Hitting the Plateau

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emcerlain
emcerlain Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Been working hard since the end of the Summer and I've dropped 25 pounds. Only problem - for the past 3 weeks or so I've been stuck. I just finished 8 straight days in the gym of spinning, elliptical and weights and I haven't been able to move the needle anymore. Does anyone know of any common obstacles that might be causing this? Am I underestimating calorie intake or overestimating calorie burn from exercise? How have folks here overcome an obstacle and pushed through to their ultimate goal.

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  • bikeperson
    bikeperson Posts: 3 Member
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    Try this, continue doing your exercises but do not eat back those calories. That will remove the common error of underestimating what you eat and overestimating what you burn in the Gym. Good luck
  • cristinfaldetta
    cristinfaldetta Posts: 16 Member
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    Congratulations on your weight loss os far! Hitting a plateau is common, and it's a sign that you need to change up your routine, whether it's in the gym or in the kitchen.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Is that a usual level of exercise or have you stepped it up

    Are you logging accurately

    Are you eating lots of sodium

    How are you logging your exercise cals?
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
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    It could be random fluctuations, especially if you weigh in only once a week. Possible scenario: week 1 your weight on weigh-in day has fluctuated down because you're dehydrated. Week 2, your hydration is normal, and you've lost fat but the scale is the same. Week 3, you're retaining water for some reason; you've still lost fat but the scale is still the same, or even higher.

    I weigh daily but log on MFP only once a week. If I look at my MFP chart, it shows several 3-4 week "false plateaus." If I look at my daily chart and the exponentially weighted moving average, it shows fairly consistent progress except around the holidays, when I deliberately relax and aim only to maintain.
  • shadowloss
    shadowloss Posts: 293 Member
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    My loss and stats are almost identical to what you are describing. I've lost about 25 since the middle of August. For the full month of Nov, I netted a 0.4lb loss. The difference is, I think I began to get a little lazy on logging exactly what I ate and secondly I started lifting heavy in November. I'm hoping the theory of muscle weighing more than fat is holding true?

    At the end of the day, I have no plans to stop my routine, but to take the opportunity to tweak a few areas where I feel I might make some progress.
    The first is to not eat back my exercise calories. I'm averaging about 400 exercise calories, so I will limit myself to eating back possibly 200 if I have to, or have a slip up.
    Second is to be more diligent about tracking my intake.
    Third, I'm going to add a bit more cardio into my routine. I'm not going to reduce the lifting, but add more of the sweating.

    In my opinion, like others have stated, this is the time to mix things up a bit to see what works for the next phase.
  • gabrielleelliott90
    gabrielleelliott90 Posts: 854 Member
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    bikeperson wrote: »
    Try this, continue doing your exercises but do not eat back those calories. That will remove the common error of underestimating what you eat and overestimating what you burn in the Gym. Good luck

    This will work. I eat a little bit under my TDEE and never even log exercise calories, let alone eat them back. I got over my plateau and I've been losing since.
  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
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    Honestly 3 weeks isn't a big deal. Just make sure you are logging consistently and accurately. Keep doing what you are doing. Make sure you don't need to adjust your calories down due to weight loss. And in another week or two you should see some movement on the scale!

    Also - give your body some rest. It might be holding onto some water if you are exercising 8 days in a row, etc.
  • ahoier
    ahoier Posts: 312 Member
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    Something to consider....look into a probiotic.....especially if you do not consume yogurt...which contains naturally produced acidophilus....you can find a whole variety of probiotics down the local vitamin aisle.....just pick one, of your chosing down the vitamin aisle.....when I hit my first plateua, I went with the bottom level, cheap, store brand Acidophilus.....take 1 a day, preferably in the morning, 30 minutes before breakfast. This way, by the time you EAT breakfast, the probiotic will be down in your intestines ready to "properly" digest your food.....

    And yep, if you are "eating back" your calories....Dont.....

    Another thing to consider, iis your logging routine. If you aren't measuring out your portions with a digital kitchen scale, or at least a dry measuring cup.....you could be over or under-estimating your food intake......
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
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    It's completely cut and dry. If you are not losing weight in the long run, you are eating more calories per day then you are burning. That being said, 3 weeks isn't exactly "the long run". I'd give it a few more weeks and see what happens. As others pointed out, if you are eating back exercise calories or guessing on portion sizes and not accurate with your logging, now is a great time to get a lock on that as well.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    emcerlain wrote: »
    Been working hard since the end of the Summer and I've dropped 25 pounds. Only problem - for the past 3 weeks or so I've been stuck. I just finished 8 straight days in the gym of spinning, elliptical and weights and I haven't been able to move the needle anymore. Does anyone know of any common obstacles that might be causing this? Am I underestimating calorie intake or overestimating calorie burn from exercise? How have folks here overcome an obstacle and pushed through to their ultimate goal.

    Since it sounds like you have already dropped 25 pounds, it could be simple water retention due to all the exercise.

    Another thing- have you adjusted your calorie goal since dropping that 25 pounds? We need less food as we get smaller. Not adjusting can put a damper on your calorie deficit.

    Also, has anything changed as far as intake? Do you weigh your food? If not, how do you keep track of your calories?

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