How long do you have to plateau...

Amy_B

before you just re-evaluate your goals? I have been stuck at 155 since January. I've moved up and down 3ish pounds here and there, but that's my base weight at this point. I'm 5'4", so all the "data" says I should be 145 or less. I have been saying for like 4 years that my goal weight is 135. I'm beginning to think I'm never going to get there, and it's very frustrating. Maybe I should just make my goal 145 with muscle tone instead???

Because of this plateau, I'm losing a bit of motivation. Maybe if I have it so I'm at goal in 10 pounds instead of 20 pounds, I'll be remotivated?

Any advice or BTDT?

Thanks!

Amy_B

Oh, I wanted to add that when I first started this journey at 245 pounds until I got down to maybe 170, I was losing about 3-5 pounds/month. Now it's nothing. My journey has taken almost five years with two pregnancies in there.

Tashia_HH

Don't lose hope. I don't know what you did to lose the 92lbs, but great job on that. My advice would be to go back to the beginning of your diet, look at what you did there and try to do that now. Make sure you are logging your food and exercise, maybe change up your exercises and food a bit. If you can, maybe speak to a nutritionist and a trainer. Whatever you decide, good luck on the rest of your journey.

Vivest

That is quite an accomplishment sweetheart. I think you have done a fantastic job thus far. Perhaps you should consider as Shia34 said a chat with a nutritionist and a fitness trainer. I've started recently and find that having both is actually helpful to understand where exactly you may plateau and why. Having this app on my phone has been a life saver in maintaining my calorie count not to mention that if I reach a 10% goal I reset my weight goal and I'm instructed to lower my calorie count as I loose the weight.

I find that this was effective when I was on Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig but since I relocated to Europe (Norway) neither one of these calorie counting programs exist so this App has helped incredibly. Just the same, keep up the good work and don't give up on yourself, it's the faith that you had in you that kept you going this long and wil most likely keep you going. Stay strong, positive and active.

Viv
:happy:

bjberry

I just looked at your pictures. You are in great shape. Is your waist at 31 inches or less? Then, you are healthy.
You may have a lot of muscle on your legs and, as you probably know, muscle weighs 1.5 times the weight of fat.

Congratulations on 92 lbs lost. During this plateau, you might just consider yourself in a maintenance stage, until your body decides otherwise.

:drinker: (lots of water)

saramike5kids

I feel your pain! I just started 2 weeks ago, I'm pretty fit, I am 5'4 and weighed in originally at 152.5 (my goal weight is 130). I have had 5 children, but the youngest is now 12, and I have been struggling with the belly fat since birth #4. I lost 4 pounds in the first 3 days (I think because I was consuming a lot of sugar and counting calories has cut back on that). However, I got on the scale this morning and weighed 150 again. I have been doing a TON of cardio this week to try to come down from the 148.5 I was at for more than a week. Now I'm pretty discouraged. I know that muscle weighs more than fat... all that, but I want the fat to go away!

How can I burn fat??? I am eating most of my calories even after my workout calories are added. I am thinking I just need to give it more time. But I want it to come off....

FabulousFifty

:flowerforyou: I too feel your pain.....At the final leg of your journey your body seems to cling to that weight....why not try something different to "shock" your system. My friend, rebelrenny believes in one or two days a week of total veges and fruits. I am trying this and feel great. I am not totally on board....I still eat a little protein on those days. But, it does do something to your system. I think this is a healthy way of shaking things up a bit.....and yes, maybe your goal weight should be up a bit. Your profile shows a fit and healthy young woman! I am so proud of you for your awesome success! :drinker: It may be time for maintaining this wonderful loss! Talk to your doctor about this.

All the best!
Fab

AnnaPixie

Firstly, I think your goal weight should be whatever YOU decide it to be!! The guildelines are for average people and I dont beleve any of us are 'average'!! Athletic, toned, bodybuilders, stocky, big boned, small boned, short, tall ............etc. We are all different and have differing ideal weights. I can't tell you how I shocked I was when my step aerobics instructore told me she weighed 150lbs! She was tiny, but sooooo toned and looked, what I would call 'skinny'!! So, my point is, when YOU are happy with your weight then that's the time to stay there. Perhaps gauge it on what size jeans you want to be??

