Eating more cals. to break a plateau ????

neome90

Hello everyone. I was just wondering if anyone could please explain to me why eating more cals. or upping your cal. intake when you hit a plateau will cause you to break the plateau ??? I mean, what if I just stayed on say 1200 cals. a day, should'nt it at least have to break sooner or later???? I have been on a plateau for about 6 weeks and am really afraid of going back up in weight ,and therefore , am really afraid of trying the "more cals. a day thing. Please help!

neome90

Hello everyone. I was just wondering if anyone could please explain to me why eating more cals. or upping your cal. intake when you hit a plateau will cause you to break the plateau ??? I mean, what if I just stayed on say 1200 cals. a day, should'nt it at least have to break sooner or later???? I have been on a plateau for about 6 weeks and am really afraid of going back up in weight ,and therefore , am really afraid of trying the "more cals. a day thing. Please help!

sculley

I am sure someone like banks will chime in with a more educated answer. but no...because your body gets used to something being a certain way and with you doing the same amount of calories and exercise your body gets used to it so it's good to shock it. good luck

PedalHound

You don't want to just arbitrarily heap a bunch of extra cals into your life and sit around and wait. But feeding your body a little more may shake up your metabolism and get things moving again. Something to consider also is how close you are to a healthy weight. The closer you are, the harder your body will hang on to the fat.

Try this:

week 1: relax a little on your calories (go up, say, 200 - 300 a day) and incorporate some new foods into your diet. Work out 15-20% harder (and continue to eat your exercise cals)

week 2: relax your work out. Take it down to light weight training and brisk walking. Be PERFECT with your diet. Stay on your calories, no refined sugars, no processed foods, healthy whole foods only.

week 3: moderate work outs, moderate diet (one day go 150 cals over, one day be bang on, one day go 200 cals over, one day bang on, then back to 150....)

week 4: stick to your cals, be disciplined with your work outs.

The whole point is that you need to keep your metabolism "guessing", and you need to assure your body that it will receive enough to eat!

Good luck. Plateaus are so demoralizing, but you can do it!! :flowerforyou:

neome90

:flowerforyou: Thanks guys !!! Yes I posted before I read down the message board :blushing: . Will know better next time. Any how ...Thank you and thanks again "Banks to the rescue." Yes I believe I am #3 and #5. So will have to take a look at that. Also thank you too sculley. I guess the shock treatment is in order. :huh:

neome90

:flowerforyou: Thanks to you also PedalHound ! I will try some of that advise. I am starting to understand now with the "keeping the metabolism guessing" thing. Cool.

banks1850

ACJM has a good post about this.

I posted too on it. So I'll just refer you there, as opposed to re-writing it (I'm lazy that way )

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/20343-how-i-have-avoided-plateauing-length-warning

shorerider

Trust us--it works!! I have a lot to lose and was doing 1200 a day. Hit plateau after 3 months. In the whole first 3 weeks of of July, I lost a total of 1.6 pounds. Last week, I finally upped my calories by 100 a day, and in the last few days, weight loss has resumed! So trust us because we've tried it and know the results.