Weight plateau?

AmyWininger

In late April I was 178 llbs. I cut out sodas and junk food and got down to 168, and for the past couple of months I weight train every other day and took a few zumba and hip-hop ab classes. I didn't really do cardio much, but for the past 3 or 4 weeks every day I try to walk at least 3 miles. I'm only down to 164, and I haven't lost any weight for quite some time now. I eat a lot of fruit, and was wondering if I should eat less. It seems that fruit has a lot of sugar and always makes me go over my daily limit. Also, at the end of the day my tracker says I have anywhere from 700 to 1100 calories left to eat, but I can't seem to eat that much in one day. Could that cause my weight loss to stall? Any suggestions for what I can do for more weight loss as well? And I would exercise more, but I just started school so I don't have a lot of time. Thanks.

yuckidah

Over 5 months since I've lost any weight so I'm hoping somebody gives you an answer that helps me out of this awful plateau as well!

tarotlou

I'm not an expert and I don't understand how this works because in my head I'm thinking eat less excercise more = weight loss.
So was amazed at eating and losing weight but I walk a lot. I plateaued for about 2 months and I got some really good advice I upped my calories by a hundred a day to 1300 had a massive eat feast in London one day and added a different type of excercise which you will laugh at was housework ( a friend asked me to do two hours cleaning a week) initially I put on a pound the first week I panicked got some more scientific advice and was encouraged to stick with it, the following week I lost that one pound the next week 3 pound. So I broke the plateau, my diary is open but I eat so much sugary stuff and am not a very clean eater.
That's what broke my plateau within two weeks. When I hit another wall I will do the same and maybe cut a walk out to be honest I don't want to be walking a marathon every week and eating 1300 cals to maintain when I hit my target. I do have a sedentary job which is walk to the end of the garden pick up the phone. Also if you find you put on weight at the beginning put in the search bar about glycogen and that will explain why that has happened and will encourage you to stick with it.

Francl27

Eat closer to your goal. If you exercise too much and eat too little, you'll stall. I can't even imagine how little you must be eating to have 700 or 1000 calories left at the end of the day... That really can't be good for you. I mean MFP gives me 1300 calories or something at 162 lbs, so you're eating what... 500 calories a day? Starving yourself has never been healthy.

Dylanss180

There are multiple ways to break thru the plateau. Before I mention it here are a few things you need to get right. Make sure your macro nutrients are in the right proportions. For me, to loose weight I have 50 percent of my calories as protein, 40 percent carbs, and 10 percent fats. The carbs mostly consist of vegetables and I will throw in yams or quinoa if I need the extra energy.

They say whole wheat is good for you. That is not true. It turns into simple sugars and increases your insulin levels. Keep with the low glycemic foods. Anything below 50 you can use. Also, stay away from any food products that have soy. It messes with your metabolism in a bad way.

Now here are some other things to not do. Do not eat too little food. You will put your body into starvation mode and you will only make things worse. Make sure you are keeping approximately a 500 to 600 calorie deficit every day. Also, don't eat a few large meals a day. Space them out, I eat 7 to 8 small meals a day every 2 to 3 hours. Constantly feeding your body will keep your metabolism at a steady pace. You have to eat to loose weight. DO NOT UNDER EAT!!!!! If you are not loosing still cut back a little on the carbs or swap the starchy carbs for vegetables.

Lastly you need to exercise. When you do weights your metabolism can stay higher for as long as 36 hours than if you just did cardio. I cannot emphasize enough you NEED to do weight bearing exercise. And I don't mean just go thru the motions. You need to be breaking a sweat while doing weights. I would recommend using a trainer to get started. and Lastly if you want to do cardio, only do 20 minutes worth of H.I.T. (High intensity training). I will either do sprints on the treadmill or use a weighted barbell, and at times jump rope. Long steady state cardio does more harm than good. Short high intensity cardio burns fat like no other. But I will re iterate YOU HAVE TO EAT!!!! 80% of your weight loss is in the right diet. If you don't follow that you are only making things worse.

To give my background. I am Hypothyroid and have been struggling with weight all my life. I have tried every diet and workout out there. I was as high as 215 putting me in the obese category. I did only cardio for a while and cut back on my food and I lost weight but at the expense of loosing muscle as well, which only made things worse because I lost muscle to burn fat and I didn't loose anything more. I cut back my food more and i just ruined my metabolism even worse. After doing a lot of reading I changed my diet and ate more and changed to the weights and H.I.T cardio and I went all the way down to 160 lbs. I lost 55 lbs but also I lost a good chunck of muscle also. So I didn't change my workout at all and just changed my diet and I gained 20 lbs of pure muscle. I have kept the weight off over 2 years now and I am putting on more muscle. What I have seen is the more muscle you have the easier it is to keep the weight off.

