another plateau post

katharine1229

Yea...sorry guys...I'm posting yet another one of these, and I'm new to posting in here, so hi:)

Heres the deal, I need to be told what I should do, and I'll give you the information that I can.

I have been having a hard time losing weight as fast as I have wanted to. While 80 pounds in a little over 10 months sounds possibly too quick, here is the break down.

I went from 256 to 220 in a matter of about a two and a half months by breastfeeding my son and eating less. I then stalled out at 220 for about a month. I made an appointment with a nutritionist, who gave me a meal plan according to the food pyramid guidelines, that should have been somewhere about 1600 calories a day. I lost 4 pounds in the next month.

4 1/2 months in (This is all from my last weigh in before I left the hospital with my son), I was down 40 pounds, to 216. My cousin joined a gym, raved about zumba, I went to a class and joined the gym as well. That was 6 months ago. So, in the last 6 months, I have lost 40 pounds. 10 of those pounds, happened in a one week time period, starting two weeks ago, when I ended up participating in a zumbathon cancer fundraiser and ended up burning 1700 calories in one day, and having a negative net intake according to MFP.

Now, doing some reading here, I have discovered that I very well may have been doing a ton of things WRONG, and I am trying to figure out a way to get back on track without gaining weight in the process.

For 6 months, I have worked out 5 -7 times a week, for at least an hour a day. I burn anywhere between 500-700 calories per workout, normally burning about 1000 calories on sundays. I eat about 1550 calories a day, every day, even when I do not attend the gym. I know that this probably needs to change i just need to know how to change it.

I am 176 pounds, 5'3.

I just recalculated my calories based on my new info, and it told me 1200 calories a day in order to lose 2 pounds a week. Am I to take this as, say I burn 500 calories at the gym, to then eat 1700 calories as to not be in starvation mode? This is the part that is kind of confusing to me. Back before I joined my fitness pal, I had dropped my calories to 1550 from 1600 because I was not losing at 1600 calories a day...I wasn't losing weight at 1600 calories a day even before I joined the gym for a period of weeks which is one of the reasons i joined the gym in the first place.

Yes, I am very impatient.

When not at the gym, I am mostly sedentary, until it actually gets warm here in new york.

I'm worried, because every other time I have tried dieting before, I have not made it below this weight.

I have hypothyroidism, which I am sure plays a part in here somewhere.

At the gym, I alternate between fitness classes such as zumba or turbo kick, with interval training on the treadmill (just started training for a 5k) and weight training. I hear people talk about switching things up in your work out. What am I supposed to switch up exactly?

Any help would be awesome, thanks;) hehe

danielled6875

bump

donicagalek

At the gym, I alternate between fitness classes such as zumba or turbo kick, with interval training on the treadmill (just started training for a 5k) and weight training. I hear people talk about switching things up in your work out. What am I supposed to switch up exactly?

I can answer this part. :-)

If you do the same exercises all the time your body becomes too efficient at that one activity. Too efficient isn't a good thing when you want to burn a ton of energy (calories). So, you "switch it up".

It sounds like you don't stick to just one thing as it is. If you wanted to vary it a bit more, you could do multiple things every day for shorter amounts of time.

Impala007

My weight loss slowed then I got sick and had to take some time off from the workouts..ended up going 2 weeks not exercising (not all due to being sick just got lazy for the second week). My eating wasn't bad, but wasn't exactly the best either during that time. I lost 5.5 lbs in the two weeks. I'm a firm believer in keeping your body confused. It will adapt to almost anything if the routine stays the same. On the surface it looks to me if you are not netting enough cals. Eat more or workout less. Just mix things up and you may be surprised.

katharine1229

At the gym, I alternate between fitness classes such as zumba or turbo kick, with interval training on the treadmill (just started training for a 5k) and weight training. I hear people talk about switching things up in your work out. What am I supposed to switch up exactly?

I can answer this part. :-)

If you do the same exercises all the time your body becomes too efficient at that one activity. Too efficient isn't a good thing when you want to burn a ton of energy (calories). So, you "switch it up".

It sounds like you don't stick to just one thing as it is. If you wanted to vary it a bit more, you could do multiple things every day for shorter amounts of time.

Ok, so maybe you can answer this question for me in regards to this lol. I wear a heart rate monitor, so, I can track my heart rate and calories burned pretty easily. I can see my trends in certain classes from weeks ago now even, for example my 'peak highs' would be around 180...now doing those same songs they are about 160...and its a lot harder to keep my heart rate in the target zone unless I really go all out. That said, no matter what exorcise I end up doing on any given day, if I can be aware of my heart rate and my target zone, does it really matter exactly what exorcise I end up doing?

Basically, is there a difference between doing interval training, getting a varying heart rate during an hour as compared to an exorcise routine where you keep your heart rate more consistent and burn the same amount of calories?

I really don't know about any of this stuff...lol

katharine1229

My weight loss slowed then I got sick and had to take some time off from the workouts..ended up going 2 weeks not exercising (not all due to being sick just got lazy for the second week). My eating wasn't bad, but wasn't exactly the best either during that time. I lost 5.5 lbs in the two weeks. I'm a firm believer in keeping your body confused. It will adapt to almost anything if the routine stays the same. On the surface it looks to me if you are not netting enough cals. Eat more or workout less. Just mix things up and you may be surprised.

