Plateauing...and eating your exercise calories to break it..

tmendoza1045

I must start by saying that until MFP I would never have understood this concept. In fact, until about four days ago I didn't. First, let me give you a little background on my situation. I started my journey of weight loss (again)...on January 1, 2011. It wasn't a New Year's thing, it just happened to work out that way. I had gone to the doctor in mid December and found out that I weighed the most I have ever weighed in my life 275 pounds!!! I knew I had to do something I just wasn't sure what at the time. Well on December 31, my husband told me that he wanted to watch this marathon about the morbidly obese that was coming on a cable station on January 1. I was like, "ok, sure, we can watch that." So the next day we turned it on and started watching. Well he fell asleep about an hour into it, but I didn't, I was there....having my eyes opened. As I saw these beautiful people being examined and operated on...stuck in their homes because they can't leave their beds, crying out for help from anyone I realized something. They all shared their testimonies and they had all started out at normal or relatively normal weights, just like me. However, look where they had ended up...well after watching about four hours of this I made a decision, I didn't want to end up there and that's where I was headed. See I used to train and was in wonderful shape but I had let life pull me into all different directions and in the fight to survive some pretty bad situations I had stopped taking care of me. So I got up and I went downstairs and got out my food scale and from that day on I started counting my calories. I guess I should mention that I have some interesting health issues that caused my doctors to say, "they didn't know how successful a diet would be, but that I could try"...yes they really said that. Well it's been just over five months and with the help of MFP I have lost 53 pounds. Now why did I title this about plateauing and eating our exercise calories? Well this is why, about 3 weeks ago I stopped losing, just stopped dead in my tracks. It has been aweful, I knew I would plateau but I didn't expect it this soon. I still have 104 pounds to go to get to my goal. I decided to go on MFP and see what other people were doing for this problem and all last week I was reading all my wonderful MFP friends comments on here about how they had broken their plateau by eating more. I started reading other articles written by MFP folks explaining why I should be eating my exercise calories what this all means and decided to try. I was really apprehensive but figured what I was doing was not working so I might as well go for it. I had only read one comment on here saying the person had gained and one other one that said that person had not seen any results at all. I figured their had to be something to it if every other testimony was positive right? Well, not every one, there are some naysayers, but that's ok. I'm just here to share what happened for me. Well after four days of doing this, I finally got up this morning and lo and behold 3 POUNDS GONE!!!! I just really really wanted to encourage people not to starve themselves and think they are doing themselves a favor or maybe like me they're not aware they're even doing it. Our bodies need nutrition to survive all those hardcore workouts we're doing! Go for it, eat those calories and see if you don't feel stronger and have more energy and the best part, break that plateau! I am eating probably half to three quarters of my calories right now, and as I go down I will continue to adjust them. Good luck to all my MFP family! I am happy for each and every one of you, and very proud to be counted among your company. Thanks for listening.

looby1968

Absolutely agree! I started to plateau, seeing the same 6lbs going and coming back. I do eat back my calories but was on 1200 cals a day. I upped the cals to 1500 but still stayed as close to 1200 as poss, and nothing happened.

Well, my lovely MFPs told me that I'd upped my cals for a reason and to stick to them. Well, the weekend is usually a blow-out and this morning, i think I'm back on track.

Going to stick to 1500 cals, sometimes under, sometimes over.

Good luck to you!

LouiseXXX

ashleigh2311

its scary but i need to do it too.
In the last 3 months i have been on a different diet and lost just over a stone, but recently it just stopped completely.
So i ditched that diet for MFP.

I have lost a tiny bit since starting, but really need to eat more to speed up my metabolism and not get sent into starvation mode.

Its hard to accept that eating a bit more is actually the best thing to do.

But your post has cheered me up, and i realise that im not the only one who hits a plateau and it has given me courage to go eat a bit more now after my exercise and not worry that i wil gain weight because i do need it.

Thanks!!!

tmendoza1045

I'm so glad it encouraged you! I know what you mean...it is scary to eat more, we've been so conditioned about certain things, but my body sure seemed to like it!:laugh: I'm glad you decided to join MFP, I believe if you stick to it you will find that the organization alone is invaluable, not to mention the help it can give you as far as information and keeping you on track. I have found the more I make it a part of my overall lifestyle change it's really helping in me in numerous ways. I love it! Blessings to you in all you do! Keep me posted as to your progress!