Help - I've hit the plateau

Options
prettybillie
prettybillie Posts: 6
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all

I seem to have hit my weight loss plateau. I've been eating 1200 calories a day and exercising for an hour 3 times a week with a personal trainer and over the past thee weeks I've lost nothing. This has caused me to have a major fail last night by eating an entire bag of Malteaster Bunnys.

What advise do any of you have to get over this plateau and stay motivated to keep going when the scales aren't moving!

Replies

  • navyrigger46
    navyrigger46 Posts: 1,301 Member
    Options
    Eat more.

    Rigger
  • KatissimusDorsi
    KatissimusDorsi Posts: 79
    Options
    How long have you been at this plateau? How long have you been eating 1,200 calories per day?

    I took a look at a few of your days in your diary and that is such a tiny tiny amount of food. My suggestion for you, from a health standpoint, would be to:

    1) Start slowly increasing your calories, something like 50-100 extra calories per day for a few weeks, then try bumping it up again.

    2) Make sure you're getting in your protein. For some reason protein wasn't showing up in your diary but it didn't look like very much from the food choices.

    You may not lose weight with this method, but if you're truly stalled out at the 1,000-1,200 calories per day your diary indicates, then you have bigger fish to fry. As well, the eating an entire bag of chocolates tells me your body is HUNGRY!
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    Options
    you aren't logging consistently...at first I thought you were really new but you just missed 4 or 5 days in a row...since March 1st you have missed 9 total days of logging...

    The rest of the days is all Jenny craig and you are eating under 1200 calories consistently...

    So if you are in a plateau (nice way of saying you are eating at maintenace) it's due to not logging...how do you know how much you ate on those days????

    Suggestions..get of the jenny craig.....are you going to eat it forever??? probably not...

    This weight loss thing is not a temporary fix...it's about eating in a lifelong sustainable fashion...in other words eat the foods you want/crave/love just in smaller portions ...
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    Options
    Weigh, measure, log, every bite. Including condiments and cooking oil, and.... everything.

    Confirm you are really eating 1200.

    Are you eating 1200 + exercise calories?

    How many pounds per week did you tell MFP you wanted to lose (hint: if you said 2 pounds per week then you are not set to the appropriate calories).
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
    Options
    Weigh, measure, log, every bite. Including condiments and cooking oil, and.... everything.

    Confirm you are really eating 1200.

    Are you eating 1200 + exercise calories?

    How many pounds per week did you tell MFP you wanted to lose (hint: if you said 2 pounds per week then you are not set to the appropriate calories).

    and

    Read this...
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet?hl=short+sweet+<span class=

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • prettybillie
    prettybillie Posts: 6
    Options
    I've been on the Jenny Craig programme and the 1200 calorie programme is what they recommend. I've been eating everything on the menu that they give me and doing the amount of exercise they have told me to do.
  • The_1_Who_Knocks
    The_1_Who_Knocks Posts: 343 Member
    Options
    Eating all those bunnys will probably shock your metabolism back into gear and you will probably start losing again.
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
    Options
    Are you netting 1200 or eating 1200 and then exercising and say burning 300 calories and only netting 900?
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    Options
    I've been on the Jenny Craig programme and the 1200 calorie programme is what they recommend. I've been eating everything on the menu that they give me and doing the amount of exercise they have told me to do.

    Okay, so, when you set up your profile here, set it for "lose 1 pound per week", how much does it tell you to eat? And remember, MFP calculates what you need not including exercise, so you would lose the weight with no exercise. When you do exercise, you eat more for that.
  • Soapfan777
    Soapfan777 Posts: 82
    Options
    A plateau usually means that your body has gotten use to the exercise and foods that you have been doing and eating. Therefore, you have to shake up your body a bit. This means either switching up your excerise or bumping it up with an extra 5lbs. of weights or 5 more minutes of cardio. As far as the food is concerned, record everything you eat and drink along with your exercise. It is much easier to look back and know for sure what your've done than trying to guess at it.
  • navyrigger46
    navyrigger46 Posts: 1,301 Member
    Options
    I've been on the Jenny Craig programme and the 1200 calorie programme is what they recommend. I've been eating everything on the menu that they give me and doing the amount of exercise they have told me to do.

    You should get your money back.

    Your logging is sporadic at best, but from what I saw, you didn't hit 1200 once, and many days were below 1000 gross, which means your net is abysmally low. So again, eat more.

