advice/motivation/support please?

Kidvicious28

Today is weigh in and I gained a pound :grumble: ( i weigh myself every two weeks)
I then checked my measurements and it stayed the same (I measure myself every week and my measurements have been the same for 3 weeks)
What the crap? :frown:

I've been doing everything I'm supposed to be doing. I've been exercising as normal. I understand the extra added on pound MIGHT be muscle. I've been trying new exercises, changing things up a bit. I eat healthy, lots of fruits and veggies, organic foods, etc etc. I've even tried changing around how I eat.

I read over every link banks has posted and all the other posts and did some research. Last week, I went over my cals one day just to see if my body would kick itself back into gear...didn't work. I'm not really sure why this plateau is lasting so long...but apparently it's normal. Im just getting frustrated. I'm by no means thinking about quitting, not at all. I just need to listen to Banks and everyone else that posted stuff about plateaus and just keep on going...continue to exercise and eat healthy.

I just need some advice/motivation/support I suppose.

mfinney

How long have you been exercising religiously? And how are you splitting your meals up? (timing, how many meals, etc.)

Kidvicious28

I had previously lost weight a few months before MFP. I was at 184lbs and went down to 163.5 and since I've joined MFP I lost 6lbs (in my first week).
I've been exercising since I started MFP in the beginning of May. I do just about everything at the gym. I started out walking on the treadmill (3 speed) for about 20ish mins to warm up, then lifted for about 15 mins, biked for about 15-20mins and that was it.
I don't have a set way of doing things now, except I obviously still warm up and I also do my lifting first. I do the elliptical, bike, stepper, treadmill, etc etc. I workout anywhere from 45mins-2 hrs 6 days a week.

I have breakfast
about 2/3ish hours later I have a small snack
Lunch
3ish hours later I have another small snack
Dinner
and occasionally a 3rd snack if I'm still a little hungry, but that's not all the time.
I dont eat anything after 9pm bc it makes my stomach feel crappy.

nov10child

Are you drinking your water? That can make the difference. Your body needs the water (not soda not juice) to metabolize fats.

Kidvicious28

oh yes. I only drink water. I have an occasional 8oz glass of apple juice like every month, literally lol..but I drink more than 8 cups of water each day for sure.

justdoingit

To get into fat burning mode, I found that at least for me, I would have to break a sweat and be in my target heart rate for at least 40 minutes non stop. This is after I plataued for four weeks. I realized that I was walking everyday and doing some weights, but not breaking a sweat. If you do the eliptical the right way for a solid 40-60 minutes, and you are eating at least half of your excercise calories back in, you should lose.

Hope this helps!

Kidvicious28

I break into a sweat every time I go to the gym. It's hardcore I have an HRM that tells me if I go under my THR...it'll beep at me haha. I just got a new one that has more things, so I'm set.

Kidvicious28

like I said...I'm doing everything right. I honestly don't know what else to do. :frown:

mfinney

Well, diet first -- way to go on spreading things out! That is something a lot of people have a hard time doing, so if you're doing it that way Kudos! And I sincerely mean that. Here's what I would try in the diet department:

At least for the next couple weeks, make sure not only are you spreading out your eating, but you are giving yourself as equal caloric intake at each of those meals as possible -- and you may be doing this already, but there's another spin on this as well, so hang with me -- don't think of them as "meals" and "snacks" -- they're all meals -- so if you regularly consume say 1800 calories a day including exercise calories, you want to split that up into 6 meals of 300 calories each (as close as you can); secondly, to give your metabolism a little different "jolt", so to speak, alternate your meals so you don't eat fat and carbs in the same meal. so 1st meal should be high protein, low or no carb; 2nd meal should be as close to fat free as possible, but carbs are ok (whole grain breads, fruit, salad, whatever) and alternate like that all day long. Lastly, make sure you eat something 30-40 minutes before working out and within 30 minutes after your workout -- I would do carbs before and protein after.

As far as workouts go -- 2 hours??? yikes!! LOL -- shorter, harder, more dedicated workouts will always trump long, extended workouts. if you look at the science of the body, muscles, etc, longer workouts are not necessarily more beneficial. Trust me when I tell you that it took me YEARS to finally buy into this, try it, and see better results than all the years I wasted putting 2 hours in at the gym on a daily basis.

If you wish to keep working out 6 days a week, alternate your workouts, make them NO MORE THAN 30-45 minutes, and make them intense if you wanna tone up and slim down. Do cardio on day one, and when you do cardio -- one "endurance" cardio session a week is more than enough -- going the whole time at pretty much the same pace. Make the other two interval workouts -- it can be treadmill, elliptical, bike, whatever, but do a good 5 minute warmup, then do 3 minutes at a moderate pace, then all out as fast/hard as you can for 1 minute, 3 min slow pace, 1 min all out, back to 3 min moderate and repeat that sequence up to 30 minutes and a good 5 - 10 minute cooldown. If we're looking at a 6 day workout schedule, I would do this day 1 and 5 with day 3 being an "endurance" cardio session.

On days 2, 4, and 6 do your lifting. Circuit training (working the whole body in succession with little or no rest between sets) will benefit you in slimming and toning. Use light/moderate weights with high reps (12-15).

You definitely want 48 hours of rest between lifting sessions to allow adequate recovery time. And make sure you take day 7 off COMPLETELY. Allow your body and your mind to rest and recover.

Don't be too discouraged, about anything you've done, because from what you're telling me you are making killer progress already... you should be very proud of how far you've come and now that your body is adjusted to what you were doing, shaking things up should definitely give you a jolt in the right direction.

These are, of course, my suggestions based on all the "knowledge" and personal experience I've gained through research and trial and error in my own life. I'm not a Certified Trainer or Nutritionist, but I have the results I want from doing things right in my own life, and I certainly hope this helps you.

Matt

Kidvicious28

Thank you so much for your advice. I really appreciate it. I usually do 45-60 mins when workout. The 45-2hrs was just a range....I actually did the 2 hours maybe twice bc I was stressed and kept going lol.

So I'm going to take your advice!
Let me just sum up what you said just so I know what I'm doing.
Warm up for about 5 mins each day with a 5-10 mins cool down
Day 1 Interval training on treadmill (3 mins @ mod pace, 1 min fast/hard, 3 mins slow pace, 1 min fast/hard, 3 mins @ mod pace...repeat up to 30 mins)
Day 2 is lifting (circuit training---workout entire body with little/no breaks between sets...12/15 reps).
Day 3 I'm going to do "endurance" cardio.
Day 4 is lifting (circuit training)
Day 5 Interval training on the elliptical
Day 6 is lifting (circuit training)
Day 7 completely taking off

and then eating I'm also going to take your advice:
spread out cals so they're pretty much equal to each meal...think of meals/snacks as the same. Alternate meals so fat and carbs aren't together.
1st meal: high protein...low/no carbs
2nd meal: fat free...carbs are ok
and then alternate all day...

eat 30-40 min before working out i.e. carbs and and 30 mins after i.e. protein.


OK! lol I just needed to retype that so I can remember it.
Thanks a lot. I'll give it a shot and see what happens

mfinney

you got it!!

definitely keep me posted -- give this a good two weeks (dedicate a month to it more like it ) and let me know how it goes.

good luck!! :drinker: