weight loss plateau

njgal35

Need help and advice,

Despite doing three types of activities swimming, yoga and elliptical I have plateaued. I am eating right and working really hard but no weight loss for an entire week. In fact looks like I am gaining weight.

What am I doing wrong? It's really demotivating.

AimersBee

Would you be able to put your food diary public.. that may give an idea.. may not.. but it'd help to see in which direction you're going.

AimersBee

Also, what is your height and weight currently?

njgal35

I just joined today so I don't have much in my food diary.

typical breakfast:

1 scrambled egg
1 piece of whole wheat toast
1/2 cup of 2% milk

Lunch:
Subway 6 inch sandwich with turkey or chicken or 1 slice of cheese pizza

Dinner:
grilled chicken ,fish, dinner roll, salad

Snacks throughout the day : apple, watermelon, cereal, coffee, lots of water

Someone recommended to cut all diary. Should I?

njgal35

aimee - I am 5.4 and 158 pounds.

mcrowe1016

Not losing for a week isn't a plateau. It is probably your period (TOM).

2 months with out a loss is a plateau.

AimersBee

aimee - I am 5.4 and 158 pounds.

So you're my height and weight.

What's your caloric intake at this point?

njgal35

1300 calories a day. I am guessing more on the weekends.

AimersBee

1300 calories a day. I am guessing more on the weekends.

Check out http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

I put in all the information for you (height, weight, goal weight)

Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)

2491 was your caloric intake... from what you noted earlier, what you're eating may be either too much bread, or you may not be eating enough either..

itsuki

Yeah, what Crowe said. 1 week without loss isn't a plateau. Come back in a couple of months and let us know.

jquijas

1300 calories a day. I am guessing more on the weekends.

Check out http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

I put in all the information for you (height, weight, goal weight)

Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)

2491 was your caloric intake... from what you noted earlier, what you're eating may be either too much bread, or you may not be eating enough either..

^^ This would be my guess, with the amount of excercise you are doing your muscles are toning, put your body into high gear metabolism wise...as a result if you do not eat enough calories your body will go into starvation mode, and at your ht/wt 1300 probably was too low anyway.

AimersBee

please only take what i say with a grain of salt, im no health expert, of course what Crowe said, 1 week without a loss isn't really a plateau.. but im giving you suggestions on the side incase it continues.. for myself, being the weight and height you are though, my caloric intake is 1440.. and i don't exercise nearly as much as you, if you exercise as much as you say you do, i wouldn't be eating any less than 1800 a day. just my 2 cents..

AimersBee

please only take what i say with a grain of salt, im no health expert, of course what Crowe said, 1 week without a loss isn't really a plateau.. but im giving you suggestions on the side incase it continues.. for myself, being the weight and height you are though, my caloric intake is 1440.. and i don't exercise nearly as much as you, if you exercise as much as you say you do, i wouldn't be eating any less than 1800 a day. just my 2 cents..

and that's netting 1800 calories.. meaning if you exercise and lose 500 calories with the exercise your calories for that day should have been closer to 2300.. not 1300

katejkelley

Plateaus are normal. You might want to change up your exercise - do something different with a little more intensity. Also, remember that muscle is denser than fat, so you may still be losing inches even if the scale has stalled out. Measure yourself, too.

KatieJane83

Just another note, if you only recently started this workout regimen it is not unusual to see an initial gain because your muscles retain water weight while they repair.

Also, to second what a few others have said, 1 week is not a plateau. This site tends to make us think that our bodies are strictly run by numbers and you should consistently lose EXACTLY 1 pound per week, but this isn't the case. High sodium intake, time of month water retention, etc. all factor in to this. If you're still stuck after a month or 2 then that would be considered more of an actual plateau.

And lastly, since you're new to this, I also recommend taking measurements. There are times when the scale doesn't move but you lose inches and this can help to keep you motivated when you start to feel frustrated. I really wish I had done this in the very beginning because I'm so curious how many inches total I lost!!

Emoturner

Don't get discouraged. I stayed at the same weight for 3 weeks and then had a loss of 4 lbs in the following 10 days. It will come off, just don't let your disappointment lead to little "cheats" here and there--they will add up.

KeKy4

I had this happen to me too for awhile and kept reading everywhere that you should eat your BMR, so very hesitantly I increased my caloric intake from 1200 to 1600 and the pounds are coming off again! My BMR is actually higher than that but I figured I'd just add in a few hundred more, somedays I don't even eat it but I do go over 1200 and it's working for me! Good luck!

jordanreddick

You have to change up your exercise, the more you confuse your body to where it can't get used to what you are doing, the faster you will lose.

leomom72

up your cals..i have to do it sometimes, and it gets me over those plateaus..good luck

secretlobster

It's pretty clear to me that you are eating too little for your activity level.

