hitting a brick wall aaaargh!

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Hi. I'm hitting a brick wall at the moment with my weight loss so need some advice please. I started out about a month ago weighing 166lbs, I currently weigh 155, but I really want to get down to about 145. (i am 5 ft 8). I have weighed 155 for about 2 weeks now and it's starting to get me down a bit. I do cardio about 5 times a week, am active at work all the time ( work in a nursery with 60 three year olds!) I have cut my calories down to 1200 a day but I don't always meet this. Should I be eating more than this? I have recently started to drink loads more water and have tried switching to different cardio activites to see if that has an effect.

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  • shumatet1982
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    Hi there.

    My tips would be:
    1. increase your cals a bit. concentrate on protein in the evening and carbs in the morning
    2. exchange 2 or 3 cardio work outs for intervall training, which speeds up your metabolism, instead of "just" burning cal's
    3. Do some weight training, to raise your overall cal need
    4. (most important) keep the faith - fatt loss is cyclic. Some times more, some times less. And always remember, that your body is a survival machine wich tries to hold on to every ounce of fat, that it can.

    Hope this helps you.
  • Walt75
    Walt75 Posts: 182 Member
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    You should at least be getting 1200. Very important:)
  • ArcticValkyrie
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    There was a nutrition tip at my gym the other day with some suggestions for when you hit a plateau. Try switching your diet to high protein / low carb for a few days, or if you do that try higher carb / low fat to shock your metabolism. Just passing it on! :D
  • chrisallcock
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    trust me, the interval training works, ive been doing it for about a month now and the weight for me is dropping off :)
  • dinahmite425
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    your eating to low at first 1200 you will lose but then your body going into starvation mode and holds on to everything plus in 1 month to lose 11 lbs is extreme you should never lose more than 2 lbs a week so actually you lost more than average what you need to do is get a measuring tape this is the best way to see your progess for example say you weight 155 lbs today in 3 weeks your 155 still it will make you want to give up but if you took your measurements and say your waist was 33 inches and in 3 weeks its 31 that means you lost 2 inches in your waist so stop focusing on the scale so much and start relying on the measuring tape so measure your waist chest hips thighs arms and do it every 30 days increase your calories up to around 14-1500 a day for 2 weeks see if this has you losing again dont afraid!!
  • BernieMBurke
    BernieMBurke Posts: 206 Member
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    I don't need to lose any more weight. Still, could you expand on "interval training" or tell me where to get more information? Thanks! :smile:
  • chrisallcock
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    I don't need to lose any more weight. Still, could you expand on "interval training" or tell me where to get more information? Thanks! :smile:

    well interval training is a great fat burner, will also tone your body up but if you dont need to lose anymore weight are you not better concentrating on your strenth training? :)

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  • zuhallem
    zuhallem Posts: 2
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    I was having the same problem, hit a plateau, and was frustrated. I had tried the same things you are doing but it did not help.
    Checking into different ideas regarding weightloss on various sites I frequent, I found an article by Brad Pilon (pronounced pealon), regarding a very scientific approach to weight loss, which is super easy to follow. His program is "Eat Stop Eat", which is a form of short term fasting that has worked very well for me, and I and many many others recommend it highly.
    The idea comes from the diet of ancient people, as they never or rarely had a steady diet every day. Some days they would eat well and other days had to fast. Doing this automatically controls your calorie intake, so on your normal eating days you don't have to worry about caloric intake as you do on other diets. Our bodies were never designed to eat every 3 hours or have a full stomach all the time like modern diets provide. During fasting the body is producing hormones that are actually burning stored fat that isn't burned during excersize, crazy, isn't it ?!
    On the day I fast, I stop eating at 2:00 pm through to 2:00 pm the next day, which is really easy. By fasting in this manner you are not depriving yourself of food for a full day, as you will be eating breakfast and lunch the start day, and the next day you can start back with a late lunch or a snack. Ensure to drink lots of fluid during the fasting days, this will quell any hunger. I do 2 fasting days a week. On fasting days I am still surprised by how much energy I have and am not hungry as one might expect to be
    As diet myths go, you may have heard that fasting will initiate the "starvation mode", this is of course a complete myth, being proven by science that this does not occur until at least 72 hours of full-on fasting.
    More info is on www.eatstopeat.com, or www.bradpilon.com.
    I find on the days I fast at least 1 to 1-1/2 lbs drop. I know it sounds kinda out there but it really works for me.
    So give it a go. Not only will you loss weight but you'll also save $$ by not eating as much. It's a win win for you.

    Elwood.
  • minburke
    minburke Posts: 241 Member
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    Do you find that you gain lbs when you begin eating again? or?
  • zuhallem
    zuhallem Posts: 2
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    No, not really, I may go up 1/2 lb but that lasts maybe 1 day.