Hope this helped

I have some before and after photos at

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/we-mirin-vol-26-19-unreal-physiques.html

I am number three (Dylanss)

ritchiedrama

If you've been in a plateau for 4-5 weeks, you're eating too much, end.

ninerbuff

Well 700 to 1100 calories left over is a high deficit. When one diets, metabolism slows automatically. Eating less than required calories slows it even more. Eat more.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

acpgee

Well 700 to 1100 calories left over is a high deficit. When one diets, metabolism slows automatically. Eating less than required calories slows it even more. Eat more.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Staying at a prolonged deficit did seem to slow down my metabolism. I got over my last plateau by taking a 3 week total diet break. Ate a TDEE for a few weeks. Although my weight fluctuated upwards at first by three weeks I was back to my low point. When I start eating at a deficit again, the scale started moving albeit slowly.

celadontea

"I am only down to 164"

You are doing wonderfully! What an accomplishment!

kimbim60

Wow....great information. I do really well when I'm home but as soon as I take off on holidays or work out of town I am quaranteed to put on a minimum of 5 lbs. and sometimes as much as 13 lbs. so I keep going up and down and not accomplishing any goals. Thanks for posting.

robbyjamison

Those of you on plateau, have you been tracking your body fat %? You might be losing weight and gaining muscle making it appear that all your work is ineffective when you are actually building a much healthier body. I would be careful about just eating less. If you are severely under your caloric intake your body could be entering starvation mode and reducing metabolism. This article was interesting and might help you out:
http://voices.yahoo.com/starvation-mode-dispelling-myths-2900886.html

Ask yourself some questions: Are you feeling generally better or worse? Are you more energized or more tired? Do you feel weaker or stronger?

Scubanana7

PLEASE open your diary. any suggestions you get from folks who have no clue what you are eating may not be good suggestions.

Anonymouse7704

Are you tracking properly?
If you are under eating sure your metabolism slows but not enough to stop weight loss altogether. Your over estimating exercise or under estimating food
I had an eating disorder and starved myself to 500cals a day and lost weight, all that about plateauing cause not eating enough is bull IMO.
Unless you've eaten nothing for like a year and you have no fat on you, only then might this be true.

jmacdona2

Pardon my lack of knowledge. What is TDEE?

angelwings0110

I finally broke my plateau just last week. I had gone over 2 months with no weight loss. I re did my goals on here. I was very specific on the amount of exercise I was doing. I try to exercise 5-6 days a week for an hour. I also changed my type of exercise. It was hard for me to understand that I didn't have to sweet on the treadmill anymore to loos what I wanted. I started using the app Jetfit and setting daily work out routines. I still do atleast 15 mins of cardio most days. Thanks to MFP I have learned that you have to "trick" your body when it comes to the exercises. I know the not loosing weight is very frustrating. But you just have to tweek your calorie intake and exercises. Good luck.

onwarddownward

Here would be my recommendations:

Weigh your foods on a food scale. Use the Tare function to weigh the plate or bowl first to just measure the food.

Google TDEE minus 20%

I write my exercise calories in as 1 calorie for each activity so that I can eat my TDEE minus 20% without accidentally eating my exercise calories, too.

Give it time. Your body might be going through a big adjustment.

Try weight lifting and calisthenics if you aren't already doing it. Pushups, crunches, squats and free weights (heavy) will do wonders for your body.

paulaviki

If you've been in a plateau for 4-5 weeks, you're eating too much, end.

You did see the bit where the op said they had 700+ calories left each day? Unless they are severely overestimating their exercise burn or underestimating what they eat, I don't think they are eating too much!

AmyWininger

Thanks for all the input. I opened my diary, I didn't know I didn't have it opened. Trying to get used to using this site. This weekend I splurged because I was out of my house and never really at home. So I ate more than normal, but if you look on thursday and friday, those are the foods I normally eat everyday. I'm trying ot eat more, but really with what I eat, i just don't feel very hungry. And Thank you about the HIT. Normally I walked on a treadmill, and I walk 3 mph, and every 5 to 10 minutes I sprint. I only walk for aout 60 minutes, but for about 5 minutes after that I try to walk on incline.

yuckidah

If you've been in a plateau for 4-5 weeks, you're eating too much, end.

