Plateau?

smgmay

I have been maintaining the same weight for the last 4 weeks and I'm trying to figure out how to break the plateau and move forward. I am religious with tracking my food / proportions and never go above a 1300 calorie diet. I work out (mostly cardio) on a daily basis with my strength training coming from planks, Burpees, push ups, and squats. Do I need to vary my exercise routine more? Do I eat more to burn more? I'm afraid to increase food consumption because I don't want to gain what I loss, but something needs to give. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

(On a side note, I am at a healthy BMI, fat %, and weight. I am just trying to get rid of the last 5/6 lbs of fat so I can finally have a little definition).

Ps - please do not comment if the advice you have to offer is to be satisfied where I am. I appreciate the sentiment, but it does not help me with my goals. :-)

Thank you fitness pal community!!!

_Waffle_

Try switching up your exercise routine or increase the intensity of what you're doing.

MommyL2015

How are you determining how many calories you are taking in? If it's been a month, I would guess you are eating more than you think.

malibu927

Are you weighing your food? With so little to lose, I'm assuming your deficit is small, and you have to be very precise with your logging.

1princesswarrior

If you want a little definition you probably need to step up your weight routine. You will see amazing changes to your body but probably small changes on the scale.

Eddie__Jones

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10107271/women-recomp-stories

http://fitandfirmfemales.com/top-10-tips-for-body-recomposition/

Talan79

I agree with the lifting. Also look up recomp.

callsitlikeiseeit

chantzwisneski

“GENERAL CUTTING RECOMMENDATIONS

While overeating is the more common mistake when cutting, some people tend to under eat.. And you my friend seem to be under eating. Reset your macros make sure your daily water intake is good. Don't eat a excess of sugars more than 50-60g

Also it's not about how many calories you have a deficit in to get your desired body composition.. To get leaner and more toned. You need to eat the right foods with quality protein, carbs, and fat.

“CALCULATING YOUR CUTTING DIET

When you cut, you will first calculate a starting point and adjust as needed. Here’s where you start:

• 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day,

• 1 gram of carbs per pound of body weight per day, and

• 0.2 grams of fat per pound of body weight per day.

For a 200-pound male, it would look like this:

• 240 grams of protein per day,”

“• 200 grams of carbs per day, and

• 40 grams of fat per day,

This would be about 2,120 calories per day, which is a good starting point for a 200-pound guy looking to lose weight.

If you’re over 25 percent body fat, your formula is slightly different:

• 0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day,

• 0.6 grams of carbs per pound of body weight per day, and

• 0.3 grams of fat per pound of body weight per day.

For a 250-pound guy, it would look like this:

• 200 grams of protein per day,

• 150 grams of carbs per day, and

• 80 grams of fat per day.

This also comes to about 2,120 calories”

“per day, which is where a 250-pound man with a body fat percentage greater than 25 percent would want to start. (Remember that the more body fat you have to lose, the larger of a deficit you can safely place yourself in.)

If you’re extremely obese—over 30 percent body fat—then I recommend that you work out your BMR as discussed earlier in this book and do the following:

1. Multiply it by 1.2. This will be your daily calorie intake.
2. Get 40 percent of those calories from protein, 30 percent from carbohydrates, and 30 percent from dietary fat.
Here’s how you figure this out:

a. Multiply your total daily calorie intake by 0.4, and divide the resulting number by 4. This is how many grams of protein you will eat every day.
b. Multiply your total daily calorie

“intake by 0.3, and divide the resulting number by 4. This is how many grams of carbohydrate you will eat every day.
c. Multiply your total daily calorie intake by 0.3, and divide the resulting number by 9. This is how many grams of dietary fat you will eat every day.
For example, if your total daily calorie intake is 2,200, here’s how this looks:

(2200 × 0.4) / 4 = 200 grams of protein per day
(2200 × 0.3) / 4 = 165 grams of carbohydrate per day
(2200 × 0.3) / 9 = 73 grams of dietary fat per day”

Excerpt From: Matthews, Michael. “Bigger Leaner Stronger.” Oculus. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

Check out this book on the iBooks Store: https://itun.es/us/sxYtF.l

rileysowner

I am assuming your deficit is really small. If not, since you are only looking at 5-6 pounds, a goal of no more than half a pound a week should be what you go with. Next, make absolutely sure you are logging accurately. Based on your post, it sounds like you might be, but checking again would not be a bad idea. You might want to consider a lifting program using weights, if that is not possible, look into a whole body bodyweight program, Convict Conditioning, You are Your Own Gym and others are out there. Finally, do you use anything other than weight to track your progress? If not, you need to take measurements (at least chest, waist and hips) and take pictures. In 4 weeks take them again. Lastly, patience. If you are looking to get rid of that last little bit, it will take time, and it won't be linear, you could go weeks with little change in weight, then suddenly a change. During that time there may be changes in measurements though, and even looks which is why the pictures are important.

smgmay

Thank you all!!! Each comment was incredibly helpful and I'm willing to bet I could pull from each comment and get the final answer. I use the scale to measure my protein, but I typically "count" my fruits and vegetables (although I am aware that "one" banana could be 80 cal and another 120. I didn't consider that as much until I read through these replies.

Again, very thankful and you guys were all very informative! Going to use the scale for weighing my food more, alter my routine to be a little bit more weight training, and follow the recommended nutritional plan outlined above. I'll check in again in few weeks and share how you guys have helped me to succeed! (It will happen, I know it!!)

Ps - Love the flow chart callitlikeiseeit!

trjjoy

Anorexic people don't lose weight by eating more. They lose weight by not eating enough. So please don't listen to advice of "you aren't eating enough".

I'm not saying you should aspire to become anorexic; I'm saying weight loss is pretty straightforward: eat at a consistent calorie deficit and the weight WILL drop off. Ensure you are weighing your food. Ensure you use the correct food entries from the MFP food database.

rileysowner

trjjoy wrote: »

Anorexic people don't lose weight by eating more. They lose weight by not eating enough. So please don't listen to advice of "you aren't eating enough".

I'm not saying you should aspire to become anorexic; I'm saying weight loss is pretty straightforward: eat at a consistent calorie deficit and the weight WILL drop off. Ensure you are weighing your food. Ensure you use the correct food entries from the MFP food database.

Anorexic people in the weight loss also lose huge amount of lean mass from muscle and organs. By ignoring the context of the responses that have been saying with only a little to lose and person should have a small calorie deficit because the less fat one has to lose, the less fat total they can burn in a day. If a calorie deficit is larger than that, the deficit is made up taking energy from other sources like lean mass. All that has been said is is the original poser has little to lose, then they should have a smaller deficit, that is, eat more.