The dreaded plateau

Misskcm

Alright guys! I want to hear yalls thought and ideas.
What are the best ways to avoid and get out of that dreaded plateau.

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

You can't trick your body, it is to clever.

You just need to reduce your calories until you start losing again.

jemhh

Misskcm wrote: »

Alright guys! I want to hear yalls thought and ideas.
What are the best ways to avoid and get out of that dreaded plateau.
I know the main thing is that you need to switch things up and confuse your body.. but I'm looking for examples.
Are there certain foods you eat or not eat?
What specific exercises do you like to throw in?
Any and all ideas welcome! Thanks!

Plateaus happen when you are eating at maintenance. If you haven't lost weight in the length of one full menstrual cycle, drop your calories.

There are times when you retain water and a few days eating more leads to your body letting it go. You can do that and then go back to cutting calories.

Exercises do not confuse the body. Your brain is part of your body. If your brain knows what you are doing, it will not be confused.

allyphoe

No confusion necessary. Keep on keeping on. If you've done that for 6-8 weeks with no change in trend weight (as opposed to normal scale weight fluctuation), you're accidentally eating at maintenance, and need to tighten up your logging.

Muscleflex79

Misskcm wrote: »

Alright guys! I want to hear yalls thought and ideas.
What are the best ways to avoid and get out of that dreaded plateau.
I know the main thing is that you need to switch things up and confuse your body.. but I'm looking for examples.
Are there certain foods you eat or not eat?
What specific exercises do you like to throw in?
Any and all ideas welcome! Thanks!

it doesn't work like this (thankfully - imagine how annoying it would be to have to figure out which foods "trick" your body)...as others said, tighten up your logging - you are eating at maintenance.

vismal

Misskcm wrote: »

Alright guys! I want to hear yalls thought and ideas.
What are the best ways to avoid and get out of that dreaded plateau.

The most important thing to recognize is if you are having a weight loss stall which can happen for a myriad of reasons, or a fat loss stall which only really happens for one reason. Weight loss stalls happen due to water retention, stress, food in stomach, changes in salt intake, menses, and a million other reasons. Fat loss stall happen when you aren't in a calorie deficit. To tell the difference, weigh daily and track your weight on something that produces a graph or trend. I prefer to link MFP with www.trendweight.com which produces a rolling average of your weights. It tells you what your weight is actually doing beyond the ups and downs of day to day fluctuations. If after doing this for 3-4 weeks you aren't seeing a downtrend you are likely eating too much/burning too little. To say you've stalled in any shorter period of time only really says your weight has stalled, not your fat which is really what matters.

diannethegeek

Misskcm wrote: »

Alright guys! I want to hear yalls thought and ideas.
What are the best ways to avoid and get out of that dreaded plateau.

This is what I would normally suggest:

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

Silentpadna

vismal wrote: »

To say you've stalled in any shorter period of time only really says your weight has stalled, not your fat which is really what matters.

There is so much truth in this statement. I really believe more people forget this simple fact than any other on these forums.