Rubbish.
Unless of course our TDEE's are under 1200 which would mean we're not only extremely unlucky but we're also incredibly rare!

Anonymouse7704

If you've been in a plateau for 4-5 weeks, you're eating too much, end.

Basically this ^

dianenrojero

but does this apply to women also?? Men do lose weight faster.

dianenrojero

There are multiple ways to break thru the plateau. Before I mention it here are a few things you need to get right. Make sure your macro nutrients are in the right proportions. For me, to loose weight I have 50 percent of my calories as protein, 40 percent carbs, and 10 percent fats. The carbs mostly consist of vegetables and I will throw in yams or quinoa if I need the extra energy.

They say whole wheat is good for you. That is not true. It turns into simple sugars and increases your insulin levels. Keep with the low glycemic foods. Anything below 50 you can use. Also, stay away from any food products that have soy. It messes with your metabolism in a bad way.

Now here are some other things to not do. Do not eat too little food. You will put your body into starvation mode and you will only make things worse. Make sure you are keeping approximately a 500 to 600 calorie deficit every day. Also, don't eat a few large meals a day. Space them out, I eat 7 to 8 small meals a day every 2 to 3 hours. Constantly feeding your body will keep your metabolism at a steady pace. You have to eat to loose weight. DO NOT UNDER EAT!!!!! If you are not loosing still cut back a little on the carbs or swap the starchy carbs for vegetables.

Lastly you need to exercise. When you do weights your metabolism can stay higher for as long as 36 hours than if you just did cardio. I cannot emphasize enough you NEED to do weight bearing exercise. And I don't mean just go thru the motions. You need to be breaking a sweat while doing weights. I would recommend using a trainer to get started. and Lastly if you want to do cardio, only do 20 minutes worth of H.I.T. (High intensity training). I will either do sprints on the treadmill or use a weighted barbell, and at times jump rope. Long steady state cardio does more harm than good. Short high intensity cardio burns fat like no other. But I will re iterate YOU HAVE TO EAT!!!! 80% of your weight loss is in the right diet. If you don't follow that you are only making things worse.

To give my background. I am Hypothyroid and have been struggling with weight all my life. I have tried every diet and workout out there. I was as high as 215 putting me in the obese category. I did only cardio for a while and cut back on my food and I lost weight but at the expense of loosing muscle as well, which only made things worse because I lost muscle to burn fat and I didn't loose anything more. I cut back my food more and i just ruined my metabolism even worse. After doing a lot of reading I changed my diet and ate more and changed to the weights and H.I.T cardio and I went all the way down to 160 lbs. I lost 55 lbs but also I lost a good chunck of muscle also. So I didn't change my workout at all and just changed my diet and I gained 20 lbs of pure muscle. I have kept the weight off over 2 years now and I am putting on more muscle. What I have seen is the more muscle you have the easier it is to keep the weight off.

Hope this helped

I have some before and after photos at

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/we-mirin-vol-26-19-unreal-physiques.html

I am number three (Dylanss)

Dylanss180

Yes, it does apply to women.

howardheilweil

If you've been in a plateau for 4-5 weeks, you're eating too much, end.

Take a look at her food diary. She is significantly under eating (assuming she is logging accurately) almost daily.

Dylanss180

Amy,

I looked at your food diary and I have a couple of recommendations. First, get rid of the Kellogs special K. It is very simple to break down in your body and it turns into sugar. That will spike your insulin levels and make you store it as fat. That also goes for the Nutella. That has a ton of sugar and it also has fat in it. That will defiantly make your insulin spike and make you store it as fat.

A breakfast I like to have is Steel cut oats with cinnamon and Stevia or Erythritol cranberries and coconut oil. Add a side plate of egg whites scrambled with low fat cheese.

If you want a spread of some sort I would recommend coconut oil. It has Medium chain fatty acids that don't get stored as fat and it gets used as energy. I actually loose weight the more of this stuff I eat (To a point).

I also don't like the Bratwurst. It is loaded with sodium. I would recommend going with some ground turkey with some spices.
A good meal I like to do is cook up some ground turkey and add some Quinoa and salsa. Add some red pepper, chili powder spice to it and you have a great meal.