Especially for somone relatively young like you that has probably spent most of your adult life overweight. You dont actually know YOUR true weight, so now its time to find out....woooohooooo!!

Secondly, I'm a true beleiver in doing something different if you reach a plateau. As Einstain once said: "Insanity is doing the same things but expecting different results"!!! If you are sure you are doing everything right, then, after 8 months hun, its not working!! So, why not come OFF the diet. Eat, drink and be merry for a week, and then cut back again. You might show a gain of a couple pounds (but please dont rely on those scales to be accurate, its just water!!) but you will shake/shock your body into moving again. You never know, as soon as you eat more, you also might show a loss!

You have come sooooooo far. I bow down to your patience and willpower. Congratulations hun. To me, you've won the battle of the fat. Now you just need to win the battle of being happy with yourself

Good luck

amyfly

Increase your strength training (or start if you don't already) and slightly increase your protein intake. The more lean muscle mass you have the higher your metabolism will naturally be - and if your doing the same workout you did a year ago your body has adjusted. The number on the scale may not change at first (or even go up - muscle weighs more than fat) but you will start to lose inches again and clothes will get looser. Hope this helps - good luck!!

Amy_B

Thanks, everyone!

My waist is about 34 inches now, which is my main problem area. I'd like it to be maybe a 30 inch waist or less, but we'll see. I'm not to my goal pants size yet, so that helps me to gauge my progress.

As for strength training, I'm at the end of the first month of ChaLean Extreme, which is mostly weight training (similar to P90X). I have heard that most people see the best results at the end of the program, so I am hoping the same is true for me.

I'll definitely be taking your advice, everyone. I need something to work again!

DrBorkBork

I dunno if it will make you feel any better, but I haven't really lost any weight since June. I went from losing 10 lbs a month, to 5, to 1, in less than 5 months. I eat well, workout regularly, and strength train. I haven't lost any inches since June. I'm only half way to my goal. It sucks. I feel ya!

Tashia_HH

Does Muscle Weigh More Than Fat?
A pound of muscle, a pound of fat: What's the difference?
By Martica Heaner, M.A., M.Ed., for MSN Health & FitnessQ. Does muscle really weigh more than fat? I am a trainer and am frequently asked this question by members of my gym. I have heard conflicting reports and can’t seem to find the right answer.

A. No, muscle does not weigh more than fat. A pound of muscle weighs exactly the same as a pound of fat—they both weigh one pound!

This commonly cited gym cliché is somewhat misunderstood and misused. The rationale that muscle weighs more than fat is often cited as an explanation for why a person might find that they aren’t losing weight, or are gaining weight, when they kick off an exercise regimen. The idea seems to be that if you are exercising—and theoretically losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time—the effects cancel each other out. So, in theory, you won’t see desired weight loss as measured by pounds on the scale, even though you may be improving how you look.

You certainly can improve your appearance with exercise without always seeing a change in your body weight—by becoming firmer, more sculpted and sometimes leaner. But that doesn’t mean that you are gaining massive amounts of muscle, or losing lots of fat.

Muscle Does Not Turn To Fat

Some people believe that if they start working out they turn their fat into muscle or that, if they stop working out, their muscle will turn into fat. Neither is true; each tissue is distinctly different. You can gain muscle or lose weight, and you can gain or lose more body fat, but they don’t convert into each other. Both gaining and losing muscle and/or fat can both affect your body weight on the scale, depending upon the magnitude of the body fat or body muscle increase or decrease.

To gain significant amounts of muscle, you not only have to do the type of exercise that stimulates muscle growth—progressive and intense resistance training—you also have to eat more calories than normal to fuel the process. Most people who exercise, especially women, do not perform resistance training at this level, nor do they eat more to try to build muscle. Even if they did, it could take many months to increase muscle mass by just a few pounds.

Body Fat Tests

Some people get their body fat tested at the gym, either by using skin calipers or a portable, step-on, body-fat scale. These measurements may show shifts in muscle-to-fat ratios, making it appear that a person has gained pounds of muscle and lost pounds worth of fat, whether or not the normal body-weight scale registers any big changes. Whether these potentially large changes in fat and muscle mass are accurate is up for debate.

