This plateau is killing me!

hi sarah i also live in NH and am dreading the cold weather. this is not my first go around wiht trying ot lose weight. my 2nd son is now 8 months old and i would really like to get back to prepreganacy weight (which is still 20 lbs or more over weight but i feel like its a good starting point) but I cant break the 180 mark. i was 188 for ever and then really stepped up and lost 8 pounds. thursday after busting my butt and staying at 1200 calories I acutally hit 179.5 but then again this am i am 180... i have been eating 1200 calories and 45 minutes of exercise daily... what gives right? just letting you know i feel your pain

I am "almost" 45 years old and I have been stuck at 150 for 9 very long months!! I do cross fit three times a week and run once a week. I tried doing "2-a-days" for several weeks and actually gained weight. I am so bummed that I can't break out of the 150's. I spoke to my doctor last week and they are running tests on my thyroid but somehow I don't think they will find anything. I wish I had already found the answer and could share it with you but thought I would at least let you know that you are not alone!

You may want to consider changing out some of the foods you eat. I see people complaining about being stuck all the time and then see they are eating bad foods. I'm not saying you are but it's something to look into. A lot of people save calories so they can have fattening desserts and treats every day and wonder why they don't lose. They always blame it on starvation mode. lol. I always get slammed when I say stuff like that but I am going off what I see. Change out some of your foods and I be you see a difference.



I'm in my early 40's....so yes it does become a little more difficult with age. I haven't had to lose weight in over 20 years. The main difference I see is just adding in more fresh foods and cutting out the processed stuff.

Outdoor workouts are difficult where I live due to heat. People in different climates have to figure out what works for them. It may be buying home equipment, joining a gym or changing the time of day.

I'm sure you will be fine and get it all worked out.

When I hit a plateau I watch my sodium intake. My body retains alot of water.

Our bodies will work very hard to keep us from losing weight. This is known as the "set point" theory. In most cases, after we lose 10% of our total weight, our body goes into preserve mode. At the same time, your body also becomes used to your eating and exercise patterns. Despite even your greatest efforts, your body will do all it can to maintain and you will plateau.

After researching, I've found two really great ways to break through: high intensity interval training (HIIT) and weight lifting.

In "normal" cardio workouts, you probably warm up to a target heart rate, then go at that same speed for 20-30 minutes, coll down and be done. In this kind of low-intensity workout, you only burn calories during your workout.

In HIIT, the workout is intense, short, and varied. For example, you may sprint for 15 seconds, then walk for 45 and repeat this 15 times. HIT targets fast-twitch muscle fibers that require more energy, thus burning more calories, but the real benefit to HIIT is that you don't just burn more calories during your workout, but you continue burning calories for up to 24 hours after as well.

Something else to keep in mind is that if you have been counting calories and doing low-intensity cardio (which is certainly great!) but not strength training, your body may actually be losing muscle. Losing muscle is problematic for weight loss because the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism is. In fact, if you replace 10 pounds of fat with 10 pounds of lean muscle and you'll burn an additional 25 to 50 calories a day without even trying!

My recommendation for breaking through plateaus is to add a few sessions of HIIT and weight lifting to your routine. I stopped at 16 pounds for a while and after adding HIIT and lifting heavy weights, I've lost another 7 pounds over the past month (even with a totally crap diet).

Hi all, my name is Sarah. I'm sort of new to the site. I signed up quite a while ago but I never used it. I'm almost 34 years old, weigh 150 (started at 178), and can't seem to break out of the 150 zone. I have decided to change my diet and kick up my exercise routine, but wow this is really hard! I live in New Hampshire so I am also dreading the cold weather that is coming since I don't belong to a gym and my exercise is outside. Anyone having struggles with a plateau? Anyone noticing the difficulties in losing weight in your 30's versus your 20's? Just looking for support

If you're looking to just cut weight, go 72 hours of lean protein and NO carbs. Load up on fish, chicken, turkey, etc. The lack of carbs will turn your body into a cannibal and you'll start feasting on your stores. That's what I do. It worked at 250 for me... and again at 242.

I'm a New Englander as well.

See my profile pic? That's me doing one of my favorite cold weather activities (snowshoeing). That activity alone burns 500 calories/hour on average.

As the saying goes: there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing choices.

I've also heard that doing fun things outside makes winter suck a lot less.

Try new things--keep that body confused. Also make sure to *meet* your calorie goals that MFP provides to lose the 1lb/week. If you fall below them you're eating a deficit to an already built-in deficit. Your body is trying to tell you something. It's unlikely that it will let go of extra weight and keep it off for good. Typically if someone eats below their goals on a regular basis they lose weight quick but the minute they stop they gain it back plus extra.

Meet those goals. Eat clean. Log every bite. Yes, even a taste while cooking counts.

I know how you feel! I only have 15lbs or so to loss and this is the most difficult thing ever. I haven't lost any weight for 2 1/2 weeks and the only thing I can figure out is water weight gain. In the past I lived off of 900 calories a day for years. Being a retail manager you just don't have time to eat but now that I'm at home and not moving as much.... 1200/1300 calories and 20-40 minutes of workout a day just isn't cutting it. I'm at a loss for ideas. It's discouraging but I will keep going Being in my 30's sucks some days!

Oh and I just ditched my previous diet plan I've been using for the last 6 months and decided to go in another direction. I feel like it's necessary because my body just got used to what I was doing before. Which of course wouldn't be a big deal if I was in a maintenance mode, but I'm 15 pounds from there. I feel like I've come so far and there's not much left, but it's so hard sometimes. And I certainly see a difference in the ease of weight loss now that I am over 30

Also, since you don't have a lot left to lose I would suggest switching your MFP settings to lose .5/week instead of the 1lb/week. You have to fuel that machine. Also, you mention the phrase "diet plan". Diet plans do not work long term. If they did the diet industry would not be making millions of people desperate to try anything. Look how many diet plans come out each year by 'experts' toting the next best thing. We would not be a nation of obese and overweight people if the diet plans actually worked long term.

http://fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.com/2011/05/most-dreaded-word-in-weight-loss.html

This article helped me break my six month plateau a while ago. I had to slightly up my calories (about 150 per day) and slightly lower my cardio. Which, was not intuitive.

I think you just have to keep playing around with it until you figure out what works for you. Good luck.

How long have you been stuck at the same weight, and during this time that you were stuck, do you know your average intake of:

calories,

protein, carbohydrate, fat (in grams)



During this sticking point were you tracking intake, or have you recently started tracking?

I am keeping my eye out for a treadmill on craigslist or something. I can't afford anything brand new but definitely need something for winter!

Can I make a suggestion? This is just from my own, personal experience. I think you should look at gettting an eliptical trainer. I wear a HRM when I work out and, again, this is just what I've noticed, I seem to burn about 15% more calories on an eliptical trainer than I do on the treadmill.

Also, I feel you on the plateau. I'm 33 and I'm experiencing one right now. I'm down about 20 and my body is fighting me to stay fat.

Good luck.

Hi I'm Melva and had been stuck at 180-175 for about a year it would just go up and down. Then I realized I had been doing the same thing and my body had gotten use to my routine. So I cut out bread, meat, and diary and drank only water for 2 weeks and kicked up my cardio and went up a notch on strength training and broke my plateau in 2 weeks. Now my thing is keeping it going and not going back up agter finally breaking it. I'm now logging my food daily which I have never been successful at which is another reason it was hard to break my plateau because I was eating more calories than I thought I was. Feel free to add me. Good luck and keep me posted. YOU CAN DO IT.