Also, if you are going to have a Banana, eat it immediately after doing a workout. The carbs in it will replenish the depleted glycogen in your muscles and also spike your insulin preventing muscle breakdown.

Basic rule is DON'T EAT SUGARY FOODS ALONG WITH FAT!!! The only time you should be eating sugar is immediately after a workout.

And, you are defiantly not eating enough and you are doing WAY TOO MUCH CARDIO!!! Trust me, I have done the 2 hours of cardio a day and eat 800 calories a day thing. You will loose weight to a point but not in a good way. Then you will stop loosing weight. I lost well over 60 lbs doing this but almost half of that was muscle. That made it nearly impossible to loose more weight because my muscles withered away and there was no substantial muscle mass to burn fat.

It doesn't matter if you don't feel hungry. Your metabolism is shot and it has adapted to being under fed. I guarante you if you eat more your metabolism will increase and you will get more hungry.

I was only eating 1200 calories a day just like you and weighing only 160 lbs down from 220. I lost a lot of strength and i still had fat on me. I was still 13% body fat and I wasn't hungry and my body was used to being starved. I increased my calories to 3500-4200 a day and I gained so much muscle back after just 4 months. Then, I reduced it to 2100 and I kept the workouts intense and did 20 minutes of cardio 5 days a week and after just 2 months I dropped down to 8% body fat.

You really need to eat and do weight bearing exercise 4 to 5 days a week no more than 40 minutes (working your *kitten* off) then do 20 minutes of cardio and you are done for the day. No more exercise.

Follow those rules and YOU WILL LOOSE FAT. Remember it doesn't matter what the scale says. It matters how much fat you burn off and what your body fat percentage becomes. Don't whither yourself away just to make the scale lighter. Loose the fat, and keep the muscle and you will look phenomenal!

I have been in your shoes. Learn from my mistakes and save yourself the aggravation!

AmyWininger

Thank you. I'll eat something else for breakfast from now on and remember about the banana. It's just difficult taking good lunches and such, because I have to pack them to school. I increased my weights this week, so I should be doing more weight training excercises. Thank you so much for your input.

intheflowers

You seem to eat A LOT of peanut butter. Try cutting that out and replacing it with other protein/fat sources and see if anything changes.

walleymama

If you are truly eating at a deficit, it should make no difference what you eat (within reason: obviously eating nothing but Twinkies to use up your daily caloric goal would not be a good strategy). Special K isn't going to sabotage weight loss - it may leave you hungry sooner, however, than something more filling, like oatmeal.

Hard enough to exercise regularly, track calories, and stick to your daily caloric goal without the Food Police telling you what you can and cannot eat.

Dylanss180

If you are truly eating at a deficit, it should make no difference what you eat (within reason: obviously eating nothing but Twinkies to use up your daily caloric goal would not be a good strategy). Special K isn't going to sabotage weight loss - it may leave you hungry sooner, however, than something more filling, like oatmeal.

Hard enough to exercise regularly, track calories, and stick to your daily caloric goal without the Food Police telling you what you can and cannot eat.

You are right to a point. As soon as you eat anything that spikes your insulin you instantly have lost your fat burning. So, if you are trying to loose weight spiking your insulin will only hurt you. Keeping your insulin low most of the day is what will make you loose weight. The only time I spike my insulin is right after a workout. Your body is in a catabolic state during physical exercise (That is why you loose muscle if you do long sessions on the treadmill). When you eat something sugary right after exercise you will spike you insulin levels and stop your body from eating itself and also replenish the glycogen in your muscles. For me having a banana or what I used to do was take about 65grams of pure dextrose sugar with my protein shake.

Nutrition is key in loosing weight. I used to eat those 100 calorie snack packs that they sell at the stores and those have sugar in them. This was when I was eating 800-1200 calories a day and I wasn't loosing weight. I was spiking my insulin levels regularly during the day and all I was doing was screwing myself over. Once I switched over to only eating clean food, lean chicken, turkey, green vegetables, quinoa, brown rice..etc. I started loosing weight again.

Eating clean, nutritious food is most of the work getting you to loose weight. I spent a lot of time educating myself on food and how it behaves in the body. Eating processed food doesn't help. The closer you stay to the food source the better off you are.

Dylanss180

Thank you. I'll eat something else for breakfast from now on and remember about the banana. It's just difficult taking good lunches and such, because I have to pack them to school. I increased my weights this week, so I should be doing more weight training excercises. Thank you so much for your input.

