same ol plateau

mhollencamp102012
mhollencamp102012 Posts: 165 Member
in Motivation and Support
So i did awesome at getting the first 20 lbs off...now i am hovering at rite about 200. This is where my body says S T O P every time. I have dropped....30 40 even 80 lbs before, but my body always stops at 200....ONE time in my life i got down to 187 but it didnt last long. I really need to mix things up.....A LOT to get below this 200 mark.
as of rite now, I walk......a lot for exercise. I can not lower my calories anymore, as I am already as low probably lower than I should go......I really want to start weights but they scare the hell out of me.

I am going to start mixing in the elliptical with my exercise, and riding bike....these two dont scare me,

but how do i introduce weight lifting...seems like such a silly question, but I am not sure where to start, and unfortunetly my gym does not have trainers.

My son is 17 and very into fitness, I am going to ask him for help, but i dont feel that is enough...he's a 17 yr old fit boy, i dont know if he can help me....

any advice?

Replies

  • lessismoreohio
    lessismoreohio Posts: 910 Member
    Repost this in the exercise and fitness blog, and I believe someone will be able to send you to an Internet site where you can get information on lifting. Also, you may wish to look at your local library for a book on starting weight lifting. I checked one out of the library over the week-end. I'm looking to start lifting as well (I've stalled in my weight loss as well). My 18 year old son is going into the USMC in July, after high school graduation, and he has been lifting weights at school. I'm going to ask him to help me get started. Good luck to you.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    What are your stats? How do you keep track of your food, i.e. weighing/measuring/guesstimating?

    As for the weights, look up Stronglifts or New Rules of Lifting for Women to see what those programs entail, decide which one is best for you, and get started.
  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,630 Member
    Can't tell you about lifting but I used the elliptical to break my long time plateau. I averaged roughly 45 minutes on elliptical with a HR of 70%Max 3-4 times a week. This is of course with a nice calorie deficit.
  • ajravanos
    ajravanos Posts: 40 Member
    the same thing happened to me. i was stuck on the same weight for over 6 months, & that was while i was keeping track of my food, taking kick-boxing classes 4 times a week, & strength training 3 times a week. your body could be doing what mine did & has just gotten used to the walks that you take, therefore has stopped making weight loss all that effective. i'm not a big fan of weights either (but i do it...it took me awhile though), so what i did to get out of my plateau in the beginning was start doing HIIT (high intensity interval training) on the elliptical for 30 minutes (now i can go for about an hour). my body really had to push itself & adapt fairly quickly to my new workout since i had never done anything like that before. once i started doing that (i do recommend doing ANY type of HIIT workout [you can google them :)] to get over a plateau), the weight started dropping again. put a little more intensity & diversity into your workouts, & you should be able to get below 200 again. :) good luck!!!
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    mhollencamp wrote:
    So i (sic) did awesome at getting the first 20 lbs off... now i am hovering at rite (sic) about 200
    Your ticker says you have 23 lb to go. This will be slow.
    Is 180 a healthy weight based on BMI? Or is that an intermediate goal?
    If you're really only 23 lb overweight a reasonable expectation is 0.5 lb lost per week, certainly no more than 1 lb, and it will slow as you get closer to a healthy weight.
    as of rite (sic) now, I walk... a lot for exercise. I can not lower my calories any more, as I am already as low probably lower than I should go ...
    I am going to start mixing in the elliptical with my exercise, and riding bike... these two dont (sic) scare me
    As for healthy calorie intake, my doctor & dietician told me to eat 10x my healthy goal weight (based on BMI). When that leads to a plateau, I drop 50 cal & wait a couple weeks, &/or increase the intensity of my exercise.

    The latest for me was switching from an average of 45 min on the elliptical at 4-5 mph (which is somewhat hard) to 90 min on the treadmill doing hills at 50% (which is only moderately hard, so I can do it longer & burn more calories).

    Walking is good, simple, free exercise. To up the intensity, you could simply walk faster, or pick a different route with tougher terrain, or of course walk longer. Or start running 20 steps & walking 60. Slowly decrease the walking interval, then increase the amount of running.

    Do look into some of the resources people have pointed out to learn about weightlifting. It doesn't burn many calories, but will make you stronger and you'll look better. (And, disappointingly, the calorie burn increase from losing fat & gaining muscle isn't all that much in our favor. But lose fat anyway.)
    your body could be doing what mine did & has just gotten used to the walks that you take, therefore has stopped making weight loss all that effective
    :banghead:
    If you're using more calories than you take in, you will lose weight.
    Your body accomodates to exercise by becoming more fit, so it will take more effort to reach your target heart rate, but you're still burning calories. (Slightly fewer as you get lighter, yes.)


