Best way to break through a plateau?????????

conniemaxwell5

I am keeping calories under 1340 and I DO NOT eat back any exercise calories. I exercise 5 or 6 days a week, usually between 750-1000 calories burned during workouts (Zumba, elliptical, crosstrainer, weights).

You're undereating. You need to eat your exercise calories back. Your body is holding on to what it has left because it thinks you are starving (your net calories are only 340-590 a day, which is not enough to sustain you. Try a website that calculates your TDEE (including your exercise) and eat 20% less than that number. You'll see the weight start to go down again.

RedneckMomma77

You are not eating no where near enough for as much as you are working out. Add more fat to your diet. While you can eat a lot of fruit and veggies on few calories, fat is calorie dense, and will help you up your calories. Just add healthy fats, not just junk fat. Eat fish, nuts, avacado, what ever floats your boat, but eat more food.

cwolfman13

Netting 340 calories per day? Your body is trying to protect you from yourself. That is why it is trying to hold onto weight. If you do not fix this you could end up hurting yourself.

^^^This. Since you do not eat back exercise calories, you are neglecting to give your body the fuel it needs just for basic functions. You know how it says GOAL right next to your calorie number...because that's exactly what it is...it is a goal...it is something to be achieved.

MFP uses the NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) method of weight loss. No exercise is technically required. Exercise is extra and a portion of those calories should be eaten back...my rule is at least 50% and up to 75%. I never went all the way to 100% to account for estimation error.

A deficit of calories is needed to lose weight, but your body does require a certain number of calories just for basic functions...for example, I would burn roughly 1,800 calories per day just laying in bed or in a coma...your organs require energy (calories) to function...breathing burns calories...etc. When you create such a huge deficit as you have, your metabolism goes into stall and stores everything you take in just to provide itself enough energy for you to breath, your heart to pump, and operation of your other basic functions.

Fabfitgirl5

I was going to say what one of the other posters stated, you likely need to change your routine. If you have been doing a lot of cardio, switch to weight training for three or four weeks and see what happens. My girlfriend hit a plateau when she lost like 75-80 lbs. No matter what she did she just could not lose more weight, and she had about 35 more lbs to lose. She changed up her routine and started running out doors, bought the book eat to live and almost like magic the weight came off. She has run several marathons now and she lost an additional like 36 lbs and went from a size 8-10 at her plateau to a size 4 now. It only took her three months to get there, that is what was crazy, but she looks awesome.

Ckbaby26

I went through the same thing about 2 months ago. I was eating 1600 calories a day, exercising 5/6 times a week and drinking my water. Then all of sudden for 5 weeks in a row I didn't lose any weight but mine wasn't because of anything I was or wasn't doing it was because I had ran out of blood pressure medicine and my doctor wouldn't refill it without seeing me and I had lost my insurance so I couldn't get in to see her. Long story short I went to the er with BP of 225/130 and the er Dr gave me my BP med and I've been losing 2-3 lbs again every week. Just thought I would share that story if anybody runs across a similar situation.

mustgetmuscles1

I ate my exercise calories for 3 months and gained weight back. It does not work for everyone. A 3 week plateau is ok. It usually takes about a month to break through it.

This is the most common response from people who undereat for a long time. It is totally normal to gain weight back while your body repairs itself and gets used to eating more calories. It can take just as long to repair your metabolism back to a healthy level as it took to lower it in the first place.

If you want to start repairing the damage you have done by severe under eating I would suggest slowly adding calories instead of just jumping straight to what you should be eating. Add like 50-100 calories per week to minimize weight gain and allow your body to adapt to eating healthy again. Also add in some resistance training instead of traditional cardio to regain some of the lean mass you have lost.

meadow_sage

I need advice on things I can do to break through a weight loss plateau. I have been at this for 100 days now. I have lost 36 lbs, which I know, is great!! But the past 3 weeks have been very frustrating, because the scale hasn't shown a loss, but I'm still doing killer work-outs and eating pretty well. I know the whole theory about muscle weighs more than fat, but I still have enough weight to lose that I should still be losing, even if gaining muscle, right? I am currently on a 7 day cycle of low carbs to see if that helps, but so far, no change. Any ideas to shake things up where I am losing weight again??