Thank you! confusing your body does sound good...I guess I am just terrified thinking that if my body is not losing weight at my current calorie intake...how am I not going to gain weight by increasing that calorie intake. Bodies are confusing though...lol

rileysowner

At the gym, I alternate between fitness classes such as zumba or turbo kick, with interval training on the treadmill (just started training for a 5k) and weight training. I hear people talk about switching things up in your work out. What am I supposed to switch up exactly?

I can answer this part. :-)

If you do the same exercises all the time your body becomes too efficient at that one activity. Too efficient isn't a good thing when you want to burn a ton of energy (calories). So, you "switch it up".

It sounds like you don't stick to just one thing as it is. If you wanted to vary it a bit more, you could do multiple things every day for shorter amounts of time.

Ok, so maybe you can answer this question for me in regards to this lol. I wear a heart rate monitor, so, I can track my heart rate and calories burned pretty easily. I can see my trends in certain classes from weeks ago now even, for example my 'peak highs' would be around 180...now doing those same songs they are about 160...and its a lot harder to keep my heart rate in the target zone unless I really go all out. That said, no matter what exorcise I end up doing on any given day, if I can be aware of my heart rate and my target zone, does it really matter exactly what exorcise I end up doing?

Basically, is there a difference between doing interval training, getting a varying heart rate during an hour as compared to an exorcise routine where you keep your heart rate more consistent and burn the same amount of calories?

I really don't know about any of this stuff...lol

Interval training will burn a lot more fat, and keeps burning it after you have finished your exercise. Steady state cardio (keeping your heart rate at the same level more or less) really only burns calories when you are actually exercising. I would suggest looking into High Intensity Interval Training, and get into strength training either with weights of using body weight exercises. Especially doing that strength training using Metabolic Resistance Training will burn lots of fat. HIIT burns up to 9 times more fat than steady state cardio.

rileysowner

My weight loss slowed then I got sick and had to take some time off from the workouts..ended up going 2 weeks not exercising (not all due to being sick just got lazy for the second week). My eating wasn't bad, but wasn't exactly the best either during that time. I lost 5.5 lbs in the two weeks. I'm a firm believer in keeping your body confused. It will adapt to almost anything if the routine stays the same. On the surface it looks to me if you are not netting enough cals. Eat more or workout less. Just mix things up and you may be surprised.

Thank you! confusing your body does sound good...I guess I am just terrified thinking that if my body is not losing weight at my current calorie intake...how am I not going to gain weight by increasing that calorie intake. Bodies are confusing though...lol

Number one, stop just thinking about weight. Start measuring as you can be losing inches and not losing any weight at all. That means fat is being burned.

Number two, realize that there are times your body needs to stay at the same weight for a while for various reasons. You need to be patient and realize that there is more to what you are doing than just losing weight.

Number three, as counter intuitive as it may seem, increasing your calories may actually get you losing again. You sound like you work out quite intensely, and a lot of days. If that is the case, you need fuel for it to recover.

donicagalek

What Jim said. :-D

(I'm impatiently waiting for better weather, too. Ahhh, upstate NY.)

psuLemon

I agree with what has been said. You need need need weight training. That is more important than any other type of workout you can do because muscle burns fat. The more muscle you have, the more tight your body will be, the more calories you will burn at rest and the faster you will lose weight. Also, as it has been said, interval training is great. Programs like p90x/chalean extreme/insanity, are great examples of this. I have used these programs with good success as did some of my friends. In fact, these programs tell you to increase your calorie intakes. If you put yourself in a calorie deficiet, your body will go into defense mode... meaning it will store calories as fat. Also, eat frequently, but smaller portions. You should eat every three hours. The combination of doing this and weight training, yoru metabolism will go through the roof and weight loss will become easy. Also, none of this will work unless you are eating the right types of foods. Get rid of unhealthy snacks... those high in suger, white carbs, bad fats (transfats and saturated fats) and replace it with high protein and high fiber. Also, drink a lot of water. I am talking about 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water or more (I weight 192lbs and drink about 120 oz of water). If you aren't going to the bathroom every three hours, you aren't drinking enough. Once you get most of that down, then weight loss should happen.

katharine1229

thank you everyone. I think I have been doing some level of interval training this entire time, but I'm going to kick that up a notch. I have a lot of great weight training info from the personal trainer I used to be trained by (hopefully doing some more of than in may when money allows). I seem to have stopped weight training altogether the last three months, although for good reason (two cubital tunnel surgeries within a months time). I still can't do a push up yet because of it, but I was able to use some 15 pound weights yesterday. I can also increase my water, i'm probably only drinking 1/3 of my body weight in ounces a day. I think another part of my problem was I was eating whatever types of foods I wanted to, but still keeping under a certain calorie amount a day. It made sense to me, consume this number of calories burn this number of calories its all in the numbers. I guess I am learning its NOT all in the numbers.

rileysowner

You can find help with doing push-ups here http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/196286-help-for-those-who-want-to-do-push-ups?page=1#posts-2652993