Plateau... please help!!!!!!!!

Philde04

I have been at a stand still with my weight loss for probably a month now... I was doing good... losing a lb or so each week and then NOTHING!!! I am eating 1200 calories a day and exercising 4-5 days a week (buring on average 500-600 cals a day). I usually do not eat my exercise calories... sometimes I do depending on how hungry I am that day. I have been mostly jogging or walking on an incline for exercise.... Does anyone have any advice on how to jump start my metabolism and help me start losing again?? I still have a long way to go!!! Please help!!!

jmdolan

Have you tried eating your excercise calories? That could help

southern_gurl

Change it up a bit! My doctor says that our bodies adjust quickly to exercise and it is important to change it up, try a new exercise. He calls it muscle confusion. Try that. And congrats on the weight you have lost, you should be very proud of yourself! Hang in there!!

dimplzz

I would say eat more. I hit a plateau and it was because I wasn't eating enough. I started eating MOST of my exercise calories and I started losing again. I also changed up my workout routine. I have heard that you should never eat less than 1200 calories including exercise calories. So if you burn 600 calories then you should really be eating around 1800 calories a day. hth's

Sebidian

I agree that you should eat a good portion of your exercise calaories. And are your calories spread out over the day? If not, try eating every 2-3 hours (meal, snack, meal, snack, meal).

SarahNicole317

Try HIIT... high intensity interval training. This is guaranteed to jump start your metabolism. You get more bang for your buck so to speak. It burns more calories after you have completed the work out... rather than steady state cardio.

Try doing 1-2 days of HIIT with 2-3 days of steady state cardio and you will definitely see a change in the scale. Plus, sprinting is great for your legs and butt!

Philde04

Try HIIT... high intensity interval training. This is guaranteed to jump start your metabolism. You get more bang for your buck so to speak. It burns more calories after you have completed the work out... rather than steady state cardio.

Try doing 1-2 days of HIIT with 2-3 days of steady state cardio and you will definitely see a change in the scale. Plus, sprinting is great for your legs and butt!

What do you do for HIIT?? walking and sprinting?? Or like high intensity on the elliptical??

Philde04

I agree that you should eat a good portion of your exercise calaories. And are your calories spread out over the day? If not, try eating every 2-3 hours (meal, snack, meal, snack, meal).

Yes, my meals are all spread out throughout the day with the most calories spent on dinner... I eat breakfast.. snack at 9:30... lunch... snack at like 2.... then dinner....

SarahNicole317

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What do you do for HIIT?? walking and sprinting?? Or like high intensity on the elliptical??
[/quote]

You could do HIIT on any piece of cardio equipment, but I get the best results when I do it on a track. You would do a warm-up jog or walk with a light stretch then you might do 15 seconds as hard as you can sprint, and 1:00 walking. Time depends on how trained you are. You might also do distance intervals.

Sample Interval Workout on 400 M Track

Light walk/jog 10 minutes
Stretch Quads, Hams

Sprint 100M
Jog 100M
Walk 200 M

Repeat...you can come up with any variations as long you are do a short powerful bout of activity at MAX intensity followed by a recovery.

chrissyh

I would say you're too low on calories especially if you're not eating some of what you burn too - 1200 is extremely low as is and to burn more of those and not replace them - your body needs some fuel....

I went thru the same problem - I resolved in by interval training (jogging and walking) and increasing cals to a net of at least 1300 a day - typical day is 1350....so if I exercised and burned 500 calories, I'd actually eat 1850 that day....I am losing steady again....seems funny that you eat more to lose - our bodies need fuel to work the metabolism.
Be patient - your body will need to take some time to settle back down into a routine when you add....don't freak if the first week you are up a pound or two - it will come back off.

mnichol

It seems alot of us are feeling the same today. I'm feeling somewhat frustrated as well. I'm keeping to 1200-1300 cals daily, i've increased time and intensity of my exercise time for the past 2-3 weeks and i've lost nothing. I weigh in tomorrow at work, i skipped last week. If I haven't lost at least a few ounces i'm probably going to embaress myself and cry in front of stacy the dietician. So i've exercised today at lunch, after work, home now, its 80 out and humid. sure don't feel like walking up the hills again tonite. Maybe i just should take a day or off and do nothing.


:sad: :sad: :sad: :sad: :noway:

pannellkat

I would recommend HIIT as well.

