Plateau Strategies not working!!!

haiderh

Three weeks ago, I received feedback from the MFP community here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/608947-plateau
I have been experiencing a plateau for at least the last 3 months and other users recommended bumping up my calories.

I have been eating 2500 calories a day (which is 500 less than what I need). I eat 4-5 meals a day and keep them at 500 calories each (roughly). It's all healthy food, with good protein. I also take a multivitamin and Essential Fatty Acid supplement.

I am swimming for an hour at least 5 times a week and weight lifting at least 4-5 times a week.

I am STILL at a plateau.
I am a 24 year old male at 194 pounds. I am at 17-18% body fat. I would like to be at least 10% body fat, which would put me at 180 pounds. This should be very do-able, but for some reason I am having difficulty getting there. I have lost 13 pounds in the last one year. I vary what I eat quite often, and I also vary my caloric intake, which are the two most suggested plateau strategies the people offer. They are not working for me.

Any more ideas??? How do I over come this plateau?

haiderh

Here is what I ate today. It is a very representative menu of what I usually eat. (But I usually don't snack as heavily as I did here)

Breakfast (~400 calories)
Eggs
Potatoes
Watermelon & Strawberries
Soy milk

Lunch (~450 calories)
Soy Milk
Salad
Turkey Sandwich on lettuce instead of bread, no cheese
Watermelon
Fries

Snack (~700 calories)
Two Kind Bars
Low Fat Chocalate Milk

Dinner (~450 calories)
Turkey Sandwich on lettuce instead of bread, no cheese
Soy Milk
Salad

Late Snack:
Haven't had it yet. It will probably be about 500 calories.

Exercise:
Swam for an hour
Weight lifiting: Bench press and Military Press

AntWrig

"I have been eating 2500 calories a day (which is 500 less than what I need). I eat 4-5 meals a day and keep them at 500 calories each (roughly). It's all healthy food, with good protein. I also take a multivitamin and Essential Fatty Acid supplement.

I am swimming for an hour at least 5 times a week and weight lifting at least 4-5 times a week."

That's your problem. You need to eat more.

haiderh

"I have been eating 2500 calories a day (which is 500 less than what I need). I eat 4-5 meals a day and keep them at 500 calories each (roughly). It's all healthy food, with good protein. I also take a multivitamin and Essential Fatty Acid supplement.

I am swimming for an hour at least 5 times a week and weight lifting at least 4-5 times a week."

That's your problem. You need to eat more.

All the calculators I have used say that my maintenance calorie level is 3000 (which factors in my high activity level).

If I eat more, as you are suggesting, then I would not have a calorie deficit. Does this not defeat the purpose of the diet?

yarwell

from what you've said eating 2500-3000 should give you a deficit from what you burn, but a prolonged stall of months (?) suggests you aren't running at a deficit.

You may have a BMR at the low end of the scale, maybe you're eating a bit more than you realise, or some other issue is stealing the deficit.

Previously you were eating less and not losing either ?

Alternative strategies for plateau busting include High intensity interval training (HIIT) and Intermittent fasting (IF). I mention these as they are things recommended for breaking a plateau. With IF you might only drink calorie free liquids after your evening meal through to the following evening meal, or if you can't hack that until lunch (miss breakfast). May need to back off the exercise on fasting days. There's a group for IF on here I think.

You could also consider a low carb diet for a period, reducing carbs to about 40g per day for say two weeks and upping your fats and oils to compensate. I see you've dropped the bread but there's plenty of fries and sugary fruits to go at. The argument here is that insulin inhibits lipolysis and carbohydrate ingestion increases insulin levels, so if you drip feed carbs every 2 hours you probably can't burn fat at all. Again I offer it as a suggestion of something different to try.

LesterBlackstone

Full diet break:
- Bump your calories up to maintenance for two weeks. Don't binge but be more flexible about your diet.
- After 2 weeks, go back to a moderate deficit.
- ....
- Profit!


http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html