Plateau - where am I going wrong?

snooks1985

Hi everyone

I have been using MFP since the beginning of the year when I made my new years resolution to lose 2 and a half stone. I have always struggled to lose weight and it has taken a lot of hard work to get to where I am. My loss started off quite steady, 1 or 2 lbs a week which is a sensible amount (according to my doctor and trainer anyway) and seemed manageable.

However for the past couple of months, despite working even harder, my weight loss has pretty much come to a stand still or I will even gain a lb or 2 and then lose it the next week despite not changing anything in my routine. I am still 9 lbs off my target which doesn't sound like much to me but my body obviously feels differently! I go to the gym 3 times a week and do a mixture of cardio and weights as well as walking for at least 40 minutes everyday. I make sure my diary is as accurate as possible and if I go over one day I will make it up the next. I weigh everything and write down what I eat and drink whilst at work so I don't forget anything when I come to updating in the evening. I am careful in where I get my calories from as well, burning 600 calories at the gym and then eating it all back in chocolate is obviously not a good plan, as tempting as it may be!

It is getting to the point where I am fearful of my weigh in day as I just end up so depressed and the whole point of this was to make me happy. I am not tempted to give up but it is starting to get me down.

There are some amazing success stories on here and I would be really grateful for advice from anyone that has experienced anything similar or if anyone has any idea of where I might be going wrong!

Thanks in advance.

neverstray

There are different ways to break this.

You could just eat normally, not measuring and dieting, for a week or two. Take a week off from going to the gym.

Or, you could try eating less. Just take off 100 cals. Wait a week. If no progress, take off another 100. Eventually, you'll start to lose.

Eat less, eat more, stop working out for a week, workout harder, do something different. You have to shake it up.

I had to get real. I could have written you post a couple of months ago. But, it took getting honest. I was lying to myself about what I was eating. Also, eating back all my calories was not helping. I don't typically eat back my exercise calories anymore and that seems to have made a big difference.

jak1958

Just went through the same thing... stalled for 6 weeks. Did some research on leptin (women are especially sensitive) and found I was probably eating too little (I do quite a bit of cardio) article suggested eating at maintenance (increase good starchy carbs not fat/protein) for 1 - 3 days every ten days or so. I did that and lost 2.8 pounds on the 4th day. So I will be re-fueling every couple of weeks...my goal is 1/2 pound per week so I don't expect this each week - my body just finally let the fat go.

Hope this helps - I know how frustrating it is....

52fifi

I Totally agree Shake things up. I have had the same problem although I havent had as much to lose as you.. but my weight loss stopped at 14lb to go (to what I think is my ideal) 7lb to my 1st goal. for 4 Weeks nothing shifted although I upped my swimming as well then I watched Horizon eat,fast and live longer and although not for everone tryed the fasting for 4 days with just jucie and water and 4lb down. It was hard but worth it (i did cheat a little too) now to keep it off....

So Keep going there is something out there that will work for you.

jak1958

Only sharing this as I wish someone would have suggested it to me along the way. I wasted 6 long frustrating weeks waiting for something to change - upped excerise, etc.

Not saying other things won't work - just offering you another possibility.

Good Luck!

geekyjock76

How long have you been on a caloric decrement? You say you started at the beginning of this year? So you've been on a "diet" for 7 to 8 months straight? Your body is not meant to sustain eating below maintenance for very long without frequent breaks and caloric intake that take you back to or near TDEE range. Most of you ladies also tend to create too large of a deficit from both food and exercise which, in conjunction of chronic under-eating, is not doing your resting metabolic rate a favor.

smaschin

cheat day (excessive calories) once or even twice a week and switch up your routine, shock the system.

Peace

fallonrhea

I broke my plateau by really paying attention to my macros (% carbs vs % protein vs % fat). I decreased my carbs and increased my protein and started to lose again. Make sure you're also getting plenty of water and fiber!

dragonflyjen

I too plateaued for 6 weeks recently and I was very frustrated but determined not to give up, so I did a bit of reading and realised that after exercising and my calorie deficit through food I was surviving on too few calories - under 1000 cals per day. So my body refused to let any fat go even though I was exercising most days.

So I changed what I was doing and started eating 1200 plus my exercise calories - I purchased a HRM to make sure my calorie burn was more accurate - and the weight has been coming off again. I also bought body analyser scales to focus on my body fat % rather than on my weight. I'm glad to say that it has worked.

Oh I also started drinking green tea too...no idea if that's made a difference but I'm going to keep it up.

Hope this helps somehow. Add me as a friend if you like!

snooks1985

I am only eating 1200 calories a day plus whatever I burn off exercising which I monitor using a HRM so I don't think it would be healthy or sustainable to eat any less than that. I will try shaking things up though to find out what my body needs to kick start my loss again. Thanks for all the great advice!