Weight loss plateau

I'm bumping this for the same issue...I'd asked on the boards and got no posts so I will use your thread as help I lost 48 lbs and watched my diet and stated running. In August I've slowed; I can't say I have completely plateaued but I have only lost about 2.5 lbs this month which is way below my normal 7 so I wanted to reevaluate my options. If you read the boards you see a combination of answers which can all be confusing to us "newbies". You see "up your calorie intake cause you are exercising more"....you see "change up your exercise routine to confuse your body", and you see "eat clean and not just under calorie goal"....it's confusing I just want to learn what's best and make this loss a lifestyle and not just a "diet"

Let me tell you what I did - Seeing as I had the exact same problem as you and we have the similar stats in regards to weight and height.

Like you, I was under eating on my calorie goal by a substantial amount. I've noticed in your diary that your calorie goal is about 1800 and you're averagely consuming 1200 calories per day. This is not enough.

Readjust your calories and your macros first and foremost. You can do that here: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

Secondly - DO NOT TAKE WHAT THE SCALE SAYS SERIOUSLY. It can be your biggest de-motivator. Take pictures, look at yourself in the mirror, take measurements around your waist, hips, chest, arms, legs etc and record it all. You may not be losing weight, but you WILL be losing Body Fat. And at the end of the day, that's what really counts.

this is all fabulous advice. i'm here reading threads because i have been having troubles losing weight. need to read some threads and re-motivate myself a lot. alas!

1) 2-3 weeks does not a plateau make. Weight loss is rarely linear, especially the leaner you are. You'll have weeks where you lose a lot, you'll have weeks where you lose nothing despite working your butt off.

2) If you're following MFP's guidance, you should be eating back exercise cals, at least until you figure out where your body's sweet spot is for cals in and cals out. But that's more an overall health and sustainability issue, not really tied to your issue of not losing.

3) Most plateaus are caused by laziness. People either: A) get lazy with their logging. They start off all gangbusters, motivation through the roof. At some point the motivation waivers, people get lazy with their logging and end up eating more than they were when they were seeing progress. people get lazy with their workouts. Either they don't workout as often as they did when they first started (again, as motivation wains), or they don't increase the intensity of their workouts as their bodies adapt.

Oh. And drink your water. Lot's of it.

Two-three weeks is not much time at all. My scale stood still for three months straight, then I suddenly dropped four pounds. (My deficit is set to lose a pound per month). Definitely lift some weights if you aren't doing that already, but other than that, just be patient.

Read this as well

http://www.leighpeele.com/starvation-mode

I made some changes based on this and started moving again. In a nutshell, there is no "starvation mode" but there IS adaptations that happen when we are at a calorie deficit. Sometimes you gotta increase what you eat for a while to get everything back to normal before you go back to a deficit. Worked for me!

The one thing I didn't see advised here is patience. I was on a plateau for over 2 months and in that time I did everything I could to break through. I took all of the advice on mixing things up, cycling calories, upping workout intensity, strength training, reviewing calories for creeping up, etc. Basically I was doing everything "right" but I stayed stuck. I read an article that I wish I could find again that pretty much said sometimes the body just has to reset itself after a certain amount of weight loss. It happens to most people who then quit because they feel like they aren't seeing results. I have stuck with it and the scale seems to be responding again, albeit slowly. So my advice is to review what you are doing to make sure you're following your plan, up your workout intensity if you can, and just be patient with yourself!! One side benefit I've noticed is that some of the loose skin I had after losing 40 lbs has tightened up during the plateau even though I haven't lost weight on the scale. My arms are firmer, my inner thighs are tighter, and my stomach is tighter, which is where I had the most loose skin. So, I'm taking the plateau as a blessing and continuing to move foward!! Good luck on your journey! :flowerforyou:

The one thing I didn't see advised here is patience. I was on a plateau for over 2 months and in that time I did everything I could to break through. I took all of the advice on mixing things up, cycling calories, upping workout intensity, strength training, reviewing calories for creeping up, etc. Basically I was doing everything "right" but I stayed stuck. I read an article that I wish I could find again that pretty much said sometimes the body just has to reset itself after a certain amount of weight loss. It happens to most people who then quit because they feel like they aren't seeing results. I have stuck with it and the scale seems to be responding again, albeit slowly. So my advice is to review what you are doing to make sure you're following your plan, up your workout intensity if you can, and just be patient with yourself!! One side benefit I've noticed is that some of the loose skin I had after losing 40 lbs has tightened up during the plateau even though I haven't lost weight on the scale. My arms are firmer, my inner thighs are tighter, and my stomach is tighter, which is where I had the most loose skin. So, I'm taking the plateau as a blessing and continuing to move foward!! Good luck on your journey! :flowerforyou:

super helpful, thanks!

You should definitely add some more protein to your diet and cut back on the bad carbs. You can't cut out your carbs completely because the body needs carbs to convert as energy to help you perform and complete your workout. You need to eat and consume healthy carbs... You check out this website for some ideas for healthy carbs you can implement in your diet

http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/weight_loss_diet_plans/diet_exercise_tips/6_carbs_to_add_to_your_diet_to_help_you_stay_slim

Far as working out in regards to burning fat and loosing weight you can start to do short 15 min interval or 30 minute cardio workouts in the morning before you eat anything. This will cause the body to break down the fat cells that's stored in the body and convert that as energy. You don't want to do this everyday, you should maybe implement this in your workout routine maybe 3 times a week and mix it up so you won't reach a plateau.

You can check here for workouts and nutrients tips

www.hnl24h.com