I work out 5 days a week as well burning about 450-475 calories per gym visit but I have been doing the same routine (30 minutes elliptical fluctuating between resistance 3 and resistance 8) and then treadmill for another 20 minutes. I know my body will get used to that routine and not burn calories as fast after a while because it will become to easy for me to do in about another week.

Try raising levels or weights on whatever machines you are using. If you use elliptical at level 5 all the time for 45 minutes, then try level 5 for 3 minutes and then level 10 for the next 4-5 minutes, switching back and forth. Try incline on treadmill if you use it or up your speed combined with incline. Do something different and more intense during your normal workout.

Delphi

Calorie cycling! Throw in a few high calorie days to readjust your metabolism. Then switch up your exercise. Our bodies are very smart!

Kidvicious28

Read these:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/9433-expectations

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/20343-how-i-have-avoided-plateauing-length-warning

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions

JoyousMaximus

Calorie cycling! Throw in a few high calorie days to readjust your metabolism. Then switch up your exercise. Our bodies are very smart!

I agree. If you go to this website: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm and click "7 day calorie cycle," It will calculate how many calories you should eat each of the days of the week for calorie cycling. The total calories for the week will be the same.

Philde04

Thanks for all of your help!!!!! I am def going to try the HIIT today!!

staclo

Thanks for all of your help!!!!! I am def going to try the HIIT today!!

It will kick your butt! My trainer had me do 10 minutes on the elliptical the other day, switching between level 6 and level 10. I did level 6 for 2 min, level 10 as hard as I could for 40 sec to a minute. I burned just over 100 calories in 10 minutes!

On another note, I'm starting P90X soon. That's a great program too (from what I've heard).

I do agree, however, that you need to be eating your exercise calories so that you stay at 1200 net calories at least!

GIBride01

What helped me was calorie cycling (ie 1400 one day, 1700 the next, 1300 the next, 1900 etc..) and really upping the intensity in the workouts. I switched from a mild workout of 20 min on the treadmill and 20 min on the elliptical to 15 min on the treadmil at a high incline and higher speed and doing 40 min on the elliptical doing intervals. See if you can throw in a high intensity workout, like a step class or a spinning class. You sound like you really need to change a few things up and I bet the pounds will start coming off again. And I agree you probably need to eat a bit more, I usually ate 1/2 or so of my workout calories daily and lost pretty consistenly with no big plateau's. Good luck!

SaraArbo

Try changing your exercise to something completely new, like lifting weights three times a week and a different cardio twice a week, like yoga, pilates or swimmimg, something youve never done before would work. You won't look like a man from lifting weights, so don't worry about that, low weight 5 - 8 lbs, high reps, 12 - 15 or even 20. You'll shock your body into burning the fat! You probably do need to eat more too, add more protein to your diet. Your body thinks it is starving so is holding onto all your reserves.:flowerforyou:

Philde04

Thanks for all of your help!!!!! I am def going to try the HIIT today!!

It will kick your butt! My trainer had me do 10 minutes on the elliptical the other day, switching between level 6 and level 10. I did level 6 for 2 min, level 10 as hard as I could for 40 sec to a minute. I burned just over 100 calories in 10 minutes!

On another note, I'm starting P90X soon. That's a great program too (from what I've heard).

I do agree, however, that you need to be eating your exercise calories so that you stay at 1200 net calories at least!

I did p90x for 30 days and then stopped... it is an awesome workout.... I just didn't have the time for it... but I am going to try to start it up again soon.... that is probably part of the reason I've stopped losing so much weight too...

staclo

Thanks for all of your help!!!!! I am def going to try the HIIT today!!

It will kick your butt! My trainer had me do 10 minutes on the elliptical the other day, switching between level 6 and level 10. I did level 6 for 2 min, level 10 as hard as I could for 40 sec to a minute. I burned just over 100 calories in 10 minutes!

On another note, I'm starting P90X soon. That's a great program too (from what I've heard).

I do agree, however, that you need to be eating your exercise calories so that you stay at 1200 net calories at least!

I did p90x for 30 days and then stopped... it is an awesome workout.... I just didn't have the time for it... but I am going to try to start it up again soon.... that is probably part of the reason I've stopped losing so much weight too...

Were you still only eating 1200 calories a day on P90X w/o eating exercise calories? I'm wondering b/c I just read the nutrition guide and I'm trying to decide how many calories I'm going to need to consume.