    51637601.png
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    you want something you've never had, you have to do more than you've ever done.
  • mhollencamp102012
    mhollencamp102012 Posts: 165 Member
    MKEgal wrote: »
    mhollencamp wrote:
    So i (sic) did awesome at getting the first 20 lbs off... now i am hovering at rite (sic) about 200
    Your ticker says you have 23 lb to go. This will be slow.
    Is 180 a healthy weight based on BMI? Or is that an intermediate goal?
    If you're really only 23 lb overweight a reasonable expectation is 0.5 lb lost per week, certainly no more than 1 lb, and it will slow as you get closer to a healthy weight.
    as of rite (sic) now, I walk... a lot for exercise. I can not lower my calories any more, as I am already as low probably lower than I should go ...
    I am going to start mixing in the elliptical with my exercise, and riding bike... these two dont (sic) scare me
    As for healthy calorie intake, my doctor & dietician told me to eat 10x my healthy goal weight (based on BMI). When that leads to a plateau, I drop 50 cal & wait a couple weeks, &/or increase the intensity of my exercise.

    The latest for me was switching from an average of 45 min on the elliptical at 4-5 mph (which is somewhat hard) to 90 min on the treadmill doing hills at 50% (which is only moderately hard, so I can do it longer & burn more calories).

    Walking is good, simple, free exercise. To up the intensity, you could simply walk faster, or pick a different route with tougher terrain, or of course walk longer. Or start running 20 steps & walking 60. Slowly decrease the walking interval, then increase the amount of running.

    Do look into some of the resources people have pointed out to learn about weightlifting. It doesn't burn many calories, but will make you stronger and you'll look better. (And, disappointingly, the calorie burn increase from losing fat & gaining muscle isn't all that much in our favor. But lose fat anyway.)
    your body could be doing what mine did & has just gotten used to the walks that you take, therefore has stopped making weight loss all that effective
    :banghead:
    If you're using more calories than you take in, you will lose weight.
    Your body accomodates to exercise by becoming more fit, so it will take more effort to reach your target heart rate, but you're still burning calories. (Slightly fewer as you get lighter, yes.)


    51637601.png

    I have 23 lbs to go to meet my first goal, not to completion....I have a total of 40 lbs to go to be where i would like to be as of rite now ( i dont know what that weight looks/feels like on me so i may want to go more)

    I am sure i have just gotten used to this ruitine and need to change it up. Have to push myself a little further each time, I see so many insperational stories on here, I would feel guitly if i made any excuses not to do it.
  • mhollencamp102012
    mhollencamp102012 Posts: 165 Member
    Thanks for the advice :) I will for sure mix it up and do some reasearch on lifting, and have my son help me. He's a very good motivator and loves to push his mamma lol

    Thanks again guys
  • Strongandscrappy
    Strongandscrappy Posts: 1,735 Member
    I always felt the same way about my weight...that my body likes a certain weight and it is so hard to get lower. This time around I just kept at it. I started doing a new lifting program (body beast) in September. I was 154 and the weight I thought my body "liked" was 150-155. My body did stall losing for about a month (October). But, instead of giving up like I used to, I kept at it and this past week I got into the 140's! Just keep eating at a deficit and exercising and the weight will drop. Just give your body time to do what it does.
  • mhollencamp102012
    mhollencamp102012 Posts: 165 Member
    The scale moved...didn't think it was going to...down 2 lbs in 6 days.....2more to go until Onederland . have not been there in a long time. And hopefully I can get over this hump. Shooting for 190 by thanksgiving. It can be done I just have to work for it!
  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,630 Member
    Care to share if you did anything different and if you did what it was?
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    mhollencamp102012 wrote: »
    Thanks for the advice :) I will for sure mix it up and do some reasearch on lifting, and have my son help me. He's a very good motivator and loves to push his mamma lol

    Thanks again guys

    NICE!!!! Not many people have someone right there in their family that can help!! He will probably be super excited to show you!!!!

  • mhollencamp102012
    mhollencamp102012 Posts: 165 Member
    Didn't really do anything different...I actually had one higher calorie day but really watched it the rest of the time....I'm really hoping to get under 200 by Friday...that would be awesome

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