plateau at this weight EVERY time..

jpalocy77

I get so frustrated because I plateau out at 150 everytime I loose weight. I did body for life a few years back, and plateau'ed at around 154..and I stopped the BFl plan and was actually put on welbutrin for depression and ADD issues, I got down to around 148..but nothing more. I went off of it a few years back, and had a baby..Everytime I have a baby. I go down to the 150's but nothing less. Now, i've been watching my calories..eating HEALTHY food..not just junk with less calories, but whole grain and healthy (for the most part) and I've lost 19 lbs since the 1st of march. I've been on a steady downslide..now the last few weeks, I'm only loosing a lb or less every week. I just want to push over the 150 mark before I start being discouraged.

what can I do to try to push me over the edge for the next few weeks. I'm thinking of a few high calorie days, with cardio 4-5 days a week... I've been exercising (HITT style) 3 times a week, but I work on the other days, and that consists of 8 hrs on my feet, lifting things..any suggestions?

mk9562

How many calories are you eating? What's your average calories burned?

katy_trail

body recomposition not weightloss

gogojodee

I have the SAME issue! Always 150 OR 151. *sigh*

I'm so ready to leave 150... FOR GOOD! I'm 5'2".

Isakizza

I always seemed to stall @ 200 lbs, about where I am now. I needed to adjust my calories correctly and just now started to slowly budge.

I've been in this crazy plateau for 3 months now! Finally happy to see that one little pound coming off.
Good luck.




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jpalocy77

yes gogo I'm 5'2 too.. i hate it.. With I dont have a HRM yet..but i'm guessing around 4-500 calories per workout I burn..i'm eating between 1200-1600 calories..I try to keep it around 1200..but on my workout days especially I eat a little more..
katy, you maybe right.. My waist has lost ALOT... I'm into my size 8s and 10s..where I was pushing my size14s 20 lbs ago!

AmiAlcocer

I remember reading somewhere that the body likes to stay at certain weights it has been at in the past for a while. It's as if it 'remembers' being at that weight, and since the body likes to stay in equilibrium, it tries to hold on to it. Losing weight means the body is not in equilibrium, and if you think about it, the body is trying to survive.

Oh, and there is the whole water replacing fat thing that goes on:

[after fat cells had been emptied of stored triglyceride, they would temporarily refill with water (glycerol attracts water, which might be part of the mechanism). So there would be no immediate change in size, body weight or appearance. Then, after some time frame, the water would get dropped, the fat cells would shrink. A weird way of looking at it might be that the fat loss suddenly becomes ‘apparent’. That is, the fat was emptied and burned off days or weeks ago but until the water is dropped, nothing appears to have happened.]

the above was taken from here:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html

Weight loss is not linear, and sometimes after little/no losses weeks comes a big WHOOSH down in weight. For me, I've found that I will lose only a little bit of weight for 3 or 4 weeks (1lb max, usually a lot less), then one week I'm down 5lbs. I eat the same, so the only thing I can attribute it to is the above water filling my fat cells and being female, my body loves to hold water. I find that the 'squishier' my fat feels, the better my losses will be.

Hope this helps!

Ami

katy_trail

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html

measuring tape.
throw out the scale.
increase your weight training progressively.

jpalocy77

love the article you guys posted. Luckily I drink a TON of water.. Water during the day and maybe 3 cups of coffee in the morning. that has been me since as long as I can remember..skinny or chubby! I had a weigh in today, but when I woke up I felt water retentive.. I hope its right maybe next week I'll drop a afew pounds...or inches! thanks!

ckmama

You should eat around 1700-1800 calories a day. Period. None of the eating the calories back etc. And your weight loss should start.

stumblinthrulife

First up, I think if my wife got pregnant every time she hit 150 pounds, I'd put an end to her dieting pretty quick :laugh:

On a serious note, I've 'plateaued' briefly twice now. On both occasions a carb binge seemed to get things in motion again. A 'refeed' is the technical term, though to be honest I didn't put that much thought into it - just ate a lot for a day, and a couple days later started losing weight again.

Google 'refeed' for more details.

stumblinthrulife

You should eat around 1700-1800 calories a day. Period. None of the eating the calories back etc. And your weight loss should start.

