Plateau for over a month now. Advice?

Alright. Accepting any and all advice on how to break this plateau. Foods, workouts, calories...

I am 5'4 and 154lbs. I upped my calories from 1200 to 1350. I have a stationary bike, elliptical, and two 5lb hand weights available in my home. But, if I must, I will drive to a gym. Help a girl out, I'm pretty bummed.

Some people are going to tell you to up your calories for a day. I'm going to say intermittent diet for a couple weeks. I've done both to break plateaus. Granted if you've been exercising 1200 calories is most likely too low unless you are eating exercise calories back. Look into lean gains, or the 5:2 that people are doing. It's a way to shock your body into dumping the water it's most likely storing in the fat cells. (Usually one of the more common reasons you plateau if you are eating at a deficit.)

RE: Plateau - when I plateau on weight loss - my trainer advises I must make a drastic change - to either diet or workout. He will advise me to actually go way up on calories with clean eating for a couple of days, (meaning ioncrease by 400...not just the 150 you added) or to do something with a very high level of cardio...such as intermittent spints on the tredmill for 1/2 hour (20-20 second intervals of sprint/walk) for at least 5 times a week. These suggestions have worked for me in busting a plateau...so they might be worth a shot?

I was plateaued for months. I tried staggering caloriers. Pfft. I tried raising my calories to 1500 (to lose only 1 pound a week). Pfft. Finally a friend sent me this article. I stopped dieting for 15 days... and now the scale seems to be moving again. I plan to do a full diet break every three months from now on.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

Alright. Accepting any and all advice on how to break this plateau. Foods, workouts, calories...

I am 5'4 and 154lbs. I upped my calories from 1200 to 1350. I have a stationary bike, elliptical, and two 5lb hand weights available in my home. But, if I must, I will drive to a gym. Help a girl out, I'm pretty bummed.

Lots of water my dear! BILLY BLANKS: TAE BO WORKOUTS!. he works you out and really adds variety to your workout! you can view full videos on youtube so you dont need to buy them

Great advice, I love the Tae Bo Workouts, havent done them in years. But yes, water is SO important too!

Take a "diet break"...i.e. eat your maintenance level of calories for a week to spike your metabolism then go back to a deficit. This works for me...do it every 6-8 weeks or so when I feel a stall coming on...works like a charm. Ultimately, your body adjust to the deficit over time and that deficit becomes the new maintenance...you have to spike your metabolism back to reality.

I was like that for a little while. Went away to my in laws for a few days where I can never diet well. And must have jumped started me again. Because I came home started watching what I ate again and next weighin I lost 1.2lbs.


I will try this next time I Plateau again to see if it helps!

Believe me, I have tried the whole "eat whatever you want for a few days to break the plateau thing" BUT no matter what I stay the 154-156 range. I havent gone past 156 or below 154..no matter how hard I try. I own the billy blanks DVDs, maybe I will try those...up for anything. Husband returns home in 9 weeks, and now im 4 weeks behind weight loss schedule! lol..

Diet breaks sometimes needs to be as long as 3-4 weeks. As long as you don't gain (too much) you are fine to eat there for a while.

You still might not be eating enough for your size. I'm at 1250 for 5'2", 118.6 pounds and steadily losing, moderate cardio exercising. Recently I have tried doing the 8-hour diet. Not nearly doing it perfectly (I eat over more like a 9-10 hour time span) and it seems to be working, but also eating very clean, lots of fresh salad, vegetable soups, lean protein and a little bit of healthy fats. The carbs I eat are mostly whole, unprocessed, high fiber.