HELP!!! Plateaued!

Just going back 5 or 6 days, I think I'd have to blame the sodium. If you can get the processed food down a bit and substitute fresh-made food, I think it might benefit you.

But wow - congratulations on your accomplishments thus far!

There's a simple formula to remember:

Calories burned > Calories consumed = Weight loss (for most of us w/out thyroid or some other medical issue)

Since you are on an extended plateu that means Calories burned = Calories consumed (over a weeks time)

Which means:

1. You aren't logging in your food correctly (portion sizes, not entering everything, etc) and underestimating what you are eating
2. You are over estimating your calories burned "General Circuit Training" seems very vague. Just because MFP says that 40 minutes of doing something means you are burning 500+ calories does not make it so.

Assuming you are logging everything you eat, and your portion sizes are accurate, I would simply decrease the number of calories consumed per day by 200-250 and give it 2 weeks. You'll resume losing weight.

Your other option is to continue to do what you were doing during the times you were losing those 5 lbs and stop doing what you have been doing while gaining back those 5 lbs.

Avoid excess sodium like the plague, try tostay within you calorie goal 100% instead of 99% of the time, NO CHEAT MEALS, and just be patient. I was stuck at my plateau for three stinking months and it was absolutely terrible. Nothing you can really do but stick it out and show you plateau that you are the more stubborn of the two! Don't slack off, and just push trough it. It'll eventually break. Hopefully sooner than mine did!

From looking at the past week of your diary I would suggest paying stricter attention to your macros. Lower your sodium- HELLO WATER RETENTION, lower carbs and up protein. You seem to consistenly go over your sodium and carbs (sodium more so than carbs) but in the last week you have NEVER hit your protein. If you are working out like its listed you need your protein, try adding in a protein shake like isopure the chocolate is delicious!

Also, if you are going to consistently go over your sodium, drink a LOT of water. I'm talking over the 64oz/day and drink it slowly throughout the day so you can flush your system. Think about it; when you cook its suggested to use salt on meat to help keep the meat moist as it cooks (ie retaining liquid). Just saying :-)

Other than that, get a heart rate monitor so you know PRECISELY how many calories you are burning. That way you know you are eating the right amount back. The generic calculators can be off by 100s of calories and your perceived effort doesn't always translate into what you ACTUALLY you burned. It can help to switch up your workouts too. I've heard- once the muscles get used to the same workout (several wks down the road) they dont' work AS hard because they are becoming conditioned to the same exercise.

Plateaus are hard. Stick with it. Like the old addage says, "you didn't get this way overnight". GOOD LUCK!

I meant nitty gritty as the tail end of your weight loss.

Here is what I always suggest for plateaus. First, stop all exercise for one week and set your account to maintain. Next, when you come off of you set your account to 1 lb per week and either eat 50% of your exercise calories or what I prefer is if you workout 5-6 days a week, then set your account to moderately active and not worry about eating back exercise calories. Then I would also suggest altering your macro's, set them to 35% carbs, 40% protein and 25% fats. If you need protein, eat more lean meats (chicken, turkey, bison, lamb, sirloin, duck, etc..) or add beans, nuts, avocado or oils (like EVOO) to your diet. If you concentrate on whole natural foods then sodium will automatically decrease.

Now when you get back into exercise drop some of the cardio and work on more weight training. WT is much more effective for fat loss than cardio. Cardio is good for heart healthy and burning tons of calories. Also, you need to give your body rest (at least one full day). Rest is actually where you make your improvements. Rest builds up the muscles that exercise tears down.

Now if you want to workout at home, you can look at programs like chalean extreme, p90x, new rules of lifting for women or even go onto www.bodyrock.tv or youtube for routines. You can either use resistance bands or weights. And you want to do real weight training, where you are doing reps (which you want to limit 10 or less) for maximum strength gains.


Lemon

Thank you everyone! Eating clean has been something I'm working on. I've added a lot more vegetables. Salads have become a staple lately. I really need to cut the cheese out altogether. I didn't know yogurt was a good source of protein. I did eat fish today, but it had quite a bit of sodium. I'll check out different tuna options. I'm a broke *kitten* & eating healthy can get really expensive. I'm going to try these suggestions & see what happens. I will try the reset thing, but to be hones it's really scary for me. Not exercising for a week freaks me out. I definitely want to try weight training but I don't have a gym membership & only have 3 & 5 lb hand weights. Again $$$ comes into play. I'll check online to see if I can find something. Thanks again!

Go to amazon or target and get a few resistance bands.. they have kits for like $30. Also, its worth giving something a try for a few weeks.. the method i described broke my plateau as well as every other person i work with.

Walmart also has resistant bands. They just got new ones in my store

Here is what I always suggest for plateaus. First, stop all exercise for one week and set your account to maintain. Next, when you come off of you set your account to 1 lb per week and either eat 50% of your exercise calories or what I prefer is if you workout 5-6 days a week, then set your account to moderately active and not worry about eating back exercise calories. Then I would also suggest altering your macro's, set them to 35% carbs, 40% protein and 25% fats. If you need protein, eat more lean meats (chicken, turkey, bison, lamb, sirloin, duck, etc..) or add beans, nuts, avocado or oils (like EVOO) to your diet. If you concentrate on whole natural foods then sodium will automatically decrease.

Now when you get back into exercise drop some of the cardio and work on more weight training. WT is much more effective for fat loss than cardio. Cardio is good for heart healthy and burning tons of calories. Also, you need to give your body rest (at least one full day). Rest is actually where you make your improvements. Rest builds up the muscles that exercise tears down.

Now if you want to workout at home, you can look at programs like chalean extreme, p90x, new rules of lifting for women or even go onto www.bodyrock.tv or youtube for routines. You can either use resistance bands or weights. And you want to do real weight training, where you are doing reps (which you want to limit 10 or less) for maximum strength gains.


Lemon

Thank you, Lemon. This is super helpful. I have been stalling out for the past 2.5 months now too.