Plateau busting help wanted...

kenna44cat · April 2012

An author named George Diamond addressed that yesterday morning on his daily ezine.

If you are in the weight loss process, you will hit a weight loss plateau. It will happen at some point. There are a couple of main reasons for it, and there are things that you can do to overcome it.

1) Your body has different requirements for losing weight at 250 pounds then it does at 200 pounds. The amount of calories you need to maintain your weight at 250 pounds is greater than the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight at 200 pounds.

2) When you do the same exercises regularly, your body gets used to it, and it has less of an impact on your results.

What can you do to overcome this?

Lower your portion sizes on higher calorie foods
Swap high-calorie foods with lower ones
Increase the intensity of your workout
Increase the duration of your workout
Mix your workout up with different exercises
Change the order of your exercises
Add another day of exercising

If you can do a few of the things above you can overcome the weight loss plateau.

rmac18 · April 2012

I just started coming off a plateau of about four months. Give it time. I know that's what everyone says, but you have to remember that this is a lifelong trip, not a sprint, or even a marathon. Plateaus happen, and sometimes its cause your body needs to adjust to all this new greatness you're giving it. Keep doing everything healthy, and enjoy what you've already accomplished.

Besides, it gives your skin a chance to catch up with your new fab body!:bigsmile:

Good advice, patience has never been my strong suit. I am in it for the long haul though and I think you are right. I guess it's another topic but skin catching up on weight loss is another issue of concern, especially under the chin for me... At 43 after 90 lbs lost it doesn't just snap back...

rmac18 · April 2012

An author named George Diamond addressed that yesterday morning on his daily ezine.

If you are in the weight loss process, you will hit a weight loss plateau. It will happen at some point. There are a couple of main reasons for it, and there are things that you can do to overcome it.

1) Your body has different requirements for losing weight at 250 pounds then it does at 200 pounds. The amount of calories you need to maintain your weight at 250 pounds is greater than the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight at 200 pounds.

2) When you do the same exercises regularly, your body gets used to it, and it has less of an impact on your results.

What can you do to overcome this?

Lower your portion sizes on higher calorie foods
Swap high-calorie foods with lower ones
Increase the intensity of your workout
Increase the duration of your workout
Mix your workout up with different exercises
Change the order of your exercises
Add another day of exercising

If you can do a few of the things above you can overcome the weight loss plateau.

This is great advice and thanks for putting it up. I have been through a few phases of this successfully with regard to portion size, food choice, exercise time/intensity and type. MFP will auto calculate the calorie changes for you as you lose which is awesome. Working out harder is an easy way for me to try and bust through but lately it hasn't worked and that's where I get concerned about the net calories being too low and weight loss stopping. It's a frustrating point though when you up the calories and then gain weight. I'm going to give it a little more time and probably try to shake up the diet a bit, I am an amazing creature of habit when it comes to eating the same stuff over and over again.

rmac18 · April 2012

Oh also do a different workout and yes switch the oatmeal up. Even if you do gain a lb it will help you overcome the plateau. I gained 3 but quickly lost it again...

Thanks, no more oatmeal or awhile. I do workout with a trainer twice a week and he always comes up with new stuff. I'm going to do more of that on the other days which for me tend to be cycling, stair climber, treadmill or elliptical.

rmac18 · April 2012

I bust my own plateau with three things:

1) 'bursting' (which I think is what someone else referred to here as HIIT). Very intense activity for a minute (in my case, swimming like a shark was after me) then resting completely for 2 mins until my heart rate came back down, then doing it again another 7 times.

2) just for a week, I dropped dairy, gluten and soy. Not easy for me, particularly the dairy (I love cheese) but it definitely kicked my metabolism into a different place. I even cheated a bit (love that cheese! it's important not to feel like you're depriving yourself in any way) but just being conscious of it and having less of it helped - and I figured it's only seven days, no biggie.

3) changed my breakfast to a 'fat burning' one: high protein shake made with:
1/4 cup of coconut milk
3/4 cup water
1 scoop protein powder (no sugar no artificial sweeteners kind, high quality but quite expensive)
1.5 tsp psyllium husk fibre
fresh or frozen berries (blueberries, strawberries)
.... all blended together.

Thanks,

That shake doesn't sound good but I'll give it a try

The dairy thing sounds hard but you are right it is only a week so maybe that's worth a try as well.

I have been doing the "bursting" type stuff twice a week for past few months.

rmac18 · April 2012

hey i dont know if it will help you but it has helped me crack mine. i gave up meat for a week then reintroduced it. i also changed my workouts up a bit.
also water water water

Interesting idea, what do you use for protein? I like meat and lean meats very filling with not a lot of calories so I tend to eat a lot of fish, chicken breast and 93% lean ground turkey. For a week are you just going low on protein or doing other things. It does seem like there is some advantage to just throwing your body a curveball for a week and then going back to what had been successful. Curious what worked for you?

dpwellman · April 2012

It all really depends, as you can see below, what you've been doing and what you're immediately capable of, but choose from the following

1) Eat slightly more Definitely do not "deprive" yourself of particular macro nutrients.
2)a Embrace the Overload principle, e.g. intensity. Example: increase intensity for cardio by going longer (duration), faster, or more frequently. Not doing intervals, tempos or fartleks? Start.
2b) and/or Embrace Inefficiency e.g Do Something Different. Example: Running for a long while? Try cycling or swimming. Not running, cycling or swimming? Start. Pick one. If starting running or cycling: get fitted. It is also a good idea to get fitted. Get fitted.
2c) or Rest. Example: been increasing mileage 10-20% weekly for four weeks? Cut it by 50% for one week. Or walk the miles instead of run them .
3) Add resistance training. This cannot be stressed enough.

