Breaking the Plateau & Losing Weight
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MelleyJ
Posts: 198
So I am on my first "plateau" and I was looking for some ideas on how to break it. I went to the Jillian Michaels website and found her Q&A. Here are 2 of the Q&A's I found helpful that will help you break your plateau and lose weight faster. Good luck. Feel free to add me if you, like me, are stuck and need motivation to keep going. I am going to keep going. Can't wait to workout tonight and to get my weigh in tomorrow morning!
Q: I love that I have the information I need to lose 2 pounds a week; however, I would like to lose more than that. How can I lose 4 to 5 pounds a week? I have a total of 96 more pounds to lose.
A: To lose a pound, you must burn 3,500 calories. As I've said before, it's all about the math — how to burn more calories in the most effective way.
You can only do so much resistance training without damaging your muscles and impeding your results. Additionally, you can't starve the weight off: If you eat fewer than 1,200 calories a day, you will sabotage your optimal results. Therefore, cardio is weight loss extra credit. It allows you to burn additional calories without overtraining. This is one of the reasons some Biggest Loser players can still lose 20 pounds a week, even 7 weeks into the program.
Think about the math: If you are eating 1,500 calories a day — we assume your BMR without exercise is 1,600 (this is actually my BMR) — and you do two 1-hour cardio sessions that burn 500 calories each (one in the morning and one at night), the two sessions, along with your regular daily activity, will speed up your base metabolism to at least 2,000. As a result, you will have burned about 1,500 calories that day — that is, almost half a pound. At that rate you will be losing up to 3.5 pounds a week.
That said, you are bound to lose more weight during the first two weeks of any weight loss regimen because of the dramatic change in your diet and the loss of excess fluid. After that, it's all about crunching the numbers, and cardio is the key.
Q: How can I bust through a weight-loss plateau? I've been working really hard and have been having success; however, the scale hasn't budged for the past two and a half weeks.
A: Let me just tell you this, a weight-loss plateau is an integral part of weight loss. DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED! It is your body's way of protecting you for survival purposes. The weight-loss plateau occurs because your body thinks there is a famine and has slowed your metabolism in order to conserve calories. This will happen periodically throughout your weight-loss odyssey.
That said, a plateau will usually break on its own after about three weeks, but here are several ways to help get your metabolism back on track quickly!
Exercise Tips
1. Variety: Often we fall into an exercise routine — meaning that we do the same workout regimen for weeks at a time. Think of it like this: if you do 10 push-ups after not working out for months, you will be sore, but if you do 10 push-ups a day for 10 days in a row, you will no longer be sore. This is because your body adapts to your exercise program, and as it adapts, the workout becomes less challenging — and, unfortunately, less effective.
The solution is variety. You have to mix up your exercise routine in order to consistently shock your system. Here are a few different ways to mix up your workout:
Alternate the weight — one week lift heavy, and the next week lift light.
Change the number of repetitions. This usually goes hand in hand with the amount of weight you are lifting: one week heavy weights, low reps; the next week light weights, high reps.
Change the exercise: One week do a chest press, the next week a chest fly, and the next week push-ups.
2. Intensity: The best way to speed up your metabolism is to boost the intensity of your training. By picking up the intensity, you'll burn more calories, challenge your body, and literally force your metabolism to burn a little brighter because of all the energy your body needs to complete your exercise regimen.
Food Tips
1. Eat more: Ninety percent of the time plateaus are caused by your body's survival mechanism of protecting against famine, which is triggered by calorie reduction. The best way to fix this quickly is to give your body a little more food so it feels secure. Varying your calorie intake is my best advice for keeping your body from plateauing: For the next three days vary your calorie intake between 1,800 and 2,400 calories. I know this may sound crazy, but trust me...I know what I'm doing. Then, after three days, drop back down to the calorie allowance that I have set for you through this program.
2. Reduce your sodium and DRINK LOTS OF WATER: Keep your sodium under 1,500 mg a day at most for as long as you can manage. You can achieve this in part by cutting all processed food out of your diet for two weeks.
I promise you that if you follow these tips to the letter, your plateau will be shattered by the end of week 2!
Q: I love that I have the information I need to lose 2 pounds a week; however, I would like to lose more than that. How can I lose 4 to 5 pounds a week? I have a total of 96 more pounds to lose.
A: To lose a pound, you must burn 3,500 calories. As I've said before, it's all about the math — how to burn more calories in the most effective way.
You can only do so much resistance training without damaging your muscles and impeding your results. Additionally, you can't starve the weight off: If you eat fewer than 1,200 calories a day, you will sabotage your optimal results. Therefore, cardio is weight loss extra credit. It allows you to burn additional calories without overtraining. This is one of the reasons some Biggest Loser players can still lose 20 pounds a week, even 7 weeks into the program.
Think about the math: If you are eating 1,500 calories a day — we assume your BMR without exercise is 1,600 (this is actually my BMR) — and you do two 1-hour cardio sessions that burn 500 calories each (one in the morning and one at night), the two sessions, along with your regular daily activity, will speed up your base metabolism to at least 2,000. As a result, you will have burned about 1,500 calories that day — that is, almost half a pound. At that rate you will be losing up to 3.5 pounds a week.
