Dieting's Curse: The Plateau

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jilltort
jilltort Posts: 11
in Fitness and Exercise
Does anybody really know a lot of a plateau? I mean really? I get it, the first 2 months of dieting is easy, as long as you stick with it. Your body just melts away the pounds and i can't expect that to happen all the time. I've been at this since July 28, 2012. I've lost 20 lbs FOR SURE, sometimes up to 25 lbs, but that never seems to stick and i am fluctuating between 20-25 lbs lost for about 7 weeks now. I've had it! I'm not giving up, I'm just frurtated. Starting weight was 180, current weight is 160 (give 'er take) I'm 5'6" and I'm sticking to this diet and exercise routine and have been (minus Thanksgiving) I do 30 min of cardio 3-4 times a week following by weights. I'm lucky if I eat 1200 calories a day, unless less than that. What's girl gotta do?!?!? Help, Advise or Encouragement needed!

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  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
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    Reestablish an energy deficit via a reduction in calories, an increase in activity, or both.
  • iWaffle
    iWaffle Posts: 2,208 Member
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    ^^ What he said. I would add that you need to take a good hard honest look at the calories your eating. You can write down whatever you want in the diary but if it doesn't match reality you won't lose weight. Do you have a food scale? Are you pre-planning your meals before you eat them?
  • jilltort
    jilltort Posts: 11
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    I don't understand why a reduction in calories is the way to go? I'm not trying to starve myself. I eat about 1000 calories a day. My meals are mostly planned. Breakfast is always 5 Tbls of egg white and lunch is usually a chopped salad from Subway or Spaghetti Squash, or left over chicken breast from the night before. it's all supposed to be healthy.

    Just read a post about taking 2 weeks off of exercise, then starting again...thoughts on that?
  • jilltort
    jilltort Posts: 11
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    Also, you pic makes me hungry for waffles!! hmmmphhh!
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
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    I don't understand why a reduction in calories is the way to go? I'm not trying to starve myself. I eat about 1000 calories a day. My meals are mostly planned. Breakfast is always 5 Tbls of egg white and lunch is usually a chopped salad from Subway or Spaghetti Squash, or left over chicken breast from the night before. it's all supposed to be healthy.

    Just read a post about taking 2 weeks off of exercise, then starting again...thoughts on that?

    Yeah, forget what I said before.

    You're already starving yourself. Diet breaks are a good idea, but you've got bigger fish to fry at this point. Your calorie intake isn't healthy, you need to eat more.
  • forwesgar13
    forwesgar13 Posts: 56 Member
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    When I plateau I found a site its got some great tips its nowloss.com . I switched to eating 3 meals and two snacks. Increased my walk /run to five days a week sometimes with a weight vest.Still lifted some weights . I also didnt know to eat my exercise calories back and when I started eating more the train started to move again .
  • iWaffle
    iWaffle Posts: 2,208 Member
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    I eat about 1000 calories a day. My meals are mostly planned. Breakfast is always 5 Tbls of egg white and lunch is usually a chopped salad from Subway or Spaghetti Squash, or left over chicken breast from the night before. it's all supposed to be healthy.

    Wasn't trying to be hard on you but a lot of people guess what they're eating. If you're actually logging all this and know for sure then I'd say you need to eat more. Try out this calorie calculator and see what it comes up with. This is what I used to get my current plan worked out. It was very accurate for me.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/


    And read ALL of this:
    http://4chanfit.wikia.com/wiki/Harsh's_Worksheet_(WIP)
  • itstimetoeat
    itstimetoeat Posts: 63 Member
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    I am RIGHT where you are! I know exactly what you mean. I've done the eat less than recommended, BAD IDEA. No one advises any person to eat less than 1200. That's already the bare minimum. That isn't healthy and you're in starvation mode. I've been stuck for over a month now and just stayed at my current weight. I'm at a standstill. I am seeking for tips and help on what I need to do. I'm losing motivation mentally even though I stick to my workout regimen and eating. I've definitely changed my eating since I realized that I've plateau'd. It hasn't hurt my weight. I've managed to stay the same even when I at bad items here and there. Still kept my cals at 1200 and I always work off to earn cals. When I started my diet, I was really OCD about counting cals and count carbs. I consistently lost 2 lbs/wk. Just now STUCK.

    I work out 6 days a wk and I eat up to 1200. If I go over, its okay because I know I will burn most of it when I workout.