I am also a highly active person. I plateaued eating about 1300 calories a day. Now that I'm at 1900-2100, not only do I feel so much better, but I perform better and I have lost fat.

ishtar13

1300 calories a day. I am guessing more on the weekends.

If you're guessing, does that mean you're not logging?

Weigh and measure everything. Eat more veggies - I didn't see a whole lot on what you said here.

coraliethomas

Yeah, I have gone for weeks at a time without losing.... one week isnt really a plateau. Sometimes a high calorie "cheat day" gets it moving again (oddly enough) and sometimes I just wait it out. keep doing what you are supposed to be doing and it will all come together Usually when the plateau breaks, it breaks hard and I see about 4lbs come off in one week!

Remember, slow and steady wins this race, the slower you take it off, with the right eating habits, the longer it will stay off

auroranflash

Need help and advice,

Despite doing three types of activities swimming, yoga and elliptical I have plateaued. I am eating right and working really hard but no weight loss for an entire week. In fact looks like I am gaining weight.

What am I doing wrong? It's really demotivating.

Give it more than a week. If it's been working, keep at it. Take measurements along with weighing. If after 4-6 weeks you're still not seeing any results, then you can re-evaluate and change. Your body is very adaptive. Throw something in there you're not used to. Change it up a little.

1300 calories a day. I am guessing more on the weekends.

1300 may be low for your activity level. Log weekends. I know it sucks sometimes. It's the hardest part for me. But you really can throw off a whole week of good eats and hard work by splurging. By not logging, you have no idea. If you find yourself over-eating on the weekend (like I did), raise your calories so you can eat more during the week. This fixed it for me. I was stuck for almost 10 months at 1300-1400 before I raised mine gradually to 1700.

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ Run your numbers and see if this helps at all.

Best of luck.

Normalg

Maybe the book "The last ten pounds" will shed somelight. I haven't read it but my friend was telling me about it since i've been the same for 6 months after working out and eating healtjy.

njgal35

Thanks everyone for the great advice everyone. I do exercise really hard. I am 34 and I also have PCOS so weight loss has never been easy.

I am going to up my calories to see if that makes the difference.

njgal35

Question: what do you eat to fill up the calories? I am not hungry and I am sick of eating vegetables which barely have any calories. When someone says up your calories - I want to do that with ice cream.

Can someone suggest some fat burning snacks and options.

Thanks

themadisons513

I went through it for awhile but from my experience I wasnt seeing the numbers going down on the scale but I lost a lot of inches so you might want to keep track of your measurements as well if you are working out and doing strength training. Keep it up b/c i didnt give up and it finally kicked back in on the scale.

bhardy516

So glad I ran across this Topic. I thought I was on a plateau too! I wouldn't lose but one pound in two weeks! It can be discouraging. I went back and looked at my diaries from when I was consistantly losing compared to now and it does look like i am not eating enough. I know, that sounds counter-intuitive, but it does work! I agree with previous posters, changing up your physical activity routines helps too. There is something called "muscle memory", meaning your muscles get used to certain exercises and don't have to work as hard - and therefore, don't burn as many calories. Track everything you eat and drink; make sure to measure or weigh the food. Portion control has always been a problem for me. MFP helps to keep you on track. I will definitely check out the fat2fitradio website. DON'T GET TOO DISCOURAGED. Just keep eating right and exercising and the changes will come.

bellamia88

I've been stuck at the same weight since April which is a plateau. Your weight will fluctuate on a daily basis due to water, high sodium, TOM etc. I can easily gain 3-5 pounds during my TOM or after a bad night of eating sodium packed meals which can take me about 2-3 days before the scale goes back to normal. If I were you i'd only stick to weighing yourself once a week and in the mornings before you consume anything in order to get a true weight because weight also changes throughout the day as well. The other answer to losing weight is eating! I was atching Dr.Oz last night and he said most women consume very low calories thinking they won't gain weight when in fact that's what they are doing. Try to sneak in a snack 2-3 hours after your main meals.

Othos

Question: what do you eat to fill up the calories? I am not hungry and I am sick of eating vegetables which barely have any calories. When someone says up your calories - I want to do that with ice cream.

If you're not already doing so, I'd drink some protein shake during and after your workout. It'll give you plenty of protein to help your muscles rebuild, and is very filling. You can get the protein powder by the 5 lb bag at Costco, and it'll last you quite a while.