Serious Plateau

chuisle
chuisle Posts: 1,052 Member
edited September 28 in Health and Weight Loss
This is my 7th week of plateau. I am super frustrated. I have been fluctuating within a 4 pound range. I changed to 40/30/30 (protein, carbs, fat) about a month ago. No difference. I upped my calories a few weeks ago and set my weight loss to .5 lbs 2 weeks ago. No change. I've changed my work outs, doing different a different weight routine 3x a week with 2x a week with yoga or other cardio about the same time. No change.

What's worse is that I also haven't lost any body fat or inches in 5 weeks so I am seriously plateauing in all areas.

I am doing the same general things I was early in my weight loss and I know that it might not be enough but I am truly at a loss for what to do next. I know there are areas I can improve (veggies, clean eating, better weekends) but there's so much information out there I feel overwhelmed.

I also have a wedding to go to in two weeks and even though there's no way I'll hit my goals for it I at least want to break my plateau. I'm not sure I've ever been so discouraged in all my time on MFP.

Replies

  • moylie
    moylie Posts: 195
    I feel your pain! I was stuck for most of May. I just posted a thread on my success w/ Zig Zagging Calories. IT WORKS!!!! Finally, I lost 3 pounds in one week. Do a search here, and go to freedieting.com to set up a profile for yourself, and give it a shot. Best of luck, and you WILL break through it!!!
  • chuisle
    chuisle Posts: 1,052 Member
    Do you eat back your exercise calories while zig zagging?
  • jcch00
    jcch00 Posts: 57 Member
    Is it possible that your body wants you to stay in the weight range that you are? Sometimes that is what a long plateau means. It's our body's way of telling us it is happy where it is.
  • chuisle
    chuisle Posts: 1,052 Member
    Is it possible that your body wants you to stay in the weight range that you are? Sometimes that is what a long plateau means. It's our body's way of telling us it is happy where it is.

    It is possible. But in that case, my body and I are not on the same page. If I didn't drop another pound but dropped fat % it would be fine but that isn't happening either...
  • pyro13g
    pyro13g Posts: 1,127 Member
    Calories - 1530/Day. I used your goal weight as current weight and used your exercise diary(1550 calories burned per week)

    Food Diary:

    Go through it and look at all the high carb in one sitting foods.
    Reduce the serving size or eliminate the faster carbs like potatoes. Battered food, bagel, dried sweetened fruit, Basmati rice.

    Look at the entries that are high carb plus high fat. Try not to do that.

    Basically cut the carbs some more, replace fast carbs with slower ones, and watch the fat with a high carb meal.

    Weight training, kick it up a notch. Lift heavier weights and only do one set to failure. If your doing it at a gym and ask around if anyone is familiar with HIT Single Set To failure or look for youtube videos demonstrating it. You need to involve fast twitch muscle more. Your using more slower twitch. Recruiting fast twitch will prompt better muscle gain and it's benefit, and prompt the use of fat stores for energy instead of muscle while at a calorie deficit. HIT is taxing and takes longer to recover from. Move quickly from exercise to exercise. Best free explanation I can point you at http://drdarden.com/readTopic.do;jsessionid=7312EC160B199FFB5B514B295BA9C3D6.hydra?id=415445 You could do the exact workouts at an appropriate calorie deficit. It would be lower than 1500 if you only did the strength training in that link. Probably 1300ish. But you'll have to consider your normal activity level and any other exercise.
  • ashkaps
    ashkaps Posts: 32
    Bump. I'm going through the exact same phase as you. I've tried to cut out down my carbs - no more bread, and a reduction in fruit. Fingers crossed hope it works out well.
  • weeziews
    weeziews Posts: 162 Member
    I am also in a plateau going on 3 weeks now and getting very frustrated. I thought counting calories and excercsing would be enough, but now I have to figure out all this other stuff (zig zagging, boosting my work outs, reduce fat, reduce carbs, etc.). Why does it have to be so hard? I do't even know what to eat anymore. Off to learn what it all means. Best of luck to you. Keep us posted on your progress and let us know if you find anything that works.
  • 123Jude
    123Jude Posts: 56 Member
    i have done the exact same, changed exercise, upped cals, lowered cals, tried this zig zagging thing, probably not properly but its hard to balance student life, part time work and a family life at the same time as this, ive also changed my food goals to 40/30/30 and nothing has yet changed, even though im under the carbs and hitting those protein goals.
    ive tried reducing fruit carbs, and try to only take in wheat carbs and vegetable carbs, and its been too long now at a stand still

    its embarrasing to everyone who knows ive lost this much so far, and then to say, "have you lost any more then?!" *big smile*
    and i'm just like, urm i haven't looked i don't want to keep checking, when really, I HAVENT LOST AN OUNCE!
    maybe ive lost inches, cos i can now fit into smaller clothes, but its just not the same feeling as loosing the lbs, and god help me i will do anything to get rid of