Stalled... Need help to break the plateau

MNCPRGuy

I started back with MFP in August 2012 and dropped 20+ lbs. This was mostly a result of my dedication to the gym and burnign calories. While I am eating healthier foods for the most part, I have not focused on portion control as much as I have just burning calories. My worst time is from when I get home from work (4PM) until bedtime. I seem to always be hungry and eat whatever gets close to my face!

Anyway, the pounds were coming off and all was well until the holidays hit. Since then, I have basically been treading water. I'm up maybe 5lbs from my low weight, but I'm really struggling to get the scale moving again. I am burning calories in teh gym daily, but need some help on how to break the plateau.

I would appreciate advice on 1) how to control the evening binging, 2) thoughts on breaking my plateau, and 3) thoughts on water consumption (I'm drink a normal amount but when I try to load up, I am bloated and peeing constantly). Is it worth it???

Firefox7275

Your diary is locked so cannot see what you have been eating. What are you doing in the gym, are you overtraining and burning muscle? Are you doing a resistance programme targeted at weight management and have you been taught good technique and speed of lifting? Are you literally exercising every single day?

Review what you have been eating earlier in the day, every meal/ snack from breakfast. Be sure you are consuming plenty of fibre, protein and healthy fats all of which interact to confer satiety.

There is no evidence you should 'load up' on water, just drink two to three litres a day - depending how much you sweat during workouts - plus nine servings of fruit and veggies, sip the water don't glug. If you want to increase do so slowly over a period of days or weeks. The body needs many nutrients to maintain appropriate hydration, from carbs to minerals.

Greenrun99

Your diary is hidden so we can't see it.. but here are some ideas for your stall.

The holidays are a different beast, we eat a lot of food.. get back into it for a few weeks and see if your still stalled after the holiday madness

If you have 140 some odd pounds to drop, you probably should be eating over 2000 calories.. if your eating 1200 that is why you binge, always hungry, and probably why your body has stopped shedding weight. Too big of a deficit can hurt your weight loss.. Just think when you were gaining weight, how many calories you think you were eating a day, 4000? You are restricting your body by too much. (Find your TDEE from one of the calculators on the site and take a 20% cut out of the # to find what you should be eating)

Need to change your macro's more than likely to higher protein and lower carbs.. not no carbs or low carbs.. but instead of 80% carbs as some people still have when starting, you may want to aim for 40% carbs.

nxd10

Portion control and weighing/measuring food.

All the research says most 'plateaus' result from going back to old eating habits. It usually happens at 3-4 months.

Your weight gain has been phenomenal. Now start the hard work of logging accurately and looking at what you're eating. You're into the harder part now.

jesspi68

Portion control and weighing/measuring food.

All the research says most 'plateaus' result from going back to old eating habits. It usually happens at 3-4 months.

Your weight gain has been phenomenal. Now start the hard work of logging accurately and looking at what you're eating. You're into the harder part now.

I don't find this to be true at all. I weighed and measured food and stuck to my calories every day and still plateau'd with Net 1200 calories. I slowed my metabolism by eating under my BMR, I didn't stop losing weight because I was lazy about logging.

ETA: Since your diary is locked I'm not sure what your goals are, but check this site out:

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

xxcooneyxx

It's great that you are exercising! That being said, I still believe weight loss to be 80% diet and 20% exercise. It's fantastic that you added exercise to your plan but if you stopped doing portion control with your diet, then no wonder you are stalled! You need to go back to measuring EVERY SINGLE thing you eat and logging it. This will break your plateau.

Now my next suggestion might not be so popular, but If you find you crave most of your food at night, then load the majority of your calories for the end of the day. I do this. Eat low calorie things for breakfast and lunch and save most of your calories for dinner/after dinner. During the evening, if you want something, have one serving of it and if you want more, MAKE yourself wait half an hour/1 hour and then if you are still wanting it have more, have it. The bottom line though, is once you hit your calorie goal you HAVE to stop eating. I have things like pickles and giant green olives in my fridge specifically for when 1'm hungry late at night and i only have 5-30 calories left.

CoderGal

1) how to control the evening binging
a) eat later in the day so you can eat at night so it won't matter. The food timing myth has been busted several times over
b) eat small frequent meals (which has no help on weight loss, but if you have the need to constantly eat it enables you to do so while staying in your calorie budget
c) skip breakfast, so your meals can be larger during the night and you can fill yourself up so you don't feel the need to binge later

2) thoughts on breaking my plateau
My advice for this is always: figure out your TDEE, eat there (for 6 weeks) until your maintaining weight and stop gaining, do a small cut. You may initally gain but it well level off and all of it should come off quickly when you do a cut. I've never seen it fail given accurate TDEE estimates

3) thoughts on water consumption (I'm drink a normal amount but when I try to load up, I am bloated and peeing constantly). Is it worth it???
Keep hydrated. Food and drinks have water in them to, if you drink a lot of food that contain allot of water, pumping yourself excessively with water is just going to dilute some things and make you uncomfortable. Stay hydrated, remember to drink water, but don't stuff yourself on it.

SadKitty27

1) how to control the evening binging:

For me, I used to stop and ask myself if I'm really hungry, and how is my mood (example: am I anxious, tired, stressed, bored, angry, etc...)

When I eventually discovered what my triggers were (binging was emotional for me,) I was then able to fix the problem that was causing the binging in the first place.

Also, if you're in the habit of opening up the fridge for no reason, stick a two liter of water in there, and take a swig out of it every time you open up the fridge looking for munchies. This is a harmless way to stall you so you can think about what you're doing, and satisfy that need to get something from the fridge.


2) thoughts on breaking my plateau:

It happens to the best of us, just don't let it make you give up. Eventually you will lose it. I don't know what you're eating, but perhaps you need to focus on food quality. For example, foods higher in protein keep you full longer than foods with high carbs amounts and such.


3) thoughts on water consumption (I'm drink a normal amount but when I try to load up, I am bloated and peeing constantly). Is it worth it??? :

Personally, too much water makes me nauseous.. However, drinking more water during meals makes me slow down on eating, and feel more full. So, I think it's worth it in some ways, but I am not one of those people who can drink water when my belly is on empty.

Oh, and as far as the bloat goes - Are you on the high side of either carb or sodium intake? Carbs take more water to burn/process than protein does so that can be a reason for retention as well as sodium for obvious reasons.

jesspi68

The best trick I learned for binging has been to ask yourself, would I eat a (vegetable or healthy food). For example, when I'm staring into the fridge I think to myself, would I eat an apple or some green pepper right now? If the answer is yes, then I'm probably hungry and I will eat said apple or peppers. If the answer is no, then I'm just staring into the fridge stress, boredom, or emotionally looking for food.

nxd10

Portion control and weighing/measuring food.

All the research says most 'plateaus' result from going back to old eating habits. It usually happens at 3-4 months.

Your weight gain has been phenomenal. Now start the hard work of logging accurately and looking at what you're eating. You're into the harder part now.

I don't find this to be true at all. I weighed and measured food and stuck to my calories every day and still plateau'd with Net 1200 calories. I slowed my metabolism by eating under my BMR, I didn't stop losing weight because I was lazy about logging.

ETA: Since your diary is locked I'm not sure what your goals are, but check this site out:

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

You aren't the original poster. The original poster said he hasn't been looking at portion size.

LKaye3626

For advice to overcome plateaus join this group today Star moves .

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/11189-star-moves-plateau-breakers