Is it okay to go 'hardcore' whilst trying to kick out of a plateau

parfia

Okay - I normally lose at around 1700 with a decent amount of activity, however, the past 7 weeks or so, my loses have stopped and I've even gained a few pounds. I have joined a gym and started a new exercise regime so not sure if water is a contributor but hey ho - any hoo -

I'm looking at doing a bit of a 'kick start' week next week and taking my calories down to around 1300 and increasing my activity a bit - is this a wise idea to kick myself up the *kitten*. I'm not planning on staying at that level indefinitely but really just want to get myself going again!!

I don't want to be stupid about it, but do want to continue to see some losses again now as I've been killing it at the gym!

I've bought a food scale today as well and am going to start weighing so hopefully that will help!!

Any advice would be appreciated

mweckler

So when you add in exercise as you begin to lose fat you begin to gain muscle. So weight can be tricky in this time period. Are you noticing your clothing fitting differently? I don't think adjusting your calories is a good plan, as if you go too low and burn too many it actually causes your body to hold on to the fat.

lemurcat12

On the whole I don't think there's likely to be a meaningful negative reaction to doing something for a few days, especially if you are willing to listen to your body and eat more/back off the exercise if you need to. That said, the idea that you need to "kick start" by being drastic is magical thinking and not how it works, and if anything might increase stress and/or water retention or potentially play into a rebound or burn-out afterwards.

Most likely what's going on is that you are retaining some water from increased activity and just keeping with it will show the results in a short while anyway.

janejellyroll

If you aren't currently using a food scale, your 1,700 is just an estimate. Instead of beginning weighing AND lowering calorie goal, it may be more useful to begin using the food scale to ensure you are eating 1,700 and then making adjustments if you find that you still aren't losing weight.

I don't think you would harm yourself by eating 1,300 and exercising hard for a short period of time, but it doesn't sound like much fun at all. And if you put your deficit too low, you'll be targeting your muscle instead of your fat.

Sued0nim

mweckler wrote: »

So when you add in exercise as you begin to lose fat you begin to gain muscle. So weight can be tricky in this time period. Are you noticing your clothing fitting differently? I don't think adjusting your calories is a good plan, as if you go too low and burn too many it actually causes your body to hold on to the fat.

Not at a defecit ..it's water weight

OP if you keep going, and your logging is accurate it will drop whether or not you "kick start"

toe1226

I say start with just the food scale- if you drop your calories significantly AND start weighing food you won't learn what the real issue is- one variable at a time.

Try weighing food and see if your logging was off- if after two weeks no budge - maybe drop your calories to 1500- I know plateaus are frustrating but there is no rush! I find adding heavy weights and HIIT helps me too!

xcalygrl

I'm going to agree with the other posters: start weighing everything on the food scale before changing your calories. If after a couple of weeks of weighing your weight still hasn't budged, then reduce your calories a bit.

parfia

Thanks guys - My scale is due for delivery on Sunday so I'm going to start weighing everything then

cwolfman13

I wouldn't adjust my calories until I really looked at my logging for possible inaccuracies...food scale is a good start, but also look at your entries...are they generic? have you verified them against other sources? do you use the recipe builder or otherwise enter your own ingredients or are you using things like "homemade lasagna" from the database?

As you lose weight, your margin for error becomes smaller...most people can get away with inaccuracies early on, particularly if there is a lot of weight to lose...as you lean out, that is not the case.

Once you are convinced that your logging is as tight as it can be, adjust from there. I wouldn't drop my calories and increase my exercise activity at the same time though. This can wreak havoc on your hormones and really stress your body out which can make weight management even more difficult. When I cut I actually have more success when I reduce the intensity of my exercise and chill out a bit.