Weight loss plateau after starting Orangetheory?

Kellm1218

Hi all,

I'll preface this with a little "about me." I used to be an active person and was a healthy 145lbs and worked out 2-4 times a week. I ran 2 half marathons, then had a downhill skiing accident and had to get multiple surgeries on my ankle. After about 2 years, with a job relocation to a new city and not picking up my pre surgery habit of working out, I looked down at the scale and was at a shocking 185 pounds.

I started my weight loss journey in October/November. I began with tracking my calories through myfitness pal and paid close attention to overall eating less and eating clean. I was sticking close to 1200-1300 cals/day. I was able to drop 20 pounds by mid January.

I recently started working out at orange theory 3-4 times a week starting Feb 8th. I have seen overall improvement in my flexibility, endurance, and muscle tone; however, the scale has not budged. For the first month I just thought it was muscle gain, but I'm heading into week 7 and I now am a little confused.

I have stayed disciplined in tracking my caloric intake. I read some articles and thought maybe I'm not allowing my body to recover from the training and not consuming enough protein. I just recently started drinking a 100 cal muscle milk protein supplement after class.

Is this type of plateau normal? Is there something else I should be doing?

Thank you for any and all advice!

TheRambler

Has your waiste size shrunk? Inches anywhere else? That's a good gauge.

Kellm1218

I lost less than inch in my waist, barely a half inch across my chest, and half inch on both thighs. I feel "tighter" for sure. I just thought by now, I'd see the scale start moving again?

TheRambler

That is real progress. The elimination of fat and gaining of strength and muscle is a huge success. You should be thrilled.

StaciMarie1974

Can you open your food diary?

7 weeks is a bit long for a new exercise water gain to mask results, so it seems reasonable to check the logging accuracy. How often do you use a food scale? Do you log everything, every day? If you're eating back exercise calories - how do you determine how much extra your workouts are burning?