3 month plateau

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  • kgb6days
    kgb6days Posts: 880 Member
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    Have you tried intermittent fasting? I was at the same point, could not move the scale no matter what. Switched to IM, the weight started moving. I eat the same amount of weekly calories, just divided up differently
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    You know most times the zebra is just a horse
  • BoxerBrawler
    BoxerBrawler Posts: 2,032 Member
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    A lot of good thoughts and advice here. After I lost all of my weight I experienced the same thing. I continually bounced within 5 pounds of my goal weight - always up, never down :smile: For a while I accepted the fact that perhaps my body was at its healthy weight and had no more to give, but I am stubborn so I did some research and asked some questions and rather than changing my calorie goal, which is and was already rock bottom, I changed my work out routines. That worked for me. Now every 30 days I re-set my goal and change a few things about my routine. Sometimes I change entire workouts and other times I just change the time of day, length, etc. For me, it keeps my body guessing. I run as well but each run is different. Sometimes it's just a long jog, other times I do interval sprints and other times I just go all out for around 5 minutes. I pretty much do every exercise you could think of at various times during the week, even spinning although I am NOT a spin girl LOL! I avoid grains, only have them once maybe twice a week and like you I don't drink alcohol and I drink a ton of water. Stress is funny... for some people it causes them to gain weight but I think it's due to stress-eating as some people eat more when they're stressed. Personally when am stressed I have no appetite and eat less. In my experience everytime a change is made to exercise or diet, it works, but only for a think no matter what you try it will work for a little while and then your body will adapt.
  • DDAstrid
    DDAstrid Posts: 50 Member
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    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    @DDAstrid absolutely if you are stressed it translates as a gain on the scale, not sure about the science behind it but I've experienced it last year when it was coming up to my sons wedding, I was doing everything right yet the scale just kept going up...the day of the wedding it just all whooshed back down! I really do believe stress means we hold onto more water weight!

    Edited to add: with stress I don't have any appetite, so its not that I was eating more than usual either :/

    That's really interesting - sometimes I wonder if my body retains my weight because under the conditions I work under most people would get ill. (I am conditioned and trained for such environment).
  • DDAstrid
    DDAstrid Posts: 50 Member
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    kgb6days wrote: »
    Have you tried intermittent fasting? I was at the same point, could not move the scale no matter what. Switched to IM, the weight started moving. I eat the same amount of weekly calories, just divided up differently

    That a good idea - is that like that diet where you eat 600 calories two days a week?
  • DDAstrid
    DDAstrid Posts: 50 Member
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    cushman5279 wrote: »
    A lot of good thoughts and advice here. After I lost all of my weight I experienced the same thing. I continually bounced within 5 pounds of my goal weight - always up, never down :smile: For a while I accepted the fact that perhaps my body was at its healthy weight and had no more to give, but I am stubborn so I did some research and asked some questions and rather than changing my calorie goal, which is and was already rock bottom, I changed my work out routines. That worked for me. Now every 30 days I re-set my goal and change a few things about my routine. Sometimes I change entire workouts and other times I just change the time of day, length, etc. For me, it keeps my body guessing. I run as well but each run is different. Sometimes it's just a long jog, other times I do interval sprints and other times I just go all out for around 5 minutes. I pretty much do every exercise you could think of at various times during the week, even spinning although I am NOT a spin girl LOL! I avoid grains, only have them once maybe twice a week and like you I don't drink alcohol and I drink a ton of water. Stress is funny... for some people it causes them to gain weight but I think it's due to stress-eating as some people eat more when they're stressed. Personally when am stressed I have no appetite and eat less. In my experience everytime a change is made to exercise or diet, it works, but only for a think no matter what you try it will work for a little while and then your body will adapt.

    Thank you for taking the time to respond. There have been consistent messages shared with me today. Shake up my routine, keep my body guessing, stop my body from adapting. I really appreciate your advice. Astrid.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    DDAstrid wrote: »
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    Sounds like you're eating at maintenance level.

    Good morning, I hope not! I stick to 1200. Interestingly I put weight on, the moment I eat any more than that.
    That's kinda the definition of maintenance.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,940 Member
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    If your logging really is accurate (by weight of grams, using verified BY YOU database entries) you should probably really really look into reverse dieting and doing some resistance/weight training.

    1200 Cal should NOT be a maintenance level for ANYONE.

    By the same token you ARE at a healthy weight already. So why are you trying to achieve weight loss as opposed to being worried about your performance level at your sports/athletic endeavours? Your picture does not look like that of a person needing to lose weight...

