Breaking A Plateau!! Pointers please
bake_n_run
Posts: 20 Member
SW: 210 lbs
CW:167.2 lbs
Height: 5 '4''
Lowest I have gotten is 164.6 lbs. I would start by saying that in my head I think after reaching this weight and receiving compliments from coworkers, friends I thought oh I am fine now. But honestly I have 30 more pounds to lose and I feel pretty bad about overlooking my hard work and letting my eating habits take control of me. Past 4 months I have been in the 166-170 lbs range having very bad eating days and few clean eating days.
I do exercise 4-5 times a week. I am a vegetarian so my diet consists mainly of carbs and I do realize I should try incorporating more protein in my diet.
I would love to listen to your tips of how you have broken plateaus, fought eating habits and work out better.
Also feel free to add me
I am looking to make more pals to encourage and empower one another to achieve our individual goals and provide motivation and a few chuckles during difficult times.
Thank you in advance!
CW:167.2 lbs
Height: 5 '4''
Lowest I have gotten is 164.6 lbs. I would start by saying that in my head I think after reaching this weight and receiving compliments from coworkers, friends I thought oh I am fine now. But honestly I have 30 more pounds to lose and I feel pretty bad about overlooking my hard work and letting my eating habits take control of me. Past 4 months I have been in the 166-170 lbs range having very bad eating days and few clean eating days.
I do exercise 4-5 times a week. I am a vegetarian so my diet consists mainly of carbs and I do realize I should try incorporating more protein in my diet.
I would love to listen to your tips of how you have broken plateaus, fought eating habits and work out better.
Also feel free to add me
I am looking to make more pals to encourage and empower one another to achieve our individual goals and provide motivation and a few chuckles during difficult times.
Thank you in advance!
0
Replies
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I don't have any pointers but I want to offer you encouragement. You have done a GREAT job!!! Keep it up! 0
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I think you're asking the right questions when you consider the habits you need to form and/or maintain.
As far as the weight plateau itself, typically there are a few considerations make and without knowing more information it would be hard to diagnose what's going on, but if I were to categorically list things to consider:
1) As you lose weight, your energy needs tend to go downward because you weigh less, and ALSO because of an adaptive component that may further reduce energy output. It among other factors (hormones and their effect on appetite regulation) tends to stack the deck against you as it pertains to maintaining weight loss or continuing to lose weight.
2) Most people eat more than they think. There's a few different pieces of data that examine this and I'd say it's generally true for most people. In my opinion, this can get worse as time goes on due to just getting a bit mentally worn out/fatigued (in the beginning of a dieting phase people tend to exert more willpower and tend to display better logging/tracking practices). That latter statement is pure opinion and I want to be clear on that.
3) Plateaus CAN simply be fluid retention that masks actual weight loss on the scale. Elevated stress can cause this, increases in training volume can cause this, variations in diet can cause this.
I would typically look at how long the plateau is before considering addressing it. Once I think it needs to be addressed I'd examine logging behaviors/practices for areas to improve accuracy (so for example implementing diligent tracking with a food scale and identifying unlogged nibbles of food, or calorie containing condiments, etc), finally followed by simply making a reduction in food intake.
In limited cases I'd look at a diet break or refeed but I'd label those as special circumstances that probably don't apply to the majority.0 -
As far as your exercising goes , don't fall into the trap of doing the same routine over and over , be sure to mix things up on a regular basis , whether it's intervals or a different workout altogether. Your body adjust quickly so keep it working and confused ..... Just stay positive and motivated , you will beat the plateau !!!0
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I am in the exact same situation. I am just about the same weight as you are, and I've hit that plateau as well. I've lost about 25 lbs. in the last two years, but these last 20 just don't want to come off! I know how frustrating it can get. Let me know if you need support from someone who can relate.0
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It's NOT a plateau if you're not consistent. A plateau is no weight movement while being consistent for more than 6 weeks. So if you break that consistency, it's NOT a plateau. Getting and staying consistent would be the first suggestion. If in a month you're stuck, then come back and ask for a solution to help.SW: 210 lbs
CW:167.2 lbs
Height: 5 '4''
Lowest I have gotten is 164.6 lbs. I would start by saying that in my head I think after reaching this weight and receiving compliments from coworkers, friends I thought oh I am fine now. But honestly I have 30 more pounds to lose and I feel pretty bad about overlooking my hard work and letting my eating habits take control of me. Past 4 months I have been in the 166-170 lbs range having very bad eating days and few clean eating days.
I do exercise 4-5 times a week. I am a vegetarian so my diet consists mainly of carbs and I do realize I should try incorporating more protein in my diet.
I would love to listen to your tips of how you have broken plateaus, fought eating habits and work out better.
Also feel free to add me
I am looking to make more pals to encourage and empower one another to achieve our individual goals and provide motivation and a few chuckles during difficult times.
Thank you in advance!
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
Your effort already is commendable. I learned from a nutrition class that it's important to watch that you don't go below goal for critical things like protein it will make you more tired and test your willpower. Use the report section and Google how to incorporate more protein of other essential elements into your diet.0
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I mysteriously just broke a four month plateau. The only thing that I think contributed is more consistent tracking, so your admission that you have had some bad eating days might be the culprit. I wasn't able to exercise much this week, so I was pretty meticulous about tracking and staying in my range because I was afraid to gain. Possibly, I had been sloppy tracking and eating back exercise calories because I figured I had burned them off. Also, I am close to my goal weight. Plateaus when you are closer to your goal weight are very typical of the weight loss process.0
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Go back in your food diary to when you were consistently losing weight and see what you were doing different then go back to what worked. Most likely eating less calories. Also as you get lighter your cardio calorie burns are less, while doing the same amount of exercise, which means you need to turn up the intensity. Plateaus can be good for a short time mentally and physically if you don't beat yourself up about it. But after a week or three it's time to cut back the calories again, and exercise harder. Good Luck!0
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If you're simply not inadvertently eating more than you think you are, the plateau is most likely water retention, a common enough phenomena when dieting aggressively or for prolonged periods. I believe the reason is hormonal, where a persistent caloric deficit can run down certain hormones in the body, and cause the body to ramp up certain others, which can result in your body retaining more water than expected.
If this is the case, a dietary break of 10 days or so, maybe even two weeks is often recommended, to help reset many of those things back to normal parameters, and give you a platform to drop the pounds again when you resume your diet. You would eat at maintenance calories during this break, so as to avoid and fat regain.
The other option is to have occasional days where you refeed, eating at maintenance calories usually, for the same purpose of replenishing and restoring your bodies hormonal balance to more normal levels. I do these from time to time, in the form of carb refeeds, as I'm doing low carb, and eating primarily carbs (and glucose mainly) and minimal fat every so often helps break a plateau where there's been no shift in bodyweight for 7/ 8/ 9 days (1.5lb per week loss rate, thus I would expect to see a shift of some sort in that time). This is obviously a very specific type of refeed, but imagine general occasional refeeds are equally effective if you're eating in another fashion (ie not low carb).
If you're consistent in your methods, and know what you're doing is right, the above can be great at breaking plateaus, and my understanding of such plateaus was enhanced by reading around the area of cortisol and the 'whoosh' phenomena that some observe. Cutting calories further in this situation is the wrong option, as you are doing everything right, and just need to get your body back on track.
