I may have hit a plateau, but it seems too soon.

brittanymonster
brittanymonster Posts: 58
edited September 24 in Health and Weight Loss
Now let me start out by saying that my food diary is a huge mess. I've had family in town, so that means big meals with dessert, and since they're French, there's always lots of wine.
I've also had a previously non-existent love affair with junky food. It seems that I ate healthier food when I was overeating. My theory on this is that I feel like since I'm eating so few calories, I deserve to indulge in crap as long as it's under my calorie goal. I know very well that I'm digging my own grave with that theory, and I'm working on changing it.
ALSO I've had no car for months, and it's a pain in the *kitten* to bring groceries home on the bus, so eating out has prevailed. That should change now that I've got wheels again.

Anyway, the above may or may not be related to the fact that I seem to have plateaued. I've been hitting my weekly calorie goals pretty well, and at first the weight was coming off and all was well. However, I've had a couple weeks now of pretty much no movement on the scale. I had only lost about 7ish pounds before I plateaued, which seems to be pretty soon for a plateau.

I've read a few things on calorie cycling, but I'm hesitant to increase my calories for a day out of fear that I won't compensate the next day.

What do you fine folks think? Is it all going to go back to normal after I start eating nutritious food again? I'm not saying that I'll be eating plain oatmeal and egg whites, but I will be cooking real food with real ingredients that probably won't kill me.

A few stats:
Starting weight (according to an accurate scale): 145lbs
Current weight: 138lbs
I eat a pescetarian diet (ovo-lacto vegetarian with the addition of occasional fish when I'm being cooked for).

Thanks for any input guys. :D

Replies

  • MzBug
    MzBug Posts: 2,173 Member
    If your eatting habits have been all messed up you might want to give your healthier habits a few weeks to reset your body. If you were losing ok before the disruption, give your body a chance to clear out the bad stuff before you change it up again. Drink lots of water and maybe some green tea to help clear it out.
  • Mollywater
    Mollywater Posts: 42 Member
    If your eatting habits have been all messed up you might want to give your healthier habits a few weeks to reset your body. If you were losing ok before the disruption, give your body a chance to clear out the bad stuff before you change it up again. Drink lots of water and maybe some green tea to help clear it out.

    DITTO!
  • If your eatting habits have been all messed up you might want to give your healthier habits a few weeks to reset your body. If you were losing ok before the disruption, give your body a chance to clear out the bad stuff before you change it up again. Drink lots of water and maybe some green tea to help clear it out.

    DITTO!

    Good advice ladies, thanks!
  • dababers
    dababers Posts: 135
    You didn't mention anything about exercise. You can keep your muscles and metabolism confused by switching up your rountine now and again. Don't let the plateau discourage you. You may be making progress and not realize it. Are your clothese fitting differently? Get back on the horse and do what you know you need to do....the weight will start coming off again.
  • noltes2
    noltes2 Posts: 202 Member
    You can only lose so much weight by cutting calories alone. If you are still eating high sodium, low fiber, high carb, low protein the scale will not move. Or at least at a snails pace. You must eat relatively clean and work on low sodium, high fiber, nutritious foods that will fuel your body to be a fat-burning machine.

    As much as I would love to believe I can what I want as long as it's under 1200, that will not work long term. Not for someone like you who is only 138 pounds and does not have much more to go. If you were very overweight then it might work for a while.... I lost my first 25 pounds by eating crap! but then I hit 170 and I had to start eating healthy.
  • noltes2
    noltes2 Posts: 202 Member
    Good luck and don't stress about your plateau! It'll be nice when you are able to start eating healthy again, and it'll go right back to normal before you know it - hopefully within a week or two!
  • You didn't mention anything about exercise. You can keep your muscles and metabolism confused by switching up your rountine now and again. Don't let the plateau discourage you. You may be making progress and not realize it. Are your clothese fitting differently? Get back on the horse and do what you know you need to do....the weight will start coming off again.

    My clothes are much looser, but this hasn't changed much for the past couple of weeks. I was doing EA Sports Active for my PS3 which was great for switching up exercises, but now I'm in a group that's doing the 30 Day Shred, so I've yet to learn what kind of results I'll get from it. Hopefully it'll help!
  • You can only lose so much weight by cutting calories alone. If you are still eating high sodium, low fiber, high carb, low protein the scale will not move. Or at least at a snails pace. You must eat relatively clean and work on low sodium, high fiber, nutritious foods that will fuel your body to be a fat-burning machine.

    As much as I would love to believe I can what I want as long as it's under 1200, that will not work long term. Not for someone like you who is only 138 pounds and does not have much more to go. If you were very overweight then it might work for a while.... I lost my first 25 pounds by eating crap! but then I hit 170 and I had to start eating healthy.

    I'm a salt fiend, so keeping the sodium down for the first time in my life has been tough. And I never seem to get enough protein, so I'll look for ways to get those numbers up. I'm sure it'll be better for me in the long run.

    Thanks for the advice and encouragement! :D
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