Oh hello weight plateau, I've been expecting you!

u04kmm5

So I have lost about 12lbs over the last 6 weeks or so (yay) and KNEW that the dreaded weight plateau was going to rear it's ugly head sooner or later and lone behold! Here it is!

The only up side is that my mum was visiting over the weekend and we ate out twice so I thought I may put on weight this week.

I usually average about 1200 cal per day (as MFP recommends), which is made up of healthy foods, and I exercise about 3/4 times a week for about half an hour a time.
Any ideas on how to get through this one?

Thanks guys

healthyliving_girl

In an effort to avoid the dreaded weight plateau, I upped my cardio from 30 minutes to 40-50 minutes. I also eat back most of my exercise calories...which means I get to eat a TON. Love that. Oh, and I changed my workout routine a bit: instead of elliptical trainer, I vary it from elliptical, dance aerobics (wii dance), and weights. I just started kettlenetics last week.

Hope that helps.

SRH7

One little word of warning - the MFP settings are very generic and don't suit everyone. I followed the standard 1200 calories it recommended and lost 6lbs in the first week then just 1lb in the next five weeks. I got very upset until I had a good read of the forums on here and people suggested that my calories may have been too low, particularly when some days I was burning 3,000 calories hiking.

I upped my calories to 1500 and my weight has started to move again, albeit slowly.

There was a thread about this with details on BMR here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/342287-bmr-vs-suggested-cal-intake?hl=bmr

Hope this helps.

Pebble321

Don't stress, if it's only been a week, I would call that a normal variation, not a plateau!

It's unlikely that you will lose weight every single week, just use this as a motivator to get back to good eating and exercise habits (ie. eating the right amount of real food, exercising regularly).

I found it helpful to graph my weight loss once a week so I can see the overall downward trend. There are a few points where it went up or stayed the same for a week or two, but if I kept going it started going down again.

PS. Attitude is important in keeping going... don't be expecting the worst, just accept some normal variations that will change again very soon!

adross3

In an effort to avoid the dreaded weight plateau, I upped my cardio from 30 minutes to 40-50 minutes. I also eat back most of my exercise calories...which means I get to eat a TON. Love that. Oh, and I changed my workout routine a bit: instead of elliptical trainer, I vary it from elliptical, dance aerobics (wii dance), and weights. I just started kettlenetics last week.

Hope that helps.

worked for me too. I use more carbs to supply muscles with fuel before a work out and less carbs the slower I get. So, up the cardio just 2X a week and scale your glucose fat storing carbs to fuel more strenuous exercise

flabulous4

My weight loss journey is mainly a plateau with occasional small downward dips...must try harder!

morganadk2_deleted

I think you may need to eat more -When you exercise this puts you at a deficit. It seems like a lot of people do better when they eat their recommended allowance PLUS their exercise calories.

So now we can figure out where your goal should be.
Go to the tools section and figure out your BMI:

Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle building, and reducing fat. This means it is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode).


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

Soccer_chick916

bump

nanberube

bumping - good info