    At 1200 cal and with lots of cardio training and reduced growth hormones due to the caloric restriction... you cannot be doing good things to your muscles.

    It IS possible you are over-training too. When was you last rest day?

    You mention you eat 1200 Cal. Do you EAT 1200? Or net 1200 after your training?

    Stress and lack of sleep... not particularly good either...
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited August 2015
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    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    DDAstrid wrote: »
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    Sounds like you're eating at maintenance level.

    Good morning, I hope not! I stick to 1200. Interestingly I put weight on, the moment I eat any more than that.
    That's kinda the definition of maintenance.

    Actually depends how long she's giving it, particularly as she has been playing with her carbs...eat more and there will be a weight increase, panic and reduce calories immediately and you're caught in a loop of believing that 1200 is your ridiculous maintenance level

    And that's supposing that the errors that always slip into logging have been addressed

    ...reverse dieting means you just hold tight for 2-3 weeks until it stabilises and swings down again then repeat until it doesn't ...then stay at maintenance for a couple of months, then try increasing again

    Instead we are playing on the outskirts of stress, body used to workouts, keep you body guessing ridiculousness etc ..zebras not horses ...rule out the obvious before going for the outliers

    But then a change in exercise will amend the cico equation too I suppose

    Shrugs

  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    edited August 2015
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    Well, I got the impression from the title and first posts that she's given it three months. To me, three months of not losing or gaining weight while eating at a particular calorie level and gaining when eating above that calorie level sounds a lot like eating at maintenance.

    Now, it may certainly be the case that she isn't really eating 1200 calories a day, but that's sort of irrelevant. Whatever it is that she's eating sounds like maintenance. As long as she's consistent, that could really be, say, 1500 but, again, it really doesn't matter as long as she's consistently treating 1500 as 1200.

    The bottom line, it seems to me, is that what she's actually eating -- not necessarily what she's logging, but what she's eating -- sounds very much indeed like her maintenance level.

    Now, if she's inconsistent or jumping around a lot in intake levels, then who knows.
  • DDAstrid
    DDAstrid Posts: 50 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    DDAstrid wrote: »
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    Sounds like you're eating at maintenance level.

    Good morning, I hope not! I stick to 1200. Interestingly I put weight on, the moment I eat any more than that.
    That's kinda the definition of maintenance.

    Actually depends how long she's giving it, particularly as she has been playing with her carbs...eat more and there will be a weight increase, panic and reduce calories immediately and you're caught in a loop of believing that 1200 is your ridiculous maintenance level

    And that's supposing that the errors that always slip into logging have been addressed

    ...reverse dieting means you just hold tight for 2-3 weeks until it stabilises and swings down again then repeat until it doesn't ...then stay at maintenance for a couple of months, then try increasing again

    Instead we are playing on the outskirts of stress, body used to workouts, keep you body guessing ridiculousness etc ..zebras not horses ...rule out the obvious before going for the outliers

    But then a change in exercise will amend the cico equation too I suppose

    Shrugs

    Hello, gosh no 1200 would be too low for maintenance.

    It just feels like my body has gotten used to that small an intake and has adapted.

    I also log all exercise and try to ensure I eat proteins to cover the calorie burn other wise the delta would be ridiculous and unhealthy.

    Thanks.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
    edited August 2015
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    Lots of good advice here. I wanted to add that maybe you are eating back too many of your exercise calories?
  • DDAstrid
    DDAstrid Posts: 50 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Lots of good advice here. I wanted to add that maybe you are eating back too many of your exercise calories?
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Lots of good advice here. I wanted to add that maybe you are eating back too many of your exercise calories?

    Thanks - what's the rule of thumb for that?
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    If you're not losing, you're probably eating back too many.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    DDAstrid wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Lots of good advice here. I wanted to add that maybe you are eating back too many of your exercise calories?
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Lots of good advice here. I wanted to add that maybe you are eating back too many of your exercise calories?

    Thanks - what's the rule of thumb for that?

    ...to eat back 50 - 75% of the exercise calories as they are inclined to be over estimated. :smile:
  • DDAstrid
    DDAstrid Posts: 50 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    I would think time for a diet break and reverse dieting up to a decent level of calories ..ignoring scale fluctuations

    Then cut again

    If you are beginning to maintain on 1200 calories that's a huge warning sign to me of either inaccurate logging or, actually I don't have an or...anybody would lose at 1200 even allowing for adaptive thermogenesis

    Thanks for your advice *googling reverse dieting* now.

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