Weight Plateau

akuruganti
akuruganti Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So, I keep hearing about all this weight plateau and how to deal with rhis. I am sure I am going to hit it sooner than later and want to be prepared for it.

One option I have read is it to eat at maintenance after hitting plateau. If i start eating at maintenance, I am assuming I will start gaining weight (the same rationale as when I hog 3000+ calories, the weight shows up within the next 24-48 hours).

Any other options? How about eating at 1200 or strating the 5/2 diet?

Please advise..

Replies

  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    Eating at maintenance = maintaining your weight. You will not gain weight... not sure what makes you think that. I would not drop down to 1200 calories just because you hit a plateau. All you have to do is readjust your calories (like redoing your TDEE, as you're suppose to recalculate it after every 5 lbs or so) and/or change up your exercise.

    Also, a plateau lasts several weeks/months. If you've just started, there's no way you'll hit a plateau early on in the game.
  • akuruganti
    akuruganti Posts: 4 Member
    Thanks...

    Well, if I am eating below maintenance and then ramp up to eat at maintenance, wont there be some weight rebound?


    There was a post on this board which I thought made sense---If your goal is to hit 185, then get down to 180 and start eating at maintenance so that you end at 185 after your body does all the adjustments and attains steady state..

    So, if there is weight rebound, i guess it is worse than a weight plateua..
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    That's your glycogen stores restoring themselves... so yea, you'd maybe want to do that, but that would be at the end of your weight loss goal. If you're wanting to break through a plateau, you ignore the initial weight gain, which may be only like 2-5 lbs, eat at maintenance and then drop back into a deficit. It's supposed to give you a kickstart or whatever. Honestly, I'd just play around with the deficit to find what works. You don't necessarily have to jump up to maintenance. If you're already at a 20% deficit, maybe try a 10% cut for a few weeks and then drop it back down to 20%.

    Hope this helps... I'm not at maintenance so I'm not really helpful in that area,
  • jbwork
    jbwork Posts: 9
    If you're eating at maintenance and gain weight, then you're not eating at maintenance, :) You're over-eating. Your metabolism is a moving target, and your body also begins to adapt well to workout routines, so over time, you lose weight, gain muscles, and your body becomes more efficient at using calories for certain activities, ie walking, running, lifting weights. So some people hit a plateau and do a "carb refeed" or "shock the system" type thing to try and make their body kind of reset. Some people swear by this, some people have zero success with it.

    You also have to consider, that the numbers your eating at, will change as your weight and fat to muscle ratios change, so it may not be a plateau, it could be your new maintenance level. You may just need to change your workout a bit, or increase the intensity. For example, if you lifted the same weights, everyday, and never up the weight or reps, then your body gets used to it, and you stop taxing the body as much. So if your trying to change your body, and you plateau, then your fitness has to progress wether its with heavier weights, or running faster, or whatever.
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