Breaking a Plateau

tara_means_star
tara_means_star Posts: 957 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've heard many of you talk about breaking plateaus by increasing your calorie consumption for a set amount of time. So how does that work? If you come off your diet for a week to break a plateau, don't you gain weight during that period of time? I guess my question is what does your weight do as you increase your calories and then restrict them again...

Replies

  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    Plateaus can be a tricky thing.

    My personal opinion (and take it just as an opinion) is that more people look to increase calories because that's the more appealing method as it gives you more food. I also happen to think that this is a mistake in most cases.

    Certainly not ALL cases, as some people truly need a diet break likely more for psychological and behavioral reasons although arguments could be presented for physiological reasons.

    How long have you been stuck at your current weight, what is your average calorie intake (gross intake), do you use a food scale, and what is your total weight loss from your heaviest to current and over what time frame?
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    ^^agreed.

    Also, you will often see that people lose weight initially when going on a diet break - the initial weight loss is water related. Dieting is stressful on the body - your body retains water when stressed. Eating more encourages your body to release this - the weight of whch is often to a greater degree than the additional weight from more food. This leads people to thinking that eating more makes you lose weight - it may do, but it is not sustained and is not fat.

    That being said, a diet break can be a great idea for other reasons as noted above.

    So, in answer to the specific question - you may lose, you may gain when you go on a diet break, it really is dependent on individual circumstances. Assuming you are at maintenance, this will not be fat. When you restrict again, you will often see an immediate drop in weight - its water and food weight again (Especially if you vary carbs as these attract water weight).
  • tara_means_star
    tara_means_star Posts: 957 Member
    to be honest, this question is purely out of curiosity. I took a diet break but it wasn't to break a plateau. I took about a week and a half not paying as much attention to what I was eating but still exercising a lot. I gained a pound. This could be fat, it could be muscle I don't know. I'm back on track starting today and am ready to continue my progress but gaining the pound made me curious what people see when they add calories to break a plateau. Is gaining weight common or do people usually just maintain until they restrict again. It was largely due to curiosity that I asked.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    to be honest, this question is purely out of curiosity. I took a diet break but it wasn't to break a plateau. I took about a week and a half not paying as much attention to what I was eating but still exercising a lot. I gained a pound. This could be fat, it could be muscle I don't know. I'm back on track starting today and am ready to continue my progress but gaining the pound made me curious what people see when they add calories to break a plateau. Is gaining weight common or do people usually just maintain until they restrict again. It was largely due to curiosity that I asked.

    It could also be nothing - as in temporary water weight that goes away. The choice to log or not log is yours, but without weighing/measuring accurately you can't really know if you were eating at a deficit or surplus or what the weight gain might be. I can gain and lose up to 7 lbs of added weight just for my cycle so I know to ignore the scale at certain times. Or when the scale shows a huge rise due to eating high sodium foods but I know the calorie count of what I've been eating was not that high, etc etc. Once I cleaned up my logs honestly I trust those over the scale sometimes and when you're seriously thinking long term, part of the exercise can be just waiting for the scale to catch up to what you know is true
  • lauralea42
    lauralea42 Posts: 29 Member
    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!!
  • ghosthackexe
    ghosthackexe Posts: 181 Member
    For myself one of my plateaus did require me to increase my calorie consumption the reason for this is when I (and many others) first started your so eager to lose weight that you actually end up not eating enough when I first started I wasnt even getting 1000 calories a day and in my head I was thinking "im going to lose weight so fast" but really it did nothing at the sort I think that happens from time to time or when you first start and so bumping up your calories enough is somtimes the fix for that.
  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,082 Member
    I hit a plateu for 3 weeks and my research turned up plenty of theories but nothing I was satisfied with, so I stayed on my course and when it broke I lost all the weight I had been expecting to during those 3 weeks in just a few days. For me it seems to have been water retention. Seems the water occupying the empty fat cell space theory holds some water so to speak. Maybe lol
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    I hit a plateu for 3 weeks and my research turned up plenty of theories but nothing I was satisfied with, so I stayed on my course and when it broke I lost all the weight I had been expecting to during those 3 weeks in just a few days. For me it seems to have been water retention. Seems the water occupying the empty fat cell space theory holds some water so to speak. Maybe lol

    You have probably seen this, but:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    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!!

    Looking at your profile, diary and current weight, I doubt that. You are almost certainly logging and eating at maintenance. Have you adjusted your settings to account for your new lower weight? Congrats, you're tiny! But you need to eat less. Unless you do a lot of exercise which you prefer not to log I'd say less food and not more is what you should investigate
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    I've been on one for about 8 weeks and I am positive its due to water retention in my case. At this point I'll be "staying the course", because eventually, the whoosh will come.
  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,082 Member
    I hit a plateu for 3 weeks and my research turned up plenty of theories but nothing I was satisfied with, so I stayed on my course and when it broke I lost all the weight I had been expecting to during those 3 weeks in just a few days. For me it seems to have been water retention. Seems the water occupying the empty fat cell space theory holds some water so to speak. Maybe lol

    You have probably seen this, but:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/


    Yes, And thank you for posting the link. That was the therory I was going with since it seemed to match my cirmumstances. But since it was just my observation of what may have caused my plateau I can hardly say it is a universal deal. I think the more prevelant reason is simple overeating and poor tracking. Since my diet is super basic foods and I count every morsal of food I knew how many cals I was eating.
  • parrillr
    parrillr Posts: 16 Member
    I hear ya--Bodies are weird. In August I had a binge once a week (semi unplanned) and consistently lost weight. This month, I've been eating healthy, exercising a lot and have gained weight which I think is mostly water. My body is swollen up right now! So, I am experimenting by doing a planned binge (and I mean like 4000 cals) to see what happens.
  • JustFindingMe
    JustFindingMe Posts: 390 Member
    Bump to read later :smile:
  • jo_marnes
    jo_marnes Posts: 1,601 Member
    I always overcame my plateaus by changing something. I'd re look at my diet/ portions (in the days before MFP), ramp up my exercise or switch my routine about. I've been at goal weight now for 3+ yrs.
  • lauralea42
    lauralea42 Posts: 29 Member
    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!!

    Looking at your profile, diary and current weight, I doubt that. You are almost certainly logging and eating at maintenance. Have you adjusted your settings to account for your new lower weight? Congrats, you're tiny! But you need to eat less. Unless you do a lot of exercise which you prefer not to log I'd say less food and not more is what you should investigate

    Thanks. I do exercise daily, but I don't log it because of the way MyFitnessPal gives you more calories to eat because you burn some off when you exercise. I have a spreadsheet that I keep up with EVERYTHING. This is where I put my exercising and the calories burned. I just ended up taking a week of not exercising or dieting. I stayed under maintenance though. Yesterday was my first day back on the diet and exercising schedule again, so lets see what happens now.
  • WickedPineapple
    WickedPineapple Posts: 698 Member
    I've had multiple plateaus, the longest being ~6 months. I overcame it by tightening up my logging and changing up my workouts (increase in strength training and variety of cardio). This included getting and using food scale, being more consistent in logging everyday rather than skipping Saturdays, ditching the whole "cheat day" idea, and being brutally honest. When I worked out I only counted calories burned during cardio by my HRM. Strength training I would typically not count or enter 100 calories burned for 45-60 minutes. Every plateau I've had has been from eating too much.

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