Breaking A Plateau!! Pointers please

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  • bake_n_run
    bake_n_run Posts: 20 Member
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    Thats such a great tip. Not eating back your exercise calories. I used to do the opposite since I felt oh I think I can eat a little. I guess I can stop doing that and see how it impacts. Thanks for the tip :)
  • bake_n_run
    bake_n_run Posts: 20 Member
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    Yes my goal is to start incorporating weights in my routine. I am just so intimidated in the weight room. For 2 years now I think I can still just do dumbell curls etc with 10pound weights. I thought I am doing something wrong since I cant lift heavier even after 2 years but then it may also be since I do weights just once a week. Not sure I am a dummie in that area :-/
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    Yes my goal is to start incorporating weights in my routine. I am just so intimidated in the weight room. For 2 years now I think I can still just do dumbell curls etc with 10pound weights. I thought I am doing something wrong since I cant lift heavier even after 2 years but then it may also be since I do weights just once a week. Not sure I am a dummie in that area :-/

    do some research on some programs like starting strength, strong lifts, new rules of lifting or even strong curves.

    you need PROGRESSIVE lifting programs- not just haphazardly going in and picking up heavy things. That'll help quiet a bit.


    Don't worry about "tricking" your body- consistent progressive loading is what you need- you're new- you can take advantage of linear gains and make some real headway.
  • icrushit
    icrushit Posts: 773 Member
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    If you're simply not inadvertently eating more than you think you are, the plateau is most likely water retention, a common enough phenomena when dieting aggressively or for prolonged periods. I believe the reason is hormonal, where a persistent caloric deficit can run down certain hormones in the body, and cause the body to ramp up certain others, which can result in your body retaining more water than expected.

    If this is the case, a dietary break of 10 days or so, maybe even two weeks is often recommended, to help reset many of those things back to normal parameters, and give you a platform to drop the pounds again when you resume your diet. You would eat at maintenance calories during this break, so as to avoid and fat regain.

    The other option is to have occasional days where you refeed, eating at maintenance calories usually, for the same purpose of replenishing and restoring your bodies hormonal balance to more normal levels. I do these from time to time, in the form of carb refeeds, as I'm doing low carb, and eating primarily carbs (and glucose mainly) and minimal fat every so often helps break a plateau where there's been no shift in bodyweight for 7/ 8/ 9 days (1.5lb per week loss rate, thus I would expect to see a shift of some sort in that time). This is obviously a very specific type of refeed, but imagine general occasional refeeds are equally effective if you're eating in another fashion (ie not low carb).

    If you're consistent in your methods, and know what you're doing is right, the above can be great at breaking plateaus, and my understanding of such plateaus was enhanced by reading around the area of cortisol and the 'whoosh' phenomena that some observe. Cutting calories further in this situation is the wrong option, as you are doing everything right, and just need to get your body back on track.

    Of course, if your methods are inconsistent, and you are not so confident in what you're doing is right, it may very well be you're not in a caloric deficit, and you need to re-examine the fundamentals of your weight loss plan. Just be careful to discern which of the two it is, as you can see the solutions for each are different, and counterproductive if you administer the incorrect medicine :)

    I meant to revisit the above sooner. When I wrote the above, I had misread your plateau to be 4/ 5 weeks, as opposed to 4/ 5 months. Given its not a short term/ temporary plateau, I think you need to revisit the fundamentals of your approach, and your adherence to them. Good luck with your weight loss efforts, and my best piece of advice would be if you have problems adhering to the goals/ intake you set, then start more humbly and at a point you can stick to, as once you have consistency you can then revise your goals upwards as you feel fit. In my own weight loss, I've found consistency and good habits invaluable.

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