight slides off. I have never really been in another plateau that bad since then. 8 months was a long time...and it was discouraging. I had decided to think of it as "practicing for maintenance mode." which really made it easier to keep pushing through.
I am a firm believer that "you are over eating/over estimating your exercise calories" is not always the answer. I will also recommend you purchase a calorie tracking device. Not just a HRM - but one that you can wear 24 hours to get a good idea of how much you are burning. Without one...I would have been going blind this whole time. Fitbit is also a good choice. I no longer use a tracking device...as after a year of wearing one, I have a pretty good idea of where my TDEE is at.
Good luck. It is 100% worth it to keep trying no matter what happens - because if you give up, only regrets follow.0 -
@dakotababy I think you just solved my most prominent issue with my fitness regimen. Thank you for the thorough post!0
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I forgot to mention for those who can not afford a calorie tracker, if you google "Scooby's Calorie Calculator" a website will pop up where you put your information in and it gives you an approximation of how many calories you should be eating. This website was very close to the numbers provided by my bodymedia armband.
At one point I actually gave my bodymedia to my boyfriend to use, then I was just relying on the numbers provided to me through this website and I was still losing weight just fine.
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dakotababy wrote: »I forgot to mention for those who can not afford a calorie tracker, if you google "Scooby's Calorie Calculator" a website will pop up where you put your information in and it gives you an approximation of how many calories you should be eating. This website was very close to the numbers provided by my bodymedia armband.
At one point I actually gave my bodymedia to my boyfriend to use, then I was just relying on the numbers provided to me through this website and I was still losing weight just fine.
I was just looking at the bodymedia and from the reviews it's being discontinued and replacement armbands are no longer sold. Sad. It looked like a good product.0
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