Now, to practice what I preach, I'm going to go run now.

mel128 · April 2012

Bump! Good information.

rmac18 · April 2012

It all really depends, as you can see below, what you've been doing and what you're immediately capable of, but choose from the following

1) Eat slightly more Definitely do not "deprive" yourself of particular macro nutrients.
2)a Embrace the Overload principle, e.g. intensity. Example: increase intensity for cardio by going longer (duration), faster, or more frequently. Not doing intervals, tempos or fartleks? Start.
2b) and/or Embrace Inefficiency e.g Do Something Different. Example: Running for a long while? Try cycling or swimming. Not running, cycling or swimming? Start. Pick one. If starting running or cycling: get fitted. It is also a good idea to get fitted. Get fitted.
2c) or Rest. Example: been increasing mileage 10-20% weekly for four weeks? Cut it by 50% for one week. Or walk the miles instead of run them .
3) Add resistance training. This cannot be stressed enough.

Now, to practice what I preach, I'm going to go run now.

What do you mean by "get fitted"?

saraemily5 · April 2012

I would agree about less carbs more protein. MFP has goals of like 55% cals from carbs, 15% from protein, and 30% from fat or something like that. But I've been following the advocare diet which suggest 40% from carbs, 40% from protein, and 20% from fat. Protein shakes are fabulous... string cheses... lean meats - lots of them, eggs and egg whites are a great way to get in more protein.

saraemily5 · April 2012

I also just peeked in your diary... great healthy choices but yes very carb heavy. I try to stick with no more than 30 carbs per meal/snack. You can probably try to stick with 30-40 carbs per meal/snack. and try to make protein intake as close as possible even with carb intake. Carbs are NOT my friend... even if I'm staying under my CALORIE goal, if I eat too many carbs I don't lose weight. Might be why I'm plateauing now and looking forward to the cleanse! I've been having too many carbs.

dpwellman · April 2012

What do you mean by "get fitted"?

Shoes come in various sizes, widths, configurations. Are you neutral, under - pronator, over - pronator? Have you had any injuries or conditions like bursitis or sesamoiditis? These are questions that need to be answered. The nice thing is, you don't have to know what any of that means. A store that caters (almost) exclusively to runners can answer all (I like Fleet Feet, never been to a bad one yet).

And bikes, just like shoes, also come in different sizes (seat tube height, top tube length, angles, bar width, ect). Again, you don't necessarily have to know what any of that means either. Most bike shops have some sort of fit system. And most do a fairly good job at it.

rmac18 · April 2012

What do you mean by "get fitted"?

Shoes come in various sizes, widths, configurations. Are you neutral, under - pronator, over - pronator? Have you had any injuries or conditions like bursitis or sesamoiditis? These are questions that need to be answered. The nice thing is, you don't have to know what any of that means. A store that caters (almost) exclusively to runners can answer all (I like Fleet Feet, never been to a bad one yet).

And bikes, just like shoes, also come in different sizes (seat tube height, top tube length, angles, bar width, ect). Again, you don't necessarily have to know what any of that means either. Most bike shops have some sort of fit system. And most do a fairly good job at it.

thanks

rmac18 · April 2012

I also just peeked in your diary... great healthy choices but yes very carb heavy. I try to stick with no more than 30 carbs per meal/snack. You can probably try to stick with 30-40 carbs per meal/snack. and try to make protein intake as close as possible even with carb intake. Carbs are NOT my friend... even if I'm staying under my CALORIE goal, if I eat too many carbs I don't lose weight. Might be why I'm plateauing now and looking forward to the cleanse! I've been having too many carbs.

Thanks, I'm going to try this. I was looking at shaking up my daily breakfast meal of oatmeal and trying some eggs or egg whites (maybe a little of each) and I was eating more rice primarily to add calories to meals with lean meat and veggies but it does make carbs over 50% of calories. Actually a little variety in the diet sounds good

I may also try this cleanse thing. I did it once and wasn't real sure it had any impact but at that time I was losing weight anyway...

thriftycupl · April 2012

I don't know if I read it on a message board here or somewhere else, but do you know how much potassium you are taking in? If it's not enough, apparently your body will hold more water. Not sure if this is true, so please chime in.

monty619 · April 2012

u gotta eat more protein man.. switch up ur macros a little bit go for 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass then whatever u add to protein take away from carbohydrates.. also temporarily up ur caloric intake when you do this by say 300 calories