breaking through the plateau - what worked for me

basschick

Many that are trying to lose weight eventually reach a plateau and this can be very frustrating. For some, the plateau can last a few weeks. For others, several months. In my 46 week long weight loss journey where I lost 45 lbs. (I've since dropped another 8 during "maintenance.") there were four times when I stopped losing. Once was the week around Christmas, once was in March when I had a major death in my family, and once was in July when I was away from home at an intensive teacher training workshop with no way to cook my own food and very little time to exercise. These periods of stagnancy could be explained: I had completely fallen off the wagon. It's the ones we can't explain that really frustrate us, the ones where we think we're doing everything right and nothing is happening. I had one of these periods for two weeks in May right after I joined a gym and started using a heart rate monitor. Here's how I broke through it and from then on started losing a pound a week like clockwork until I reached my goal.

Work out at least 6 days a week for at least 30 minutes. Include strength training in your workout, not just cardio. Muscle burns fat. Use a heart rate monitor to estimate your calories burned. Take the number that the HRM gives you and subtract 1 for every minute that you worked out. These are the calories that you would have burned anyway just being alive. For example, if you burned 500 calories for a 60 minute step aerobics class, log that as 440 in MFP. If you weigh in the upper 200s or less than 130, you may need to subtract more or less. There are formulas online for figuring this out -- it's called BMR: basal metabolic rate. MFP estimates your calorie goal for you based on your weight and other factors. *Don't go below that number of net calories.* I know it's tempting to try to speed things up by eating less but it only slows down your metabolism. Stay consistent. If MFP says you should eat 2000 calories a day to lose a pound a week, then exercise/eat back to get very close to that number *every day.* One day a week have a "spike day" where you have a cheat meal that puts you 400-600 calories over for the day. The next day, go back to your routine.

On eating: For some eating a "clean diet" is the way to go. That has never worked for me. I feel too deprived. That being said, I do always try to get within 10 grams of my protein and fiber goals. This seems to be the way to go to keep my good food/junk food ratio at an acceptable level. Getting enough protein is so important -- it helps you build muscle. Fiber keeps you full so you won't feel tempted to cheat. Lastly, drink at least 8 8-oz. glasses of water a day.

Good luck on your journey and remember success can be measured in so many ways other than the number on the scale. Look for inches lost, increase in number of pushups you can do, weight you can lift, etc.

cheerwinebear

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Healthy_4_Life2

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