Plateau advice from those that met their goal

JennBunny73

I am wondering from those that have been on the journey and have met their ultimate goal or close to it...is there something special besides trying to change your workout or eat less to get out of a plateau? How did you keep yourself encouraged during the times the scale wouldn't budge or you had a few pounds loss and then it bounced back up? I get so frustrated..I was on a 3 week plateau...then I changed my workouts from Turbo Fire to Rockin Body..lost 3 pounds that week..and then the following week back up a few pounds and now this week..still no loss.

carterjerm

Plateaus are bad, I had one for a month.

I found that having a "cheat" day helped me.

Also take your measurements! True loss can be seen in measurements more than the scale can show.

Keep up the great work and you will get through.

anic31385

Interesting info from Jillian Michaels
What advice do women always ask you for?
They get caught on plateaus. In that case what you need to do is give yourself a couple of days of rest and bump up your calories by 10 percent. When you lose weight quickly, your body often responds by releasing hormones to increase your appetite and store more fat. That's a survival instinct meant to help us conserve fuel during times of famine. You can outsmart it by eating a little more and resting. That usually helps jump-start your metabolism again.
Hope this helps ive been stuck at the same weight for weeks!!!!! Good Luck!

LittleFootHafner

I'm not at my goal weight yet, but I have gone through lots of ups and downs on my journey.

There is no secret to help you keep your head in the game - I am still working on that myself!
Just keep telling yourself that you are WORTH all of the effort and hard work!!!

My only advice to you is to shock your body in as many ways as possible!!

Change your number of workouts/week, the style of workout (cardio, training, etc..) and the intensity level.

Also - change your food intake. If you usually eat a large meal for dinner, then change your calories around. eat a smaller dinner, and a larger breakfast!

I have also heard several people say that upping their calorie intake by as little as 100 per day really does help out...
How many calories are you currently consuming per day??

This may sounds really strange as well - but maybe even try to BLOW your diet for 1 day and consume a ton of extra calories (try to more good foods though, rather than bad). Then, get right back on track the next morning. This may shock your body out of starvation mode...

GOOD LUCK!

JennBunny73

Interesting info from Jillian Michaels
What advice do women always ask you for?
They get caught on plateaus. In that case what you need to do is give yourself a couple of days of rest and bump up your calories by 10 percent. When you lose weight quickly, your body often responds by releasing hormones to increase your appetite and store more fat. That's a survival instinct meant to help us conserve fuel during times of famine. You can outsmart it by eating a little more and resting. That usually helps jump-start your metabolism again.
Hope this helps ive been stuck at the same weight for weeks!!!!! Good Luck!

Thanks for the advice..I think I might just try to increase calories..I have been doing 1200 calorie and including the workout calories..and maybe you are right ..I hate to rest when I have been going so strong, but I have been feeling pretty fatigued. I did a rest day Saturday and hadn't done that in like a month! I am ready to outsmart my metabolism..I am also getting close to 40 so I know that factors in there

dragonc321

I have been wondering this same question. Thanks for asking! And thank you to everyone for your great advice

JennBunny73

Plateaus are bad, I had one for a month.

I found that having a "cheat" day helped me.

Also take your measurements! True loss can be seen in measurements more than the scale can show.

Keep up the great work and you will get through.

Thank-you! Maybe a cheat day would be a good idea..It reminds me of an article I had read years ago on Heather Locklear..they asked her what was her secret to being thin, having that tiny waist but keeping a round curvy tush..she said she loved cheeseburgers and had one once a week and it helped her to keep her tush that way..lol... I plan to keep it up...I know it is going to be a long journey~!

Helloitsdan

Plateaus are generally caused by:
1) body adaptation to a routine
2) metabolism slowing down due to VLCD
3) You are at your goal but your brain isnt agreeing with your body

I recommend that anyone hitting a weight loss plateau to eat at maintenance for 2 weeks then resume the diet.

Be sure you know the big 3!
TDEE
BMR
Body fat %

I have 6 people this week report no weight loss but inches lost due to proper nutrition and macronutrients.
Is your MFP configured correctly or did you take the cookie cutter approach and not do the math?

AmyW125

bump....4 months stuck at the last 10 pounds!!!! HELP!!!!

JennBunny73

My only advice to you is to shock your body in as many ways as possible!!