Of course, if your methods are inconsistent, and you are not so confident in what you're doing is right, it may very well be you're not in a caloric deficit, and you need to re-examine the fundamentals of your weight loss plan. Just be careful to discern which of the two it is, as you can see the solutions for each are different, and counterproductive if you administer the incorrect medicine 0 -
It's NOT a plateau if you're not consistent. A plateau is no weight movement while being consistent for more than 6 weeks. So if you break that consistency, it's NOT a plateau. Getting and staying consistent would be the first suggestion. If in a month you're stuck, then come back and ask for a solution to help.SW: 210 lbs
CW:167.2 lbs
Height: 5 '4''
Lowest I have gotten is 164.6 lbs. I would start by saying that in my head I think after reaching this weight and receiving compliments from coworkers, friends I thought oh I am fine now. But honestly I have 30 more pounds to lose and I feel pretty bad about overlooking my hard work and letting my eating habits take control of me. Past 4 months I have been in the 166-170 lbs range having very bad eating days and few clean eating days.
I do exercise 4-5 times a week. I am a vegetarian so my diet consists mainly of carbs and I do realize I should try incorporating more protein in my diet.
I would love to listen to your tips of how you have broken plateaus, fought eating habits and work out better.
Also feel free to add me
I am looking to make more pals to encourage and empower one another to achieve our individual goals and provide motivation and a few chuckles during difficult times.
Thank you in advance!
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This was also my first thought. It is pretty easy to drop weight early on, but the leaner you get the more the slip ups and inconsistency tend to make you regain weight or stall. If you get consistent, I bet you can shed another 10-20 lbs pretty steadily. The last 10, as they say, can take a bit more tweaking (generalization, of course). Also, yes, get your protein. There are plenty of vegetarians around here that can give you ideas. Good luck!0 -
Lots of water, stick to your eating plan, exercise and most of all, PATIENCE.:drinker:0
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since you've lost weight, you don't burn as much as you did when you started. you maintenance calorie requirement is lower. what you are doing right now, your plateau, is actual maintenance. you need to cut / burn more to see the scale move. period.
http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/comment-page-2/#comment-358480 -
Be kind to yourself. You've accomplished a lot, and the most important thing is maintenance. Don't worry so much about "eating clean" or "bad eating". Track carefully for a week or two (even without trying to change anything!), but just so you know your average daily intake/output. Once you see the pattern that works for you, try to figure out where you can cut (or add activity). If you can cut 100 calories a day (think of it more like 700/week - maybe that's two desserts?), that's 12 lbs in a year.0
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It sounds like you have a mental "plateau" rather than a physiological one. You are not being consistent. If there is any way to reset your brain and use right now as your starting point, you really should do it. Calculate your net calories needed to lose 1 lb a week, figure out your macro goals, figure out an activity routine and start again. Weigh and measure and log everything and tweak the calories, macros, and activity level based on what happens, just like you did when you lost the first chunk of weight.0
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Thank you so much guys! I guess each one of you pointed out I wasn't being as dedicated as before and consistent with my goals. I ate all my exercise calories back.
Thank you to each one of you for taking the time to give your opinions/encouragement i know some of you have given longer replies that means a lot to me
My take home msg is to make efforts to make each day count and I will try to be consistent. Change my exercise routine and be in my calorie range. I AM GOING TO TRY.0 -
Readjust calories as well! As you lose, most likely you will require less. So make sure that you are adjusting as necessary to meet your new needs. You're doing a fantastic job, keep at it! 0
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i'm a vegetarian, and i have lots of protein in my diet - non-fat greek yogurt, egg beaters, protein powder and various soy items (including tasty burgers and "chicken". i also rarely eat back more than half my exercise calories, as they always seem to be exaggerated by every app, calculator and HRM i've tried.
