Need some serious help with motivation during a plateau

apostle22

I've always been the type of person who lost weight fast. I'm 5'6 and have been at a max weight of 200lbs 2 other times in my life. My ideal weight is 150. I was 25 and 30 years old the two other times I had been that weight. Both times, the weight fell off quick until I hit 160 and those last ten pounds were a killer that required me to severely step up my game.

I'm 38 now and found myself in the same situation. Now, I plateaued at 176 and I cannot go any lower no matter what. Some home improvements got in the way of my workouts for about 3 weeks but I was even more active during that time and I kept my diet the same. I've been stuck at this weight for about a month and a half. This last week, I made sure not to eat little snacks here and there, drank a ton of water, and stepped up my exercises. I usually alternate weights and cardio every other day. I normally do about 45 minutes of a stationary bike and this week i bumped it to 65 minutes. On weight training days, I added 20 minutes of cardio. I even made sure to up the intensity on workouts.

Sunday was the big weight in day and I was expecting to see a nice change. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Not even half a pound. Needless to say, I am seriously demotivated. Usually I'm pretty optimistic about weight loss but I need some serious help. I just dont know what to do. I'm going to join a gym today which is not what I want to do but I think i've gotten to the point where what little equipment I have at home to work out with, just cant get the job done anymore. If someone wants to look at my food page for the last week and give me some advice, I'd appreciate it. I'm looking for any help I can get. I'm guilty of not updating my page but I pretty much eat the same things every week. I'm a creature of habit so I dont really change my routine or foods to much. I do use sweet n low quite a bit. Maybe 3-5 packets a day. I've read those might be bad for weight loss. Just wanted to throw that in.

mfoulkebrown

I went through a plateau a little while ago and it was sooooo frustrating. The thing that ended it for me was changing up my routine. I have a dual-action stationary bike and was riding it most every day. I was also eating the same amount of calories. Two weeks of nothing, despite doing everything right, and I was ready to quit. I've lost about 7 pounds since then by changing things up a bit.

First, have you adjusted your calorie intake due to your weight loss? I've read you need to lower it about every 10 pounds lost. There's less of you, so you need fewer calories.

I started going to the gym so I could do different types of cardio from the bike I had at home. I also added in a bit of lifting, just about twice a week.

Those few things broke the plateau for me. Slightly lower calories, lifting, and different types of cardio.

Christi6604

Plateaus suck. I had one that lasted six months. There are a lot of different suggestions on what to do to break one - I think you just have to keep tweaking and see what works for you. The important thing is to not let your frustration color the entire journey. I had a lot of "friends" tell me that I looked fine, maybe I should just stop losing weight, etc. I'm so glad I didn't listen!

Here is an article that helped me break mine: http://fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.com/2011/05/most-dreaded-word-in-weight-loss.html

I had to up my calories by about 150 and decrease my cardio a bit. Sounds like you might need to up the intensity of your workout.

Good luck.

apostle22

I'm really trying to avoid going to a gym so I was pretty desperate. I dont have a lot of room at home for weights and equipment. I have my curl bar, weights, and stationary bike and they have all worked in the past.

Yesterday I did weight training with only 8-10 seconds of rest between reps and mixing in some kickboxing in between different sets to keep the heart rate up. Also did about 300 jumps using a jump rope. I cant believe how much harder it was just by changing up the rest to 8-10 seconds between reps. My muscles felt huge and over worked which is something I havent felt in a while. Also woke up a tad sore this morning which I love. Today is my cardio day so I plan to really up the intensity and hope for the same feeling I had yesterday. If this doesnt break my plateau, nothing will