Upping my calories due to a plateau

gilltaitt

I have been stuck at 160lbs (give or take about 5lbs up and down) for about 5 months now and I'm thinking of upping my calories to see if I can break this plateau. I lost 37lbs in 9 months quite steadily but I just seem to have come to a complete standstill. In these months I have seen a difference in my body due to working out at least 4 times a week and burning on average about 600 cals per workout but the scale just doesn't seem to want to shift! I do a mixture of stuff in the gym, mainly running, spinning, TRX classes, kettlebells classes, JUMP FX and some intervals.

What I really want to know is if anyone else has done this, how much have they upped their intake by? And is it based on the exercise you're doing or not? Should I expect a gain initially and if so how long should that last?

I know the number on the scale isn't everything but I do find it so motivational when it's going down! Some help and advice would be much appreciated :bigsmile:

theconstantgardener

Hey I always thought the starvation mode thing was a myth and was eating 1200 calories and burning 250-300 cals a day / not exercising and eating 800 and not losing. But then I went away for a week where I couldnt exercise and still ate 1200-1250 a day and lost 4 pounds!! I think the trick is to build up slowly rather than suddenly start eating more

lpeace2u

I hit a plateau as well. Same two pounds up and down and then I started calorie cycling just over a week ago. The first week I lost 1.4 lbs. I highly recommend it. Fill out your information on the link below and then click calorie cycling. Good Luck!

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Captain_Tightpants

Did you recalculate your daily calorie allowance based on weighing 37lbs less than when you started? It's quite possible it's gone down and you may be now eating more than you need.

Otherwise, yeah, give calorie zig zagging a go, it certainly works for some.