hit my plateau

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kmart20
kmart20 Posts: 72
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been varying my calorie in take, how long I work out and what I do for working out (an hour or an hour and a half) and still can seem to shake the last 1-3 lbs (depending on how much I weigh from week to week) Just wondering what other people have done to get over their plateaus or if anyone has any suggestions.

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  • MelissaL582
    MelissaL582 Posts: 1,422 Member
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    I was given a link to help me, maybe it will help you too.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/20343-how-i-have-avoided-plateauing-length-warning
  • pj_writer
    pj_writer Posts: 107 Member
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    I was googling stuff about training and recommended heart rates earlier and found this article
    http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-loose-that-last-bit-of-fat

    hope it might be of use to you!

    I like interval training because it makes me feel really fit really quickly if I do it regularly, not sure about the fat burning though - I'll let you know if I keep it up for a few more weeks ;)
  • chuckanderson
    chuckanderson Posts: 97
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    How low are you? If you are down to flat abs you're going to need to eat clean and just take it .5 lb at a time. You can't go too fast at this point.
  • deannarey13
    deannarey13 Posts: 452
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    As backward as this seems, you may actually need to INCREASE your calorie intake. Do not necessarily follow the calorie recommendation that this site gives. Muscle requires more calories than fat to maintain. The leaner you are, the more your body will need in caloric intake to keep up your metabolism. Feed it!

    I had plateaued for nearly two months before I took this advice. It worked almost instantly. I went from 1400 to 1700 calories and that did it! At my heaviest back in June, I was at only 1200 calories.
  • shanna5
    shanna5 Posts: 69
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    Ugh! I'm in the same position, except I've been at a plateau for 3 months! I've heard that upping the calories helps, but I mentally cant get past the 1200 calories that MFP suggests. Has caloric increase helped others? Deannarey13-did you stil continue to do 1700 calories daily, or have you lowered it?
  • deannarey13
    deannarey13 Posts: 452
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    Ugh! I'm in the same position, except I've been at a plateau for 3 months! I've heard that upping the calories helps, but I mentally cant get past the 1200 calories that MFP suggests. Has caloric increase helped others? Deannarey13-did you stil continue to do 1700 calories daily, or have you lowered it?

    I understand what you mean. I had a hard time with the recommendation as well. I have actually lowered it again slightly. That is only because I went on a vacation and gained a lot of weight back. However, this hasn't worked and I haven't really seen any of that weight come off. I am likely eating too few calories myself and am looking at going back up, but haven't decided what is right for me yet. It is actually going to be a topic of discussion with my trainer and nutrition advisor this week.
  • kmart20
    kmart20 Posts: 72
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    How low are you? If you are down to flat abs you're going to need to eat clean and just take it .5 lb at a time. You can't go too fast at this point.

    I wish I had flat abs..even at my skinniest I had ever been never had flat abs. On average I have been losing about .5 a week. (I have 12 lbs I wanted to lose to get back to my pre baby weight and then some.) Right now I am set for 1200 calories and go over 100-300 calories since I usually burn on average 500-700 calories per workout, some times a little less. Maybe I will increase it a little as see what happens. Should I increase even on days I don't work out (I try to work out 5-6 days a week)
  • deannarey13
    deannarey13 Posts: 452
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    How low are you? If you are down to flat abs you're going to need to eat clean and just take it .5 lb at a time. You can't go too fast at this point.

    I wish I had flat abs..even at my skinniest I had ever been never had flat abs. On average I have been losing about .5 a week. (I have 12 lbs I wanted to lose to get back to my pre baby weight and then some.) Right now I am set for 1200 calories and go over 100-300 calories since I usually burn on average 500-700 calories per workout, some times a little less. Maybe I will increase it a little as see what happens. Should I increase even on days I don't work out (I try to work out 5-6 days a week)

    Yes. I would suggest that you eat a net of 1500 or so. Meaning, if you burn 300 calories, you will actually eat 1800. If you have been eating 1200 and not also eating your calories burned, this would definitely explain the plateau. Your body needs the 1200 as a minimum just to operate without exercise.

    Based on what you said, your net has been right around 1000 calories or so. I know it seems crazy, but eating more will actually help your metabolism and your body will burn more. It sounds like you need to increase your calorie intake quite a bit.
  • deannarey13
    deannarey13 Posts: 452
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    You can customize your goals by doing the following:

    Go to My Home
    Then Goals
    Click "custom," and from there, you can adjust accordingly.

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