The plateau! Help!!!!

leeannsummer70

Hey everyone,
Ive been stuck in a plateau for over a month now and am coming to you all for advise.
I have been on my weight loss plan for a fair while, I wont go into the nitty gritty but im 8 and half stone lighter and was expecting a plateau. Now I still exercise regularly and am changing the plan like clockwork using a variety of cardio, weights, hiit etc. I know my diet is fine, but I struggle to hit my calorie goal, im usually under. I have noticed my sleep dips some days as I work 2 jobs, some times as little as 3 hours.

Any thoughts or help would be appricated, I only have a stone and half to go to target!!!

trigden1991

If you are eating under your goal and measure/weigh accurately then your maintenance is lower than you think or your hormones may be "supressed". Have you taken an diet breaks during your 8.5 stone weight loss?

dykask

Sleep can be a major problem. Too little sleep causes too much cortisol. Cortisol causes your liver to release glucose into your blood stream and that drives higher insulin levels. It really works against losing fat.

However it sounds like you have lost a HUGE amount of weight. A month isn't that long, I bet your weight loss will resume if you keep working at it, clearly you were doing something right.

leeannsummer70

I started loosing 4 years ago, the last plateau I hit was when I joined myfitness pal. Which helped alot the weightloss is slower but healthier and suits my life style, I was just concerned it was going to stay this way, ive obly got 1.5 stone to go before I hit my target

RoxieDawn

I think you are having a perfect storm myself. Under eating can cause issues with sleep, not getting enough sleep prevents your body from recovery and doing it normal functions. All this causes issues on hormones like leptin, ghrelin, cortisol, and even thyroid function (i.e stress)

You have been dieting a while and predicted the plateau, now its time to double check:

1) 100% accurate and point with logging? There are no possibilities you are overestimating food you consume?
2) Do you eat back exercise calories? Could these be over estimated as well, the exercise you do now may not be burning as many calories as it used to.. Perhaps the percentage you are eating back is too many or not enough?

Being in a calorie deficit never means a true plateau, it is slowed to a crawl. If you are truly 100% on point with EVERYTHING, its just slowed down drastically.

I am wondering if you have considered reverse dieting to maintenance for a while? It can be a huge game changer both mentally and physically and get you back to losing again after a period of time.

If the deficit is something you are not willing to decrease (which you can just slow your rate of loss at the point as well) moving more to increase your NEAT (non exercise activity can help) and change up EAT (exercise activity) routine if you have been doing that for a while. It can be increase volume/intensity, adding weight to lifting, changing reps and sets.

healthygreek

As you lose, you should eat less calories. Have you adjusted your calorie goal to your present weight?
Also, weighing your solid food and measuring your caloric liquids is more important than ever as you get closer to goal!

Seffell

Plateau is another word for eating at maintanance.
1. Readjust your calories on MFP if you haven't done so after the loss.
2. Use a digital scale to measure all your intake.
3. Make sure the entries you use in MFP diary are correct. Most are made by other members and many are very inaccurate. Compare to your package label.
Good luck and well done for losing so much.

snickerscharlie

Here's a chart that may help you narrow down the possibilities: