Plateau Frustration

angelatres

I am so frustrated that I could cry. I started my weight loss journey in August of 2011 and initially I lost about 31 pounds fairly easily. From that point on nothing has happened. I have been stuck at the same weight now for about a year. I work out about 4 times a week at a small studio where I live. I do group classes that consist of pilates, barre, kettlebells, Zumba, and short burst training. I started with easier classes and have recently worked up to the hard ones which are kettlebells and short burst training. I work out HARD. And I know that I have put on muscle as i feel and look more toned and I have lost inches (I measure every month). But I cannot get my weight to budge. I am at a loss and I don't even know what to do now. And it sucks that my closest friend at work who is almost 20 years older than me is dropping like 2 pounds a week by just walking 2 miles a night a couple of nights a week.
And according to my calorie counts on here, I am usually right around where I should be. So what am I doing wrong? Can someone offer me advice?

aaramini93

I just recently answered a similar question; hope this helps!

Well Iets begin this solution with the cause behind a plateau, followed by some solutions. Lowering calories too much or too fast will cause the body to drastically decrease its metabolism. Another surprising cause, is dieting for too long and never giving yourself a break. A great solution to this is to indulge in a comfort meal once a week. So eating consistent for 6 days in a row, for will allow a favorite meal on the 7th day. It does not matter when this meal is eaten but most people prefer dinner (dinner with family or spouse). I personally enjoy some delicious baby back ribs from longhorn with a nice buttered cinnamon sweet potato! Hey, us humans are allowed to enjoy foods we love and not feel guilty!

Lets dig a little deeper into plateaus; over-training is a MAJOR cause. Over-training is basically training too much without giving the body proper rest/recovery; not eating nutritional foods to help the body recover. What happens here is, the body begins to increase its cortisol (stress) level and this occasion prevents the body's ability to properly lose fat or regulate hormones. This increase in cortisol will place a MAJOR tax on the central nervous system (CNS) which leads feelings of fatigue, sickness, hunger, increased stress, etc. The solution is to make sure the body gets its proper rest and recovery; sleep minimum of 7 hours, increase your nutritional foods and take days off.

To answer your specific question, the problem doesn't seem major. What you can do is one of two things:
1) Decrease your calories about 150 calories. The reason being is because when you eat at a specific deficit for a long period of time, your metabolism adjusts to the amount of energy you exert through working out and the amount of food you eat. This will force your body to get off the plateau.

2) Increase the amount of energy you exert. Just like I said before, changing your routine or food intake (caloric deficit) will force your body to say goodbye to your plateau.

Try this out and I wish you the best! Cheers to your success!

matt2442

Switch it up, your body plateaus because it is finding ways to do the same movement/exercise with less energy being consumed. You need to confuse it by doing different things

KodAkuraMacKyen

Switch it up, your body plateaus because it is finding ways to do the same movement/exercise with less energy being consumed. You need to confuse it by doing different things

I've heard this and I've also heard this works. But what can I do if it's not working. I've changed up my exercising, upped my calories, have added in a "cheat" meal once a week...