Plateau help

blondiekittie

I have been stuck in a plateau for about a month now. I have lost 25 lbs and can't seem to get the scale to move. I have tried changing up my workouts and foods but nothing seems to be helping. I measure/weight my foods and workout 5-6 days a week. My MFP calorie goal is 1300 a day and I usually hit it. I do Zumba DVD and running for my workouts and use a heart rate monitor to track my calories burned.

I would love some feed back and ideas to try. I'm getting very frustrated. I know what eating healthy and exercising is good for me, but I'd like to be seeing results as well. I still have about 70 lbs to lose too. Thanks for any help you can give!!

herblackwings39

Are you eating your 1300 calorie goal or netting it?

blondiekittie

I'm eating 1300 a day. I don't eat back any of my exercise calories unless its a special occasion (like I ate them back on the 4th for a BBQ).

maresy63

i know that when my mom ran a diet center, that when clients hit plateaus, they would advise the client to eat 5 - 6 large apples only for the day, basically breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack, and only drink cold water with lemon in it or hot water with lemon in it, this flushed the system and most people would start losing again... maybe this will work for you..
good luck and hang in there...

FitnessBeverlyHills

Your body may be over worked and just need a small break, a few days off.

Also you said you are switching your routine, have you tried something completely different like pilates or taking a yoga class?

if you are doing that much activity which sounds like a lot, your body might be in starvation mode and you maybe need to eat a little more. You can do this without gaining weight by adding in an extra snack 1-2 hours before you workout.

How long are you running for? If you are running for too long of a duration you may actually be burning muscle which is counter productive.

Are you doing a weight lifting regiment?

if you share your diary I would be happy to take a look at it for you.

NaomiJFoster

I don't have any advice for you, just a lot of empathy. I'm stuck too. I'm keeping my mind focused on the fact that even though I haven't lost anything in about 5 weeks, I also haven't gained anything. Staying steady is an accomplishment in itself, in my mind. But I've had enough. I just chopped of 20 calories a day from my calorie goal. It isn't much, it probably isn't very scientific. But it's almost 150 a week. So I'm hoping just that little change will shake things up. Good luck to you!

herblackwings39

I'm eating 1300 a day. I don't eat back any of my exercise calories unless its a special occasion (like I ate them back on the 4th for a BBQ).

This is my standard advice. MFP set your weight loss deficit in the 1300 calorie goal before any intentional exercise if you set it up as requested at sign up. Try eating back your exercise calories. It's what the site intends for you to do anyway. Use a hrm if you distrust the calorie burns on the site, but eat some of them back at least.

Zumaria1

Eat back your exercise calories, because if you eat a gross cal count of 1300 and work out and burn say 350, then you are only netting about 950 cals, that is not nearly enough to function. I am 5'2.5" and also do Zumba, and I have consistently been able to lose weight with eating back my calories burned in working out, your body needs those calories to function properly.

Like someone already stated, MFP already has a deficit built in, whether you workout or not, so if you workout, that is an excessive deficit, and could be causing your plateau. Try eating them back for a few weeks, and see if that gets things moving again!

blondiekittie

Thanks for all the feedback! I really appreciate it!!

maecrocker

Can't see your diary, but if you are eating 1300 and not eating back exercise calories, you are most likely not eating enough. I lost a lot of weight before joining MFP but when I started gaining some of it back, I figured I'd better learn to eat properly. I was in a looonnnng plateau. Then I read this (and re-read it) and did the calculations:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I gained a few pounds when I increased the calories but after about 4 or 5 days, the pounds started to fall off.

Also, I don't fret about the scale very much. I measure myself and focus on my body fat percentage.

I wish you all the best!

BajaDreamin333

Your body may be over worked and just need a small break, a few days off.

Also you said you are switching your routine, have you tried something completely different like pilates or taking a yoga class?

if you are doing that much activity which sounds like a lot, your body might be in starvation mode and you maybe need to eat a little more. You can do this without gaining weight by adding in an extra snack 1-2 hours before you workout.

Wow, I wonder if this is my problem?!?!?! I am pretty much incapable of taking a day off, and when I'm bored, my first choice is a work out (yes sometimes 2 a day). I haven't lost in a month, after the first 20 just melted off. And I weight train. And do Pilates. And Kick Box, boot camp and anything else I can find to move. Eat More? Heck ya!

grimendale

As you get closer to your goal, it becomes more difficult to burn fat, and the amount of calories you burn in a given exercise tends to decrease since there is less of you that needs to be moved as part of the exercise. When you burn calories, your body pulls the energy from both fat and muscle cells. If you have a small deficit and a lot of fat, most of the calories are going to be pulled from fat since it is the most readily available and there is no reason to hold on to the fat (particularly if you are using your muscles so that your body sees them as necessary). As you get closer to your goal weight, your body has a stronger tendency to pull from muscle cells since fat is less readily available and muscles provide more energy. This is aggravated by having a larger deficit. When your deficit is too larger, your body will pull a higher percentage of calories from muscle cells since muscles require more calories to maintain than fat. Plus, if you aren't getting enough calories, your body will attempt to preserve a long-term source of easily sustainable energy in fat reserves in case the food shortage continues, so the ratio shifts farther towards burning lean body tissue. 2 lbs a week is not feasible at 30 lbs from your goal, even though it was at 100 lbs from your goal. The closer you get, the slower you need to go. Drop your expected loss to 1 lbs a week, or even 0.5 lbs a week, and make sure you eat back you exercise calories so that your deficit isn't too large. It takes time and patience, which can be very frustrating when weight loss seemed so easy in the beginning. Don't entirely trust the scale. As you get closer to goal, weight become a more meaningless number. Body fat percentage and body measurements are more useful close to goal weight, since it is entirely possible to burn fat, but replace it with muscle tissue or glycogen storage, offsetting any scale losses. They will still show up with a tape measure, so don't give up. Good luck. I hope this helps.