    Ditch aunt Jenny, figure out your TDEE and subtract 10-15% to get your calorie goal, eat that amount and log everything, get plenty of protein, lift heavy, and do some cardio if you feel like it.

    Rigger
  • JaxNole82
    JaxNole82 Posts: 21
    Options
    I agree with the others recomending to eat more. I was in a similiar issue and upped my cals from around 1600 to 1900 and saw a 5lb loss in around 3 weeks. If you are going to stay strict with your 1200 cals, at least mix in a cheat meal once a week.
  • TNM2014
    TNM2014 Posts: 40 Member
    Options
    get rid of JC and trust yourself. Also listen to your body. It's telling you to eat. :flowerforyou:
  • prettybillie
    prettybillie Posts: 6
    Options
    Thanks for all your advice everyone. I've cancelled the Jenny Craig and rocking and rolling it myself now. I have to say I am looking forward to my salmon and fresh green beans tonight. Jenny is great - but it's so nice to be eating fresh food again rather than frozen meals.
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
    Options
    1. don't trust the initial setup that MFP provides. If you put in the wrong/inaccurate information, it'll tell you to eat an amount that may not be applicable.
    2. Make sure you eat enough.
    3. Figure out what works for you and is sustainable/healthy/long term.
    4. avoid fads. don't buy in to any "Hey, try the twinkie and vodka diet"
    5. Don't cut out anything now that you don't plan on literally giving up forever.
    6. GET A FOOD SCALE. Weigh everything. No, seriously.
    7. Get an HRM with a chest strap. You'll at least have a better idea of what you're burning. It'll be more accurate than the generic info in the exercise database.. and even more than the cardio machines. This is great for steady state cardio (run/walk/etc)
    8. Don't go balls out. You'll burn out. I see 300 lb people show up here, instantly start working out and cutting their intake SEVERELY... trying to cut out all of their carbs at once.. whatever. Take it slow. Figure out how much you need to eat FIRST in order to lose.. then incorporate exercise.
    9. Don't cardio yourself to death.
    10. Take the information on the forums with a grain of salt. A lot of people that have been here for a while.. and have been successful, may seem jaded. They give out GREAT advice day after day, only to be met with people that refuse to listen.
    11. Eat real food. Not diet food. Not "low fat, sugar free, now without X." It's easier to get/find/count.
    12. don't set time restrictions.
    13. measure yourself weekly. Don't just weigh. Measure and take pictures.
    14 BE PATIENT.
    15. Avoid forum topics that have "1200" in the title. It's just full of butthurt. Lots of it.
    16. If you ask a question on the forum, give as much information as you can ("yes, I have a food scale and weigh my food" is worlds better than "I eat a palm full of miscellaneous boiled chicken parts..sometimes.")
    17. Be honest with yourself and honest with us.
    18. This isn't a game, it's about changing your lifestyle. Do that.

    pretty much that.

    ...and don't fall into the "1200 calorie" vertigo of suck because of:

    the typical MFP users does this:
    1. I wanna lose weight, let's try MFP.
    2. OH! Wow, it tells me I can lose 2 lbs a WEEK? AWESOME!
    3. I just sit at a desk when I'm not working out, I guess I'm sedentary.
    4. MFP tells them 1200 calories, and they don't even eat that.. then they work out on top of it.. creating an even bigger deficit.
    5. Lose a lot, fast, brag about 1200 calorie success.
    6. Come back in a few months trying to figure out why they're dizzy, tired, not losing weight.
    7. Get on the forums, ask why they aren't losing.
    8. Get two responses (I eat 1200 and lose) (I eat 2200 and lose)
    9. Argument ensues about who is right.

    Now. That being said. These threads happen hundreds of times per day. Most times, and I mean really.. seriously.. 95% of the time.. people get the 1200 number because they don't put the right information in when they set up the account. There are a great number of people that are trying to help. I'm one of 'em.

    I'm a hardcore advocate of actually finding out what works for the individual.. by means of other calculators, averages, time, practice, and patience.

    Blanket prescriptions of 1200 calories "because it worked for me" is more harmful to the generic new user than the "figure out what you need to eat." Unfortunately, one is a LOT easier to type.

    Find out what you need: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

    and make sure to read: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • djxil
    djxil Posts: 357
    Options
    It may sound crazy, like many other people, may have said, eat more for a couple days, carry on with your regular routine. You might break through!

Categories