Need more information...what are you eating and what is a killer work out? I just overcame a three week plateau.
I didn't change anything up except for my activity level, which I had already been doing gradually. I think it just happens.
Just keep at it. Just make sure you are eating around your recommended calories and keep intensifying your exercise.
Your body will adjust.

psuLemon

I am 220lbs, 5'6", 31 years old. My workouts are around 1.5 hrs, 5-6 days a week. I do Zumba, crosstrainer, elliptical, weights, and just started kickboxing as well.

Based on your stats, I would you have eating 2200 calories a day total. That is total calories, not net. This would be a custom set up in the profile. In this case you do not eat back exercise calories as it's already built into the equation.

Glissenklw

What do you suggest for good foods to add additional healthy calories?

Glissenklw

I ate my exercise calories for 3 months and gained weight back. It does not work for everyone. A 3 week plateau is ok. It usually takes about a month to break through it.

This is the most common response from people who undereat for a long time. It is totally normal to gain weight back while your body repairs itself and gets used to eating more calories. It can take just as long to repair your metabolism back to a healthy level as it took to lower it in the first place.

If you want to start repairing the damage you have done by severe under eating I would suggest slowly adding calories instead of just jumping straight to what you should be eating. Add like 50-100 calories per week to minimize weight gain and allow your body to adapt to eating healthy again. Also add in some resistance training instead of traditional cardio to regain some of the lean mass you have lost.

What foods do you suggest to add more healthy calories?? I ask this because I don't feel like I am undereating as far as hunger goes, so there isn't anything I am craving. So I need good ideas on foods that I can snack on throughout the day in order to add more calories. I really appreciate you explaining everything the way you have, it makes sense. I am really trying to achieve great results and am determined to get to my goal.

mustgetmuscles1

I ate my exercise calories for 3 months and gained weight back. It does not work for everyone. A 3 week plateau is ok. It usually takes about a month to break through it.

This is the most common response from people who undereat for a long time. It is totally normal to gain weight back while your body repairs itself and gets used to eating more calories. It can take just as long to repair your metabolism back to a healthy level as it took to lower it in the first place.

If you want to start repairing the damage you have done by severe under eating I would suggest slowly adding calories instead of just jumping straight to what you should be eating. Add like 50-100 calories per week to minimize weight gain and allow your body to adapt to eating healthy again. Also add in some resistance training instead of traditional cardio to regain some of the lean mass you have lost.

What foods do you suggest to add more healthy calories?? I ask this because I don't feel like I am undereating as far as hunger goes, so there isn't anything I am craving. So I need good ideas on foods that I can snack on throughout the day in order to add more calories. I really appreciate you explaining everything the way you have, it makes sense. I am really trying to achieve great results and am determined to get to my goal.

I would worry more about actually eating than the source myself but anything calorie dense like nuts would make it easy to get a lot of calories in a smaller amount of food.

In my opinion eating a candy bar or chips is healthier than under eating.

Glissenklw

I need advice on things I can do to break through a weight loss plateau. I have been at this for 100 days now. I have lost 36 lbs, which I know, is great!! But the past 3 weeks have been very frustrating, because the scale hasn't shown a loss, but I'm still doing killer work-outs and eating pretty well. I know the whole theory about muscle weighs more than fat, but I still have enough weight to lose that I should still be losing, even if gaining muscle, right? I am currently on a 7 day cycle of low carbs to see if that helps, but so far, no change. Any ideas to shake things up where I am losing weight again??

Need more information...what are you eating and what is a killer work out? I just overcame a three week plateau.
I didn't change anything up except for my activity level, which I had already been doing gradually. I think it just happens.
Just keep at it. Just make sure you are eating around your recommended calories and keep intensifying your exercise.
Your body will adjust.

Here is an example of my workout schedule:

Monday- Crosstrainer/elliptical 60 minutes, weights 20 minutes, core 10 minutes
Tuesday- Zumba 60 minutes, weights 20 minutes, core 10 minutes
Wednesday- weights 20 minutes, core 10 minutes
Thursday- Zumba 60 minutes, weights 20 minutes, core 10 minutes
Friday- rest
Saturday- Crosstrainer/elliptical 60 minutes, weights 30 minutes
Sunday- Crosstrainer/elliptical 60 minutes

I have been using the goals set by MFP (not just for calories but all macros too), and I adjust once a month based on weight lost. I have been limiting bad carbs and sugar, but definitely have not been on a low carb or low sugar diet (except I have been doing under 40g carbs per day since Thursday just to shake things up a little... grasping at straws to break this plateau!!)