That said, you are bound to lose more weight during the first two weeks of any weight loss regimen because of the dramatic change in your diet and the loss of excess fluid. After that, it's all about crunching the numbers, and cardio is the key.
Q: How can I bust through a weight-loss plateau? I've been working really hard and have been having success; however, the scale hasn't budged for the past two and a half weeks.
A: Let me just tell you this, a weight-loss plateau is an integral part of weight loss. DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED! It is your body's way of protecting you for survival purposes. The weight-loss plateau occurs because your body thinks there is a famine and has slowed your metabolism in order to conserve calories. This will happen periodically throughout your weight-loss odyssey.
That said, a plateau will usually break on its own after about three weeks, but here are several ways to help get your metabolism back on track quickly!
Exercise Tips
1. Variety: Often we fall into an exercise routine — meaning that we do the same workout regimen for weeks at a time. Think of it like this: if you do 10 push-ups after not working out for months, you will be sore, but if you do 10 push-ups a day for 10 days in a row, you will no longer be sore. This is because your body adapts to your exercise program, and as it adapts, the workout becomes less challenging — and, unfortunately, less effective.
The solution is variety. You have to mix up your exercise routine in order to consistently shock your system. Here are a few different ways to mix up your workout:
Alternate the weight — one week lift heavy, and the next week lift light.
Change the number of repetitions. This usually goes hand in hand with the amount of weight you are lifting: one week heavy weights, low reps; the next week light weights, high reps.
Change the exercise: One week do a chest press, the next week a chest fly, and the next week push-ups.
2. Intensity: The best way to speed up your metabolism is to boost the intensity of your training. By picking up the intensity, you'll burn more calories, challenge your body, and literally force your metabolism to burn a little brighter because of all the energy your body needs to complete your exercise regimen.
Food Tips
1. Eat more: Ninety percent of the time plateaus are caused by your body's survival mechanism of protecting against famine, which is triggered by calorie reduction. The best way to fix this quickly is to give your body a little more food so it feels secure. Varying your calorie intake is my best advice for keeping your body from plateauing: For the next three days vary your calorie intake between 1,800 and 2,400 calories. I know this may sound crazy, but trust me...I know what I'm doing. Then, after three days, drop back down to the calorie allowance that I have set for you through this program.
2. Reduce your sodium and DRINK LOTS OF WATER: Keep your sodium under 1,500 mg a day at most for as long as you can manage. You can achieve this in part by cutting all processed food out of your diet for two weeks.
I promise you that if you follow these tips to the letter, your plateau will be shattered by the end of week 2!
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Replies
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the biggest loser people lose so much weight fast because they are sooooo huge...If you dont have that much to lose you will not be losing like crazy. 2lbs of fat a week is always the max at a normal rate.0
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awesome tips!0
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Love it! Bump...0
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Thank you for the tips, they are really helpful, I'm currently on a plateau and trying to overcome it by eating more
If you don't mind, I'm going to add you as a friend 0 -
the biggest loser people lose so much weight fast because they are sooooo huge...If you dont have that much to lose you will not be losing like crazy. 2lbs of fat a week is always the max at a normal rate.
Yes, but if you want to work out and increse to maybe 3 lbs a week you can still do it. Just for those, like me, who want to work a little harder in order to drop a little bit more. I'm not expecting a 20lb weight loss, but there are a lot of us who need to drop more weight and can benefit from the info. Thanks!0 -
Great thread!0
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bump!
good stuff.0 -
Thanks for posting, I posted about this same topic this am, but i've been on a Plateau for a couple of months now. Sending a friend request!
Tina0 -
Great info! Thanks for posting! I
Jillian Michaels and The Biggest Loser! I'll definitely keep this post in mind when I hit my plateau, it's inevitable and I've hit it before in the past... 0 -
bump
Yeah, I usually get discourages, even though I know everyone will hit it. I am way ahead of my goal, so I just need to keep pushing forward and not look at this as a setback! Good luck to everyone!0 -
I have found that the eating more part stands true, I went crazy in December, and now back on track I have lost almost 6 lbs. My body acts like I am doing something new when really I am just getting back in the swing of things. Next time I will be doing this in a healthy fashion, without cookies and candies and cakes and tracking it! This is great, thanks!0
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bump
Thanks for sharing
Good stuff 0 -
the biggest loser people lose so much weight fast because they are sooooo huge...If you dont have that much to lose you will not be losing like crazy. 2lbs of fat a week is always the max at a normal rate.
Yes, but if you want to work out and increse to maybe 3 lbs a week you can still do it. Just for those, like me, who want to work a little harder in order to drop a little bit more. I'm not expecting a 20lb weight loss, but there are a lot of us who need to drop more weight and can benefit from the info. Thanks!
I lost 3-4 lbs a week, going from 217 to 119 in 9 months, and ended up with gallstones with complications as a result. Needed to have emergency surgery on Christmas. I have to urge everyone not to go beyond losing 2lbs a week without doctor supervision.0 -
Bump...may need it as a reference in the days to come, thanks for sharing!
I've been stuck in my 1st plateau for 2 months now and it IS aggravating....BUT....I just keep pushing & hope for the best! Good luck to anyone else struggling with this issue...you are not alone!0
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