Questions about breaking the plateau! HELP!

Raquel1275

HELP!!! I think I have reached my plateau. If anyone out there can relate and help I would be ever so grateful.
Here is a little background about me.... I am a 35 year old female. I am a stay at home mom of 3 boys, so before MFP I was pretty active. I started MFP on January 8, 2011. I was given 1550 calories and i worked out doing Walk Off The Pounds for 30 minutes , 5 days a week. I never ate all my calories. I ranges from 1100 to 1300 daily. I thought that was good for me but now I think I am wrong. I was losing weight pretty quickly and thought "Yes! This is working!" I lost 20 lbs so far but then on February 25 I stopped losing weight. It has now been almost 3 weeks and haven't dropped. I am actually up a pound. I haven't changed anything so I started researching and I came to the conclusion that I don't think I was eating enough. Here's what I think..and if I am wrong please correct me. I was eating say on the average 1350 calories a day and working off 320 calories from my workout. So my NET calories would only be 1030 which puts me under the 1200 starvation mode...right?? So I figured if I eat all my calories for a while and still work out ( Changed my workout routine too. I am not doing 10 lb Slimdown) I will start losing again. Any suggestions????

MelissaL582

Heya mama!! I would change up your workout. Instead of only doing 30 minutes, try doing 45 minutes. I have Leslie Sansone's 5 miles and I do the whole thing.I would also, workout to my other dvds. I change what I eat too, trying new recipes. Drinking lots of water has helped me with taking off the weight too. I can't remember your water in take at the moment. Some people will eat all of their exercise calories and some won't. I eat at least half of mine when I can. One of our support buddies mentioned that after you lose 10lbs, you should increase your calories.

Hope you get some info to help with your plateau

ValerieMomof2

I was going to suggest the same. You may have issues with calories, but I agree that you need to up your workout! I know it's tough because I am a SAHM to two boys as well so time can be a challenge, but see if you can increase time or intensity in some way. Good luck to you

krisvtx8777

I also did a variety of Leslie Sansone regularly. But did all different of her workouts and it seemed to keep me losing, then I hit a plateau after 30 pounds and now I'm doing the JM 30 day shred-it took two weeks but I'm starting to lose a few again. I have seen lots of inches coming off but the pounds are very slow now

amehrkens

I agree with the others about changing up your workout routine. Also what types of things are you eating? Maybe change up what you are eating and see if that helps.

lkm111

You have done a great job with your fitness comittment so far - congratulations! Now that you have burned off some weight with just cardio, I would find an easy way to add some strength training. I use KettleWorx and it is so awesome! I started w/ a 5 lb. weight and now I'm up to a 7 lb. weight. I hope to be moving on to 10 lb. by summer. I had been doing Zumba 4-5 days a week (DVDs) for 5 months and it wasn't until I added the KWs that people actually stopped me and said "How much weight have you lost?) The strength training added muscle tone that cardio along could not.

There are other programs out there that use strength training. Hopefully you can find one that works for you!

JenniCH

First things first -- stay motivated! Do not give up!!
Everyone's body is very different...
Here is what is working for me...
I eat 1,000 calories/day (I DO NOT eat my exercise calories back) while I'm trying to lose weight. (When I get to the "maintenance" stage I will probably be up to 1,500 calories/day).
I'm not just doing thing willy-nilly either - I have a Dr./Nutritionist who has approved of and watches over my eating/exercising.

I am a Vegetarian (except some cheese & eggs) so all the food/calories that go into my body are extremely healthy and help my body to run the best that it can - I make every calorie count! I did extensive research on the benefits of a Vegetarian diet and as much as I like meat - in the end - I couldn't argue to much with what I found.

As well - I exercise between 6-8 hours a week... it seems like a lot but it's really not.
Monday: 20-30 minutes of cardio (Jillian Michael's DVDs etc.) at home
Tuesday: 1 hour of water aerobics in the morning & Arm toning routine (10-15 minutes) + 20-30 minutes of cardio at home
Wednesday: 1 hour @ the gym (treadmill & crossbody ramp)
Thursday: Same as Tuesday
Friday: 20-30 minutes of cardio at home
Saturday: 1 hour @ gym
Sunday: 1 hour of freestyle, lap swimming
Total = 7-8 hours

Some weeks I'll lose 1 pound and other weeks I'll lose 2.5.

Pleateaus are NORMAL and you will get past it, just takes lots of time and patience.
I just do the best I can with the food I consume (eat to live don't live to eat) and I do enough different exercises to keep my body guessing and to not get bored with the same routine).

Good luck and keep going!!!