Hiting a "plateau"???

Isabelle

I'm 5'7" tall and, after the holidays, :drinker: I was 149 and my goal is around 138 pounds. I've lost 7 pounds in about two-three weeks, so I'm now 142. But I've been 142 since a few day and it doesn't move. Did I hit a "plateau"? Is it possible that my body doesn't want to go lower than that? Or it's just like a break? I always eat my daily goal, never eat more than that or less than that (1200 calories).

ractayjon

Im also 5'7" and started at 160 hoping to go down to about 140.
I have found that the closer you get to your low weight the slower that weight will come off - no matter how much you exercise or how careful you are about eating. Your body wants to hold onto that last bit of fat (instinct) and makes it very diffiuclt to ge it off. Keep with the routine, maybe change up your exercise a bit, but keep with it and it will come off - it may take a few weeks though but you will get there....

Isabelle

Thank you Ractayjon!

RentThisSpace

Our bodies are an incredible machine and learns to adapt quickly. They way to break plateaus is to change what you are doing. A change in diet, such as more vegetables than usual, could work as long as you stay under your caloridic goal. Probably the best thing, though, would be to change your workout routine. Been doing lots of elliptical, switch over to biking. Been running, try swimming. By mixing up your workout, your body is forced to adjust to its new routine and will expend more energy to rebuild muscles that have been worked in a way that it is not used to. This may help to overcome your plateau. Good luck!

Nelski

Switching up things in diet and exercise will help a plateau, but I don't think you've actually hit one. Staying the same weight for just a few days is not considered a plateau, it's more like a month. So just keep doing what you are doing and don't get frustrated just yet. It is also my opinion that you may need to actually eat a more than just 1200 at your height and weight if you are excersing.

Isabelle

Oh, I eat more than 1200cals if I exercise (three times/week). Actually, I eat back the calories I burned. Thank you all for the suggestions and comments!

Fieldsy

At your height and weight I think you should be eating more than 1200 even on off days. To give you an example....I was about 240lbs eating around 1700 calories a day and working out a lot. I was stuck in a plateau for a while and didn't understand why. I wasn't eating enough and my metabolism was shutting down. I bumped my calories up to about 2400 and the weight came off pretty good.

linzismith

i really have no idea if you should be eating more than 1200 cals or not, but just to give you a comparison, i'm 5' 6.5" and currently weigh 150. When i started at 170, mfp told me to eat 1540 a day. when i got down to 150, it prompted me to readjust. i put in my new weight and said i still wanted to lose 1 pound a week and it bumped me down to 1450.

so yeah, maybe 1200 is a bit low, but not crazy low. what does mfp say you should be eating in order to lose 1 pound a week?

Isabelle

MFP has set me at 1240 cals for my weight and height for a lost of 1 pouds a week. Is it very too low? I didn't choose that. I think I will let a few day pass and maybe eat a bit more to try .