Conquering plateaus?

Rhozelyn

I am in a plateau phase. If you have experienced this please can you share how you overcame periods of plateau or even weight gain despite tracking?
Thanks :-)

PikaKnight

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1122891-9-reasons-fat-loss-is-always-slower-than-you-d-like

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1105036-article-on-flexible-dieting-by-armi-legge?page=1#posts-17068746

Nix_Way

I just kept doing what I knew was right. Logging all foods and staying at calorie goal. I started to do more exercise and eventually it dropped.
As long as you are not cheating, you will be fine. Sometimes you just have to wait it out. Keep your chin up and keep doing what you know you are suppose to do!!

Walter__

First and foremost, are you logging the food you eat?

You need to make sure you're accurately tracking the foods you eat. No guessing. Weigh the food, measure the liquids. Don't forget to count whatever you use to season your food. Those condiments can have hundreds of calories without you even knowing it.


If you're NOT doing that then start tracking things and try again.


If you ARE doing that then:

Can you cut calories any lower or do you feel like you'd be eating too little at that point?

Can you exercise more or do you feel that you aren't eating enough to be able to?

p4ulmiller

I am in a plateau phase. If you have experienced this please can you share how you overcame periods of plateau or even weight gain despite tracking?
Thanks :-)

Plateaus don't really exist in the usual sense of the word. If your weight loss has stalled, then it is most commonly down to one or both of the following:

1. Complacency in portion sizes, not logging everything you eat, overestimating cardio.
2. Not resetting your daily calorie limit (your BMR drops as you lose weight).

Try both of these first, because you are likely eating at maintenance.

alisonlynn1976

When a couple of weeks have gone by without any change in my weight, I add some extra cardio and it works every time.

I think it's almost always the case that "plateau" = underestimating calories in and/or overestimating calories out.

Francl27

1) stalls of 2-3 weeks are totally normal
2) a real plateau is 6+ weeks and typically means you're eating too much because a) you're not weighing your food, b) you're not logging properly, c) you're overestimating your exercise calories.

Rhozelyn

Thank you for your responses. I was guilty of making food "fit" into calorie allowance by a lot of guestimation…that tends to happen when I haven't cooked the food myself. I have kicked in some exercise so I hope this will get me some good results.