On the body-fat scale, for example, you can get a dramatically different estimate of these figures from the same “weigh-in” based on whether you are input as a “normal” person or an “athlete.” So at the exact same moment a scale may show that you are at 18 percent body fat or at 27 percent body fat, for example. This large discrepancy is because the formulas used in these types of machines to calculate your measurements are based on estimates.

And there’s always a “standard deviation” in these estimated readings from calipers and body-fat scales. In other words, your result may not be as specific as you think it is, it falls within a range.

Why Doesn’t Exercise Always Affect Body Weight?

If someone is working out and not losing weight, or not losing as much as they want—or if they’re actually gaining weight—the first place to look is the type and amount of exercise.

Weight loss boils down to burning more calories than you normally use in a day. Cardio exercise burns more calories than muscle-toning or the average resistance-training workout. So dialing down the stretching and core work to just once or twice a week, and replacing it with more cardio should produce more weight loss. And the more minutes the better when it comes to weight loss: An hour to 90 minutes of aerobic activity per day on most days of the week will affect body weight.

Some people get overly obsessed about numbers on the scale. If you are happy with the way you look and feel, and you feel like you are improving your fitness and strength, then continue doing what you are doing. Exercise works, and every minute of movement helps your health in some way. Weight loss through working out may be slower than you want, but it’s likely to be longer term solution and a healthier way to trim down and shape up, or at the very least to stave off weight gain over the years.

More from Martica on MSN Health & Fitness.

Do you have a fitness or weight-loss question for Martica? Send e-mail to experts@microsoft.com. Please include Ask Martica in the subject line. Each of our experts responds to one question each week and the responses are posted on Mondays on MSN Health. We regret that we cannot provide a personalized response to every submission.


Martica Heaner, Ph.D., M.A., M.Ed., is a Manhattan-based exercise physiologist and nutritionist, and an award-winning fitness instructor and health writer. She has a Ph.D. in behavioral nutrition and physical activity from Columbia University, and is also a NASM-certified personal trainer. She has written hundreds of articles for publications such as Self , Health , Prevention , The New York Times and others. Martica is the author of eight books, including her latest, Cross-Training for Dummies. (Read her full bio.)

Lithuria

The following is true BUT misleading. This Marticia Heaner is being deliberately pedantic on the issue:

Does Muscle Weigh More Than Fat?
A pound of muscle, a pound of fat: What's the difference?
By Martica Heaner, M.A., M.Ed., for MSN Health & FitnessQ. Does muscle really weigh more than fat? I am a trainer and am frequently asked this question by members of my gym. I have heard conflicting reports and can’t seem to find the right answer.

A. No, muscle does not weigh more than fat. A pound of muscle weighs exactly the same as a pound of fat—they both weigh one pound!

This commonly cited gym cliché is somewhat misunderstood and misused. The rationale that muscle weighs more than fat is often cited as an explanation for why a person might find that they aren’t losing weight, or are gaining weight, when they kick off an exercise regimen. The idea seems to be that if you are exercising—and theoretically losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time—the effects cancel each other out. So, in theory, you won’t see desired weight loss as measured by pounds on the scale, even though you may be improving how you look.

You certainly can improve your appearance with exercise without always seeing a change in your body weight—by becoming firmer, more sculpted and sometimes leaner. But that doesn’t mean that you are gaining massive amounts of muscle, or losing lots of fat.

Well of course a pound of muscle is the same as a pound of fat. Just like a tonne of bricks weighs the same as a tonne of feathers. But at the end of the day, to make up that tonne of feathers, you are going to have an awful lot more feathers than you do bricks, because bricks are denser.

It is very, very simple science, learned at secondary school (Junior high school in the USA?)

Frankly, the person who wrote this is being a terminology freak, and very obtuse and pedantic. They are twisting the commonly used laymens term "it weighs more" because clearly they think they are being clever.

Muscle is in fact denser than fat. That means that a pound of muscle is a pound of fat, but there is less muscle than fat. Thus, to stay the same size but be loosing fat and gaining muscle you must also be gaining weight, as the same mass of muscle will weigh more than the same mass of fat that was previously keeping you at that size.

If you are going to be as pedantic as this person, it is entirley true to say that the quickest way to loose weight is to go into space. If I went to space I would loose all my weight, I would be litteraly weightless thanks to the fact that there is no gravity, but I will be exactly the same size and density.