Change your number of workouts/week, the style of workout (cardio, training, etc..) and the intensity level.
Also - change your food intake. If you usually eat a large meal for dinner, then change your calories around. eat a smaller dinner, and a larger breakfast!

I have also heard several people say that upping their calorie intake by as little as 100 per day really does help out...
How many calories are you currently consuming per day??

I am doing the 1200 calorie (yes, cookie cutter approach..not sure what TDEE is or ways to figure the BMR or body fat%)
but that is a great idea on switching the meals around.. Thanks for the good advice!

Helloitsdan

Google Fat to Fit Radio Tools.
Do the military body fat calculator
then the BMR tool.

You will be happy and surprised!

Do it now btw.....

psuLemon

You need to up your calories. As you get closer to your goal, you need to reduce the deficit as your body wants to conserve energy (aka calories). Change your goal to .5 lbs or 1 lb per week if it isn't there. Also take a good evaluated of your lifestyle. IF you do a lot of walking, consider changing from sedentary to lightly active.

salmanajmal

for me, the 30 day shred (jillian michael's) worked

chenoamac

I was told to add foods that help your boost/speed up your metabolism




Check out this web site

http://www.metabolism-boosting-foods.com/

jeepzilla

Google Fat to Fit Radio Tools.
Do the military body fat calculator
then the BMR tool.

You will be happy and surprised!

Do it now btw.....

I did this and it showed I needed around 2730 for my activity MFP has me set at that with a calorie loss of 1000 so do i need to add the 1000 to it? and if I excerise which is 800 to 1000 do i eat those back too?
I have been in plateau for a while even gain some weight back seems nothing is working??

deekaydee

I recommend that anyone hitting a weight loss plateau to eat at maintenance for 2 weeks then resume the diet.

I completely agree with this. It broke my plateau. BUT, be sure you are committed to it. You may gain a few lbs when you first up your calories to maintenance, but those lbs are quickly lost in my experience. Two weeks won't destroy your progress, especially if you are truly eating at maintenance level, so you just have to commit to yourself that you'll stick through it even when you see a few blips on the scale in the beginning.

Caprica33

Thanks for asking this question. I've been thinking about this for some time now. I just started the "Spike Diet" which is what everyone is mentioning here (one cheat day). It's only been 4 days, I've lost 3 lbs and I'm starting to notice a difference in my tummy area. If you want to know more more about it search under community for Spike Diet. The guy that started it is on mfp as well if you have any questions.

psuLemon

Google Fat to Fit Radio Tools.
Do the military body fat calculator
then the BMR tool.

You will be happy and surprised!

Do it now btw.....

I did this and it showed I needed around 2730 for my activity MFP has me set at that with a calorie loss of 1000 so do i need to add the 1000 to it? and if I excerise which is 800 to 1000 do i eat those back too?
I have been in plateau for a while even gain some weight back seems nothing is working??

Its quite possible as i have to eat 3000 calories. Also if you are looking to keep your muscle you dont want that large of a deficit. You really want to stay around 20% or 500 calories. Also it sound like you included your activity in the calculation so you would not eat back exercise calories.

groomchick

I recently broke a 3 week plateau by making a restarant challenge. For 10 days I did not eat 1 bite of food that wasn;'t prepared and measured by my own hand...Results were amazing! dumped 2.5 lbs which is a lot when you only have a few left to lose! Eating out is a problem for me... were not talking Mickey D's here... were talking fine dining! So... this really helped me! Good Luck

chosengiver

BUMP

Helloitsdan

Google Fat to Fit Radio Tools.
Do the military body fat calculator
then the BMR tool.

You will be happy and surprised!

Do it now btw.....

I did this and it showed I needed around 2730 for my activity MFP has me set at that with a calorie loss of 1000 so do i need to add the 1000 to it? and if I excerise which is 800 to 1000 do i eat those back too?
I have been in plateau for a while even gain some weight back seems nothing is working??

Its quite possible as i have to eat 3000 calories. Also if you are looking to keep your muscle you dont want that large of a deficit. You really want to stay around 20% or 500 calories. Also it sound like you included your activity in the calculation so you would not eat back exercise calories.

Fat to fit calculates what you should eat depending on activity level. Its already taken the 20% from TDEE for this number.
The BMR is the most important one though. Eating at or below will slow metabolism.
Eat the food.
Train hard.
Eat back any calories you want if you feel hungry.
Stay below TDEE to lose weight and above BMR to be healthy.