Plllllateaus.... {Precise Info}

THISisTARRAN

HellO everyone! Thanks for reading. I wondered if anyone had any ideas..I've lost like 11 lb and since I'm kinda just...stuck.

Okay... I'm 5'7'', kind of a bigger boned girl. I weigh 251ish and my goal is 150ish. My workout includes: 25 minutes on the treadmill uphill (random) 3.5 mph & 15 min on the elliptical. A total of 40 minutes of cardio. I eat RARELY above 1590 calories (which is what MFP recommends). I went back through my diary and I've been noticing that I seem to always be over some on sugar and when I'm over on sodium (90% of the time) I'm way over. This week (starting tomorrow) I am going to up my work out in intensity, I'm going to EITHER add one minute sprints in ever 4 minutes...(i.e. 4 minutes walking 1 minutes sprinting, repeat) OR I am just going to go from 3.5 mph to 3.8 or something. Then I was going to add on 5 minutes of rowing & increase my intensity on the elliptical. I usually eat oatmeal for breakfast, a frozen meal for lunch, and for dinner it always changes, but I manage to keep it under. Any suggestions at all would be appreciated because its been about 2 weeks that I'm not going anywhere. This is a little personal, but I seem to not go to the bathroom until like 2 everyday, when I used to always go at 10 ish and right after is when I would weigh myself, which is part of the reason I think I'm not seeing anything move scale wise. Okay thanks for the help.
-Tarran

LovingMe19

Try throwing in an Activia Yogurt at breakfast. It always kept me very regular right around the early morning. And try eating some of your exercise calories back. At least half of them. I hit a plateau awhile back as well. I think I was losing like .2 pounds every week if that. So I started to eat about 200-300 more calories a day, and I thew in a 30 minute walk on the treadmill. On my next weigh in day I had lost 2.6 pounds. So I think changing up your workout routine is a good start, and starting eating more. It really works.

THISisTARRAN

Try throwing in an Activia Yogurt at breakfast. It always kept me very regular right around the early morning. And try eating some of your exercise calories back. At least half of them. I hit a plateau awhile back as well. I think I was losing like .2 pounds every week if that. So I started to eat about 200-300 more calories a day, and I thew in a 30 minute walk on the treadmill. On my next weigh in day I had lost 2.6 pounds. So I think changing up your workout routine is a good start, and starting eating more. It really works.

I'm really scared to eat more... For how long did you eat more? What started the plateau was i was eating all of my exercise calories because I thought I was supposed to. As soon as I started doing that I stopped losing weight, within two days i realized it and lost. That activia yogurt is that good for you? Geez, I had head that it helps, but I didn't realize how great it is. So you eat it early in the morning and then it works that fast. WoW! Thanks for the tips!

tmcowan

Are you eating back your exercise calories? This is very important because if you're not you may be "netting" less than 1200 calories a day which on a consistent basis could be the cause of your stahl. Recently this was a topic of discussion and now I have noticed that when it shows your calories left it also shows "net" calories.

THISisTARRAN

Are you eating back your exercise calories? This is very important because if you're not you may be "netting" less than 1200 calories a day which on a consistent basis could be the cause of your stahl. Recently this was a topic of discussion and now I have noticed that when it shows your calories left it also shows "net" calories.

Okay so I should net at or over 1200 calories? Should that be my goal?? I was originally not eating any and I was losing weight. Then I started eating them ALL back...and so I stopped eating them at all because I stopped losing weight.

LovingMe19

The Activia will take about 14 days to make you regular lol. It doesnt work that fast! But yes it is very good for you. They have "lite" versions that are lower in calories.

I have been eating more for about 2 weeks now. My caloric goal for the day is 1200 but I try to come in right at that or a little more. If im not hungry, I wont eat. Listening to your body helps a lot too. If at the end of the day after all your workouts you feel hungry, you need to eat, Its a constant struggle I know. Just try experimenting and slowly start eating more. Everybodys body is different so it might take some time to figure out what is going to work for you. But I have heard that a "shock" to the body is whats gotten people off their plateaus. Im wishing you the best of luck!

Steph_Anie

before I got pregnant, I played on my own with my calories and found out that I would stall out at about 1480 calories--- I would lose the weeks I ate more but If I went below I wouldn't lose anything. I haven't found my happy calorie place while breastfeeding yet---- but I seem to be losing, so I'm doing okay right now... I also found out that I could lose weight based on calories alone, that my exercise was just all about making me feel good, it didn't really have any affect on my weight loss. You may just have to change up your calories for a few weeks and see how it goes---- I"m having to do that right now b/c I went too low and my milk supply was affected- the last week I've been actually eating my bf calories and it is scary as all get out that I"m going to start gaining instead of losing!

Oh, I also found out that losing a pound a week is what really worked best for my body before-- now I'm averaging a lb a week, but it's coming off 2 lbs every other week-- weird.... sigh.

EmmieSu

Eating more fruit, vegetables, and whole grains, will also give you the fiber you need to be regular. It will also keep you fuller longer. The frozen meals are high in sodium,too. Just remember, we didn't get here overnight, and it will take a while to get where we are going. Keep at it, you'll start seeing results.

MamaRandall

I would definitely get rid of the frozen meals first of all and maybe add in a little bit more strength training a couple days a week. Also, what I found really helps with keeping things moving, and helping out on the scale is drinking tons and tons of water. I keep a water bottle by me 24/7 and definitely spend a lot of time on the potty, but it really does help! Also, try adding in just a simple strength training routine a couple days a week for 30 minutes, and like everyone else has been saying, make sure to be eating enough. I know it's frustrating and hard, but it's what your body needs :flowerforyou:
Good luck and be patient. Your body could just be catching up to the pounds you already lost and making sure that you're being serious about being healthy this time so it's holding on to everything you put into it to be safe.

alantin

I'm really scared to eat more... For how long did you eat more? What started the plateau was i was eating all of my exercise calories because I thought I was supposed to. As soon as I started doing that I stopped losing weight, within two days i realized it and lost. That activia yogurt is that good for you? Geez, I had head that it helps, but I didn't realize how great it is. So you eat it early in the morning and then it works that fast. WoW! Thanks for the tips!

Two days is way too short a time to determine if something is working or not. After a change in diet, you need to give it weeks for your body to get accustomed to it. Weight changes and fluctuates so a week without the scale budging isn't a big deal. It's often followed by a big drop when water weight gets moving.
Anyway. You need to eat the exercise calories for a myriad of reasons that boil down to that you need enough energy to support the exercise and not eating enough can even stall weight loss. The catch with the exercise calories is that it's really easy to overestimate them. One common way to go is, eat half of what the site suggests but it requires experimenting (or an HRM) to find out how much you burn extra.

And give it time! You can't realize anything in two days! Even just the weight of the extra undigested food in your bowel can compensate for the weight you might have lost in that time! A month is more likely to give you an idea of how a certain change in diet affects your weight!

LovingMe19

I would definitely get rid of the frozen meals first of all

I am wondering why you say this? Is there something wrong (in your opinion) with the frozen meals? I tend to eat quite a few of them and I find them to be quite helpful. Being a mom of 2 with a busy schedule and workout routine, I never have enough time to cook EVERY meal for myself. Dinner, maybe. It's pretty convienient to pop a meal in the microwave for a few minutes. And they ARE healthy and good for you. And i've been losing weight, 15 pounds to be exact. I know they have a high sodium content but I always manage to come in under my sodium.

alantin

My mom cooks a weeks worth of food an freezes that in portions. Not a bad idea!