How do I break a plateau?

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SuperHero_Girl
SuperHero_Girl Posts: 72 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been going to the gym every other day and tracking my food for about a month now. How I eat has changed drastically, and I've increased my workout time from an initial half hour to anywhere between an hour to an hour and a half. I started out with mainly elliptical and recumbent bike, but have now expanded my regimen to include the crosstrainer, (bit like a stair machine), various naautilus/weight lifting machines, the stationary bike, light weight lifting and swimming. I don't have the money for a personal trainer, or else I would definitely invest in one to expand my workout even further.

As with every other time I've attempted to lose weight, I've lost nearly 10 pounds and hit a plateau. In the past, this is the point in which I tend to get frustrated and give up, which is something I don't want to do this time around. I've done internet searches and there are just too many suggestions on how to break a plateau and I don't know what to do.

What are some of the ways that others here have broken a plateau to continue to lose weight?
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Replies

  • RuthSweetTooth
    RuthSweetTooth Posts: 461 Member
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    Open the diary . . . we need data
  • PrettyGirlPayton
    PrettyGirlPayton Posts: 93 Member
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    Simply add 5-10 minutes on to everything you are doing now. Or If you are doing it 4 days a week then start doing it 5..Its no secret.Just increase the intensity
  • vickers75
    vickers75 Posts: 1 Member
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    Are you still losing inches even though you are not losing pounds and have you increased the intensity of your workouts or incorporated interval training? I also found that changing to using free weights and a swiss ball rather than the weight lifting machines in the gym gave much better results.
  • opuntia
    opuntia Posts: 860 Member
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    I always see plateaux as being healthy and necessary periods for one's body to consolidate and stabilise the new weight it has become. And then, once you've had the plateau for a while, you can make a small change and lose some more weight.
  • GnochhiGnomes
    GnochhiGnomes Posts: 348 Member
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    How long has the plateau lasted?
  • SuperHero_Girl
    SuperHero_Girl Posts: 72 Member
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    Diary is open now, I didn't even realize it was private.

    I have been doing random times on machines instead of a set time every time.

    What is interval training?

    Edited to add that I haven't been measuring myself, so I don't know if I'm still losing inches. Also, I'm just now entering the plateau, it's almost a week old, but I know how it's gone for me in the past, so I know that this is the first true one and it could last a while.
  • Libb3C
    Libb3C Posts: 56 Member
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    How much do you weigh? Are you already in your healthy weight range and just want to be lower? Are you eating enough calories? Drinking your water? Can you show us a day of food?
  • jackieatx
    jackieatx Posts: 578 Member
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    Calorie cycling

    Just read that you wrote its only been a week, don't worry you're not plateauing. Drink lots of water and good sleep this week, take your fiber. Next week will be better, losses don't show up every week
  • SuperHero_Girl
    SuperHero_Girl Posts: 72 Member
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    I currently weigh 256 pounds and I'm 5'2". If my diary is open now, are you able to see my food?
  • chrisclima
    chrisclima Posts: 4
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    You should give it more time. If you have been doing this for only a month, it might just be that your body is adapting to the new routine. You should also try different things - maybe one week try something lighter, like a walk or yoga, then the other week go for the tougher exercises. You should surprise your body, so it never gets used to exercises.

    Good luck and don't give up!
  • kellygirl5538
    kellygirl5538 Posts: 597 Member
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    girl i looked at your diary....you are eating out! Cut that out of your diet!
  • iammegs
    iammegs Posts: 38 Member
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    If you don't want to change up your workouts TOO much, here's a brief article on interval training (and how to incorporate it into your workouts) from Shape:

    http://www.shape.com/fitness/workouts/interval-training-short-workouts-really-pay

    The basic idea of interval training is you're tricking your heart into staying in a fat burning range for longer by switching rapidly between VERY high intensity and medium intensity, as opposed to the women you see at the gym who stay on the same resistance at the same speed for 30 minutes. I've seen different takes on how long your intervals should be, though.
  • Mishadijo
    Mishadijo Posts: 36 Member
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    perseverance, belief and stay positive... no matter what.
  • Sequence88
    Sequence88 Posts: 23
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    What has worked for me is to cycle workouts. 6-8 weeks intense cardio, switching to just a warmup with weight training after...if you feel you need more cardio in this period, do it after you've lifted for a good period of time so that you've gotten what you need out of your muscles first, and so on. In the first cycle you'd lose weight, after you'd build muscle and tone, rinse, repeat lol. If you do a similar workout for too long, your body just adjusts and gets used to it, it stops changing as much as you want. If you confuse it a little, that's where I've personally seen the best results.
  • Sk8rG
    Sk8rG Posts: 55 Member
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    Your calorie burns seem really high to me. If you can, get a HRM and enter your actual burn. MFP estimates high as do the machines themselves sometimes. There is a whole lot of "eat more" philosophy on here, but sometimes the answer is still eat less. I also find weightloss can be kickstarted by eliminating the processed food - pizza, microwave dinners.
  • mermx
    mermx Posts: 976
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    Hi honey, checked your diary back for 4 -5 days and you have mega sodium and a lot of sugar t! maybe watch those 2 things will help?
  • Libb3C
    Libb3C Posts: 56 Member
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    Looks like you opened it while I was posting - thanks! Ok what jumps out at me is your carbs - they aren't good carbs like veggies and fruit. I reallllly have to watch my bad carbs to keep the scale moving. I know it isn't any fun, but maybe scale back on the bars and ice cream, that sort of thing. Have some nuts or cheese for the same calories and get in some more protein. Eat some more fruits and veggies.
  • WABeachWalker
    WABeachWalker Posts: 133 Member
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    Plateaus really can be discouraging. :smile: :smile: :smile: These are things that I did until I broke a 2 week plateau:

    1. Evaluated my eating, cutting back on sodium. Under the MSP "tools" heading, you can add sodium tracking to your food record.
    2. Added another 20 minutes of fast walking in the late afternoon or evening.
    3. Went gluten free until the weight plateau broke (added benefit: a persistent seborrheic dermatitis cleared up completely!)
    4. Drank a little more water.
    5. Changed my workout routine to challenge my body in different ways. Switched to bike riding or to doing intervals of walking fast for 3 minutes alternated with 1 minute of walking as fast as I could.
    6. Be encouraged that plateaus are normal for many people. Power through it with your positive attitude and you will be rewarded with a good loss that will make up for the plateau time.
    **** You're worth it. Keep going!****
  • TinaInFlorida
    TinaInFlorida Posts: 51 Member
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    Things that stood out to me....monitor sugar intake and add more fruit and veggies :-)
  • Articeluvsmemphis
    Articeluvsmemphis Posts: 1,987 Member
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    girl i looked at your diary....you are eating out! Cut that out of your diet!

    initially wasn't going to comment, but this is not good advice. eating out is not bad, it's all about choices. with that being said just watch overall calories and lean more so the healthier options when you can.

    i wouldn't be able to lose weight if i had to cook for myself, just saying

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