I don't mean to be rude, but that's very ignorant advice. If the OP is working out a lot, her TDEE could be way higher than that. By prescribing a fixed calorie amount with no investigation of her actual activity levels, you could be setting up an inappropriately high deficit.

LaurenAOK

First of all, don't get discouraged that you're losing a pound a week or less now, that's still a respectable amount!

Also, make sure you're eating enough. At 5'2" and 150 pounds, your BMR is around 1330 calories per day, so you shouldn't be netting less than that. Without any exercise at all, and if you had a desk job, your body would burn about 1600 calories a day. However, you said you have a busy job and you exercise. You're probably burning 2000+ calories a day, meaning you can eat 1500+ and still lose a pound a week.

Finally, as someone else mentioned, stop focusing so much on the scale and focus more on your body changing. Are your clothes getting looser? Wearing smaller sizes? Take pictures and body measurements, that can make a HUGE difference. I lost a jeans size without losing a single pound. That was when I stopped caring what the stupid scale says

jennifershoo

You should eat around 1700-1800 calories a day. Period. None of the eating the calories back etc. And your weight loss should start.

Uh? based on what?
I don't think so.

jennifershoo

OP, lift heavier! You'll lose inches (fat). Ditch the scale.

jpalocy77

any carb and fat I eat is pretty much a healthy carb and fat.. quinoa, muesli, avocado, olive oil, and oatmeal are big ones. I stick to maybe a natures own round once a day. I'm trying to cut out the sugars..finding out the yogurt I eat has ALOt of sugar in it..maybe i need to eat another bowl of oatmeal a day, or an extra apple and see how it goes

broox80

I always plateau at 200 lbs too. I have another 30 to get off before I need to worry about that.......... le sigh

jpalocy77

First up, I think if my wife got pregnant every time she hit 150 pounds, I'd put an end to her dieting pretty quick :laugh:

On a serious note, I've 'plateaued' briefly twice now. On both occasions a carb binge seemed to get things in motion again. A 'refeed' is the technical term, though to be honest I didn't put that much thought into it - just ate a lot for a day, and a couple days later started losing weight again.

Google 'refeed' for more details.

lol..no everytime I had babies, after I had them i'd be 150lbs. that is due to breastfeeding though. As soon as I stopped I was back in the high 160's to 170's.. I'm fixed now..so NO MORE babies fo rme!! although apparently I lost the most weight after having them! lol

omnomnomicon

http://admin.mmaweekly.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/01/01CristianeSantosweight144..jpg

Thats female MMA fighter Cris Cyborg, who weighs in at 145 pounds. Its all about body composition. The scale is good to an extent, but taking your measurements becomes more reliable after a certain point. Body fat % can be hard to calculate, but googling some images gives you an idea of how people can be the same height and weight, but the composition makes them look totally different.

04ward

bump to read article

Inittolozeit

Thanks I have this problem too!!! Usually I get discourage and stop.... Gain my weight back..... This time I'm sticking with it!! It's true the scale is not moving but I'm def losing those inches

Francl27

You have an active job and exercise 3 times a week, and you only eat 1200-1500 calories. You're not going to get lower, your body is telling you that it's starving. Go to your profile, enter your info, don't lie (ie, you have an active job), put the 'lose 1lb a week' setting and see what it tells you. I'm guessing it's more than 1200. Eat that, and eat 200-300 more on workout days.

jpalocy77

You have an active job and exercise 3 times a week, and you only eat 1200-1500 calories. You're not going to get lower, your body is telling you that it's starving. Go to your profile, enter your info, don't lie (ie, you have an active job), put the 'lose 1lb a week' setting and see what it tells you. I'm guessing it's more than 1200. Eat that, and eat 200-300 more on workout days.

thank you!I took your advice and made it for the 1lb a week and it did bump it up to 1430 cals a week. I feel a little more comfy with that.. but I still will try to keep it on the lower side of 1400 cals on my non work out days. I weigh in on Friday, so i'll let you know how my endeavors go this week. Thank you for the great advice! I love reading material, so any website of info you can give I'm always willing and WILL go read it!