    Are your workouts intense? are you dying in the middle of your exercise? Do you get fatigue? You need to be burning HOT, heart rate racing, sweating like a beast. Its hard to hear but it could be a factor. I'm no expert as I'm in the same boat. I also NEED HELP. =/
  • cruisinskier
    cruisinskier Posts: 63 Member
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    I am going to suggest the exact opposite of earlier advice you received. I had plateaued and no l=mater what I did i could not lose additional weight. Then I did 2 things: 1. My personal trainer suggested interval training....change up your exercise to shock your body (change the type of exercise, the level, intensity, etc....such as runa few laps then spend 2 minutes running stairs, then back to laps, etc). If using ellitical, change up the level every few minutes. And #2, I had to INCREASE my calorie intake as I was having large deficits each day and ultimately my body was not getting enough calories. Since doing these 2 things I have continued to lose slowly and steadily over time. Stick with it and it will work!
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    I would also say you need to eat more. Sounds counter intuitive, but it works - especially if you're eating 1200 or less already. Food is fuel - you're working hard with exercise and just daily life, but you're not giving your body much fuel to run on. Eat too little and the last thing the body wants to do is let go of fat - it wants to store it instead.

    Have a look at these two links - I found them to be very helpful:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
    http://www.shapefit.com/overtraining-exercising-too-much.html

    I got stuck gaining and losing the same few pounds over and over again for months as well - bumped up my calories using the tools found in the first link, and started losing again, and the fat is still coming off. I am 44, 5'8", and around 137lbs. I eat around 1700 calories a day, often more, and workout 5 or 6 days a week for 60 minutes or less (weights and running, alternating days).

    Check out those threads - might be just what you need. :smile:
  • johloz
    johloz Posts: 176 Member
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    Try eating more and pushing yourself harder. If I don't eat enough, I can't go as hard at the gym. Not only will I not burn as many calories, but I'll end up losing muscle, which lowers my total burn (and doesn't do anything for my figure).

    Story time: I was in Army Basic Combat Training, so obviously we were doing strenuous workouts all day, every day, but they fed us a lot of food (not delicious food, but plenty of it). I made a point to eat AS MUCH as possible to fuel all of the workouts I was doing in a day. I later calculated I was eating around 4000 calories per day. Anyways... a few of the other females wanted to lose weight, so they started eating only the vegetables and a little protein, then still trying to accomplish all the work. Obviously, they were not able to increase their strength and speed as much as I was. By the end of the 9 weeks, I was small, tight, and shredded. My body fat was extremely low, and I had a six pack. The other girls? Barely lost any weight and looked chubby. Trust me, we had to shower together -- the results were obvious and shocking.

    Obviously I don't do that level of physical activity any more, so I can't eat that much, but that doesn't change the fact that if you are exercising (especially lifting), you need MORE food.

    Eat more. Go harder. Lift heavier.
  • Poods71
    Poods71 Posts: 502 Member
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    Happened to me too so I upped my cals from 1200 to 1400 and started losing again :smile:
  • kmshred
    kmshred Posts: 393 Member
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    have a day off once a week :wink: works for meeeee!
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Having a deficit that's too high can certainly lead to a plateau.
  • Quietprofessional83
    Quietprofessional83 Posts: 53
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    The best way to get over this plateau is to get out of your comfort zone in working out. Start looking at Crossfit-type workouts or HIIT in general. Mix it up on your cardio if you like, bike, swim, run, hike. Change the distance, change the intensity, change the amount of time, do more plyometrics, also, don't concentrate so much on the actual weight, concentrate on your bodyfat %. Biggest thing is get out of that comfort zone, if you want check this site out, www.sofwods.com, or rescueathlete.com, sealfit.com(try the candidate workouts), militaryathlete.com, mountainathlete.com, crossfit.com, gymjones.com, XLathlete.com, good luck.
  • sgarrard01
    sgarrard01 Posts: 213 Member
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    Happened to me too so I upped my cals from 1200 to 1400 and started losing again :smile:

    This!... i started at 1400, then net, then 1600, then 1700, then 1800, and at the minute im on 1850net... and i've never stopped loosing!....

    You dont just have to switch up the amount (net) you eat though... you can change your work out routines, marco's lots of things...
  • jilltort
    jilltort Posts: 11
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    Thanks everyone for your insight. Really really great and inspiring! So, basically, I'm being told to eat more, how can that be a bad thing!! The last few weeks I was doing the HIT method (Changing up intensity to "shock" or "trick" the body into letting more energy go) and I haven't seen much of a difference, or at least a differece in pounds that actually sticks. And my calorie counting should be failry accurate because i try and scan in as much stuff as possible and when guessing, i always try to guess high. One important thing said on here, and I've seen it in other blogs too, but I'm not sure if it's widely known that you have to eat back your calories burned. I didn't know that! At first when dieting/exercising it's simple math - you need to increase activity and decrease calories ingesting - it's funny and odd to me that now that that part is over with I have to increase calories and increase activity. Well, I'm gonna give it a shot and see what happens!

    I'm going to continue my gym push before the holidays, but eat more calories. Then I'll probably take a week or so off from the gym during the holidays and start back eating more with more activity. I'll report back results so others who fall upon this curse can benefit and/or learn. Thanks for your thoughts, please feel free to keep sharing your stories!

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