Hit a plateau

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amy_m1975
amy_m1975 Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone! I have lost 21# since January due to diet changes and exercise. The weight came off pretty easily, but now? I'm stuck. I've stayed the same weight for nearly 3 weeks; neither gaining or losing. I realize I'm building muscle as I'm at the gym 4x a week so I know I shouldn't rely on what the scale shows me. But I admit I love seeing the number go down. :)

Today is day 1 of making slight changes to my diet; my plan is to now eat 5 small meals as opposed to 3 meals in a day. But I'd love to know what are other things I can do to kick through this plateau? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

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  • Amy_Andrews
    Amy_Andrews Posts: 106
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    Try varying your workout, even if it's just switching up the days you do certain workouts. And incorporate some HIIT. Your body gets used to workouts so it's important to keep it guessing.
  • amy_m1975
    amy_m1975 Posts: 7 Member
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    Thank you, Amy! I'll try changing up the gym routine a little bit. What is HIIT?
  • jessupbrady
    jessupbrady Posts: 508 Member
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    HIIT: High Impact Interval Training

    You might want to look at your % body fat to see if that is changing. Muscle weighs more than fat so if you might be losing a lot more fat than you realize.

    You could also have found the right combination of diet and exercise to be where you are with your weight. But, I suspect your % body fat is decreasing.

    Have you been taking measurements other than weight?
  • amy_m1975
    amy_m1975 Posts: 7 Member
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    Thank you! I was actually thinking of doing a body combat class at my gym, so perhaps I should suck it up and try it, right? :)

    I should be monitoring my % body fat; I haven't checked that at all so far this year. Can I buy something at a store that would monitor % body fat? Caliper perhaps? Or is that even effective anymore?

    I just took my body measurements nearly a week ago. That is one method I should be recording more often too. I appreciate your input, jessupbrady!
  • jessupbrady
    jessupbrady Posts: 508 Member
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    body combat class will definately help! I know when I do AIkido, class may not actually produce much of a burn. But, practicing at home without the stopping for lecture and demonstration of technique and I can burn almost 500 calories in 30 minutes.


    You can use calipers to measure body fat. This site will allow you to enter those measurements and calculate your % body fat (there is a tab for male/female calculators):

    http://www.linear-software.com/online.html
  • amy_m1975
    amy_m1975 Posts: 7 Member
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    SOLD! I'll try a combat class and see how well my butt gets kicked! I just ordered a body fat measuring tool on Amazon that came with a hand-held tape measure, which will make measuring myself a whole lot easier. I'm really excited to be able to record this measurement as well as weight scale.

    Thank you so much for the link - I appreciate your feed back! Have a great day!

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