What exactly worked for you to break your plateau? What exercising, etc? Thanks for helping.

cwolfman13

What do you suggest for good foods to add additional healthy calories?

Put together actual meals...also, nutrient dense foods like nuts, nut butters, avocados, etc. Cook with some olive oil, coconut oil, peanut oil,, etc...I love roasting my veggies in olive oil. You don't really eat more, but a Tbsp of olive oil is about 110 calories and much tastier than steamed veggies.

CM9178

I am keeping calories under 1340 and I DO NOT eat back any exercise calories. I exercise 5 or 6 days a week, usually between 750-1000 calories burned during workouts (Zumba, elliptical, crosstrainer, weights).

I am surprised you can get out of bed in the morning, if you are only netting 340 calories per day!
Input your numbers on the Scooby Calculator - it will tell you exactly how many calories to consume.
If you need to increase your calories, just eat more in general. A little bit bigger portions, more protein, more healthy snacks, etc. It shouldn't be that hard. I just recently increased my calories from about 1200 to 1550 and had no problem finding more to eat!

CM9178

I ate my exercise calories for 3 months and gained weight back. It does not work for everyone. A 3 week plateau is ok. It usually takes about a month to break through it.

This is the most common response from people who undereat for a long time. It is totally normal to gain weight back while your body repairs itself and gets used to eating more calories. It can take just as long to repair your metabolism back to a healthy level as it took to lower it in the first place.


If you want to start repairing the damage you have done by severe under eating I would suggest slowly adding calories instead of just jumping straight to what you should be eating. Add like 50-100 calories per week to minimize weight gain and allow your body to adapt to eating healthy again. Also add in some resistance training instead of traditional cardio to regain some of the lean mass you have lost.

What foods do you suggest to add more healthy calories?? I ask this because I don't feel like I am undereating as far as hunger goes, so there isn't anything I am craving. So I need good ideas on foods that I can snack on throughout the day in order to add more calories. I really appreciate you explaining everything the way you have, it makes sense. I am really trying to achieve great results and am determined to get to my goal.

If you could share your diary with us, we can suggest things based on what you area already eating.

krhn

You can try eating your maintenance calories to kick start your metabolism for 1/2 weeks then drop it back down!

ecw3780

I am keeping calories under 1340 and I DO NOT eat back any exercise calories. I exercise 5 or 6 days a week, usually between 750-1000 calories burned during workouts (Zumba, elliptical, crosstrainer, weights).

how have you not murdered anyone yet? You need to eat back those exercise calories. Give it 6 weeks of eating exercise calories and then reevaluate. Also, where are you getting your numbers for calories burned from? When you eat back exercise calories, I highly recommend wearing some sort of monitor so you know what you are actually burning.

Also, I have heard when you go from not eating your exercise calories to eating them, to slowly add in in exercise calories of the course of a few days/week. The allows your metabolism to adjust instead of suddenly getting 700 calories extra per day.

girlfromOklahoma

I have found that having a cheat meal works for me. I only do it like once a week, at dinner time. And for whatever reason everytime I have a cheat meal when I wake up the next morning, I'm lighter than I was the day before. Maybe it's a coincidence? Not sure but it's working for now.

chrisvinci

Up the carbs

JanaCanada

I am keeping calories under 1340 and I DO NOT eat back any exercise calories. I exercise 5 or 6 days a week, usually between 750-1000 calories burned during workouts (Zumba, elliptical, crosstrainer, weights).

There's your issue. You barely fuel your body. Also, I would think you are not burning that many calories unless you are working out 2 hours a day. I am a 195 lb man and it's hard for me to burn that many calories. Most likely, you will need to eat another 400 ish calories a day so you can fuel your workouts. What are your stats? Height, weight, age.

THIS!

I hit a plateau after losing around 35 lbs. I increased my calories and ate back half my exercise calories, and in a week, the plateau broke and I have lost steadily (again) since.