Hit a Plateau, please help!

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Scrandall81520
Scrandall81520 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi Everyone! Ive been on this site for a few weeks now, and I find it useful. I have been counting calories for a month, and it is seriously beneficial to me! I never knew how much I consumed every day. I limit soda to maybe once a week and then its only a few ounces. I also exercise 6 days a week on the treadmill and burn from 350-450 calories. Does anyone have any suggestions of what I could do to get out of this slump? Also I ingest no more than 1800 calories per day.
Thanks in advance!

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  • Scrandall81520
    Scrandall81520 Posts: 2 Member
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    anyone? lol
  • aberc
    aberc Posts: 98
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    A little more info would be nice, like your weight, how tall you are, BMR, TDEE, etc.. anything else you can give.

    Otherwise try
    a) increasing your deficit if your BMR allows..
    b) changing your workout routine (body gets used to it)..
  • MissCassieJ07
    MissCassieJ07 Posts: 2 Member
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    I've found that when I hit a plateau and get stuck that changing my exercise routine helps. (I try not to do the same exact workout routine every day, I have different exercise routines for different days and change them every 2 weeks) Your body over time gets used to a routine and that's when you hit a plateau and you start to just maintain your current weight so if you change up your routine (either only exercise every other day or cut back a day or two) your body has to readjust to the change... I'm a stay at home mom so I'm constantly busy chasing kids, cleaning the house, doing yard work, etc. and my doctor said that even though I'm very active and get plenty of exercise that my body had become used to the activities I was doing and that if I changed my daily activities, either went for a walk with the kids or added some strength training, that my body would have to readjust and I would start to burn more calories and lose weight... Or you could try to find different treadmill work outs. I know on Pinterest I always see articles about different treadmill work outs for different days, varying your time on the treadmill... Hopefully this helps a little.
  • lbesaw
    lbesaw Posts: 267 Member
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    I'm confused---plateau but no weight loss so far? I am having trouble lately too but I've already lost 67 pounds. If you continue to have trouble you might want to consult your doctor. Good luck and stay on track.
  • sjwright66
    sjwright66 Posts: 41
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    I have never had success losing weight when running. I adore my elliptical and have lost 15 pounds since Jan. I signed up for a 5k (which is next week) and since I started running again I have hit a big plateau. Signing up for this 5k was simply a means to keep me eating healthy and active, with something to look forward to and celebrate my weight loss with. Keep eating healthy and doing some Jillian Michaels-esque thing.
  • jontay81
    jontay81 Posts: 39 Member
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    I'm right there with you. I just broke a plateau. I was eating 1800 kcal/day for three weeks which should have yielded a net loss of 8 lbs for me over that time. However, over three weeks I only lost 1 lb of scale weight. Then I woke up this morning and had dropped 7 lbs overnight. After researching plateaus, this apparently is a common phenomenon.

    See this link for details:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html


    If what you were doing was working and has a sustainable caloric deficit, I would wait a couple more weeks before considering changing things. Though I would ensure you are accurately logging your food by using a food scale. Plateaus are just a part of weight loss, so don't get discouraged when they occur. Keep up the good work!
  • haymancm
    haymancm Posts: 280 Member
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    From experience for me, I reached a plateau & was the same weight (if not more) for 10 days. So, I thought I'd hit the gym & change my routine. I signed up for a metabolic analysis @ my gym & got the results for fat & carb burning zones using a heart rate monitor. They gave me pretty easy workouts to do on the treadmill. My calories burned have doubled, if not tripled in about the same amount of time compared to what I was doing before.

    A week later, something still wasn't working. I felt sore from the new exercises & found out that my muscles were retaining water (from not stretching before &/or after the workouts.) Even though I was drinking a ton of water, about 160 oz/day, I was still thirsty.

    I researched about how if your sodium intake is too high, you will not lose weight. I was eating over 3000 mg/day. I also found that a lack of potassium will not get rid of the sodium/water retention in your cells.

    After dropping my sodium to about 1500 & making an effort to increase my potassium, I dropped more than 2 lbs overnight.

    If your sodium (1500 mg) & potassium (4000 mg/day) are @ healthy levels, you should freak your body out by doing another kind of cardio exercise. Do you have a heart rate monitor? I do not even consider looking @ my calories now but make a priority of keeping my sodium under & my potassium up. I am extremely full at the end of the day.

    I found this site to be very helpful about potassium. http://www.krispin.com/potassm.html
  • paxbfl
    paxbfl Posts: 391 Member
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    I agree with aberc... we need to know your BMR, TDEE and how many calories you're consuming. Your calorie burn on the treadmill sounds pretty good. But are you eating those calories back? If so, STOP!

    MFP encourages you to eat those calories back because it says "You earned XXX calories from exercise today" and changes your goal. Ignore that and keep on your calorie goal - TDEE - 20%... or (in my case) just above your BMR (as long as you stay over 1,200 calories minimum). That way, all your exercise calories goes toward fat-loss which is what you want.

    If you really have 25 pounds to lose, you shouldn't have a problem losing - especially with how hard you're exercising. I had the same reaction as you when I started - I couldn't believe how many calories I was eating. I started really carefully measuring foods because I discovered I really had no idea what 1 cup of pasta was, or 4 ounces of meat.

    A few things that worked for me...

    1. HIIT: High Intensity Interval Training. Instead of just running on the treadmill, do intervals where you walk a 2-minute warmup, then do 6 4-minute intervals of walking 1 min, jogging 1 min, running 1 min, sprinting 1 min. The high intensity helps get your heart rate up which helps get your metabolism going. I wouldn't do this on back-to-back days. Do HIIT one day, then do moderate cardio the next. I do an elliptical on my moderate days since it gives my knees a break.

    2. Mini-Meals. Instead of eating 3 large meals, eat 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day. This supposedly helps keep your blood sugar and metabolism more steady throughout the day. I found it helps me avoid hunger and I feel less swings in my energy level.

    3. Lift and Eat Protein. Both help you build muscle... muscle helps increase your metabolism so you burn more calories all day long.

    Hope that helps! Send me a friend request if you'd like more info!

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