keep up the good work!0 -
tricking my body with different workouts, and changing my eating habits every 3 weeks (while successfully on a fitness regimen) helped me. However the last two weeks I've been eating junk so I am getting back on track now.0
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I'm going to throw this out there as something to consider, if you're sticking to the same exercises, especially if it is strictly cardio, try something new. Incorporate some lifting into the routine.0
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I have plateaued. For past 4 weeks I have gone between 148-150 each week. I have quit losing inches though. This is the first week where I did not lose any inches at all. I have been told that when you plateau, you need to take a week off and rest. Also, to eat closer to your maintenance calories. This will "trick" your body into losing weight again, so I am thinking I may need to rest for a week and quit eating low calorie during this week. Has anyone every done this and if so, how did it work for you? I have read about it all over the internet and read about it in the book Burn the Fat Build the Muscle. I thought it was crazy at first, but the more I read on the internet, it seems like it could be what I need to do being as I have not taking a week of rest off for almost 8 months!!0
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Thats such a great tip. Not eating back your exercise calories. I used to do the opposite since I felt oh I think I can eat a little. I guess I can stop doing that and see how it impacts. Thanks for the tip 0
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Yes my goal is to start incorporating weights in my routine. I am just so intimidated in the weight room. For 2 years now I think I can still just do dumbell curls etc with 10pound weights. I thought I am doing something wrong since I cant lift heavier even after 2 years but then it may also be since I do weights just once a week. Not sure I am a dummie in that area :-/0
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Yes my goal is to start incorporating weights in my routine. I am just so intimidated in the weight room. For 2 years now I think I can still just do dumbell curls etc with 10pound weights. I thought I am doing something wrong since I cant lift heavier even after 2 years but then it may also be since I do weights just once a week. Not sure I am a dummie in that area :-/
do some research on some programs like starting strength, strong lifts, new rules of lifting or even strong curves.
you need PROGRESSIVE lifting programs- not just haphazardly going in and picking up heavy things. That'll help quiet a bit.
Don't worry about "tricking" your body- consistent progressive loading is what you need- you're new- you can take advantage of linear gains and make some real headway.1 -
If you're simply not inadvertently eating more than you think you are, the plateau is most likely water retention, a common enough phenomena when dieting aggressively or for prolonged periods. I believe the reason is hormonal, where a persistent caloric deficit can run down certain hormones in the body, and cause the body to ramp up certain others, which can result in your body retaining more water than expected.
If this is the case, a dietary break of 10 days or so, maybe even two weeks is often recommended, to help reset many of those things back to normal parameters, and give you a platform to drop the pounds again when you resume your diet. You would eat at maintenance calories during this break, so as to avoid and fat regain.
The other option is to have occasional days where you refeed, eating at maintenance calories usually, for the same purpose of replenishing and restoring your bodies hormonal balance to more normal levels. I do these from time to time, in the form of carb refeeds, as I'm doing low carb, and eating primarily carbs (and glucose mainly) and minimal fat every so often helps break a plateau where there's been no shift in bodyweight for 7/ 8/ 9 days (1.5lb per week loss rate, thus I would expect to see a shift of some sort in that time). This is obviously a very specific type of refeed, but imagine general occasional refeeds are equally effective if you're eating in another fashion (ie not low carb).
If you're consistent in your methods, and know what you're doing is right, the above can be great at breaking plateaus, and my understanding of such plateaus was enhanced by reading around the area of cortisol and the 'whoosh' phenomena that some observe. Cutting calories further in this situation is the wrong option, as you are doing everything right, and just need to get your body back on track.
Of course, if your methods are inconsistent, and you are not so confident in what you're doing is right, it may very well be you're not in a caloric deficit, and you need to re-examine the fundamentals of your weight loss plan. Just be careful to discern which of the two it is, as you can see the solutions for each are different, and counterproductive if you administer the incorrect medicine
I meant to revisit the above sooner. When I wrote the above, I had misread your plateau to be 4/ 5 weeks, as opposed to 4/ 5 months. Given its not a short term/ temporary plateau, I think you need to revisit the fundamentals of your approach, and your adherence to them. Good luck with your weight loss efforts, and my best piece of advice would be if you have problems adhering to the goals/ intake you set, then start more humbly and at a point you can stick to, as once you have consistency you can then revise your goals upwards as you feel fit. In my own weight loss, I've found consistency and good habits invaluable.1
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