Amy,

I know what you are talking about with packing food. Most people will just eat something wherever they go. Most of the time what food is available is crap. This is what worked for me. To save time I spend 2 hours on Sunday evening cooking meals for the week. After that, I am set and I don't have to worry about having time to make something for the next day. I take a small cooler with me to work that has the meals I need during work. Also, carrying some extra backup food with you that travels well is good also just in case you stay somewhere longer than intended. you will always be prepared to have food ready.

I really want you to succeed. Here is a sample meal plan you should follow. You can substitute the vegetables for whatever you want. You can substitute the Yams with quinoa or brown rice. Eat each meal every 2 to 3 hours. Also, drink a gallon of water a day. It sounds like a lot but the more you drink the easier it becomes. Give it a few weeks and you will get used to it.


Meal 1

eggs
Egg Whites- 4


Oatmeal-1/3 cup uncooked


Flax Oil- 1 tsp

prunes-2

Meal 2

chicken
Chicken- 4 oz cooked


Broccoli-1 cup

Meal 3

Lean Ground Turkey- 4 oz cooked


Brown Rice- 1/3 cup

peas- 1/3 cup

Meal 4

Chicken- 4 oz cooked

Yams- 3 oz

green beans-1 cup

Meal 5

Chicken- 4 oz cooked

Avocado- 1 1/2 oz

sweet potato- 3 oz

Asparagus-1/2 cup

Salad- 1 serving

Meal 6

eggs
Egg Whites- 4

Spinach- however much you want


For workout here is what I would recommend. This has worked for others as well. Remember when working out don't go thru the motions while talking to a friend on the cell phone. Put all that aside and concentrate on working hard. You are at the gym to workout not to talk. Keep it serious and just focus and you will be finished in no time. Keep the breaks between sets no more than 45 seconds. When starting out do light weights. But by the second week increase the weights and the point is you want to barely be able to finish the last rep of each set. Keep the intensity up and you will drop the fat. Also, form is key. If you do weights improperly you won't get the full benefit from it. Also you can hurt yourself. I would recommend a personal trainer to start.

I also want to point out. Other women I have helped were worried of starting to look bulky like a man. Don't worry you won't I promise.

If lifting weights doesn't work for you, other options are you can do TRX, or P90X.


You can find all these workouts on Bodybuilding.com for explanation.

Day 1:
Leg press: 4 sets of 18,15, 12, and 10 reps
Leg extensions: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Leg curls: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Stiff-legged deadlift: 4 sets of 15-18 reps
Weighted glute bridges:4 sets of 25 reps
Cable kickbacks: 4 sets of 15 reps

20 minutes of cardio

Day 2
Assisted pull-ups: 4 sets to failure
Wide-grip lat pull-downs: 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Dumbbell rows: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Narrow-grip pull-downs: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Dumbbell pullovers: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Rope push-downs: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Triceps dips: 4 sets of 15-20 reps
Reverse crunches: 3 sets of 50 reps
Seated calf raise: 4 sets of 20 reps

20 minutes of cardio

Day 3

Dumbbell lateral raise: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Dumbbell shoulder press: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Dumbbell front raise: 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Weighted glute bridges: 4 sets of 25 reps
Kickbacks: 4 sets of 15-20 reps

HIIT treadmill : 20-30 min

Day 4
Dumbbell bench press: 4 sets of 10-12 reps
Dumbbell incline flyes: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Dumbbell incline bench press: 4 sets of 10-12 reps
Dumbbell decline flyes: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Barbell curls: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Alternating hammer curls: 4 sets of 10-12 reps
Concentration curls: 4 sets of 10-12 reps

Cardio-20 minutes

You can have this last day optional if you aren't dropping weight, add this day in.

Day 5 (optional)
Box jumps: 4 sets of 30 reps
Split jumps: 4 sets of 20 reps
Jump squats: 3 sets of 20 reps
Weighted glute bridges: 4 sets of 25 reps
Smith machine squats: 4 sets of 20 reps
Flutter kicks w/ankle weights: 4 sets of 20 reps
Bicycle crunches: 3 sets of 50 reps

Cardio- 20 minutes

I hope this helps you out. I have given you the tools to succeed. It is up to you to have the discipline and motivation to see it thru.

AmyWininger

About the peanut butter, I eat a lot of it because it's quick calories. I don't seem to be getting enough, and whenever i'm running low I eat somne of it, since it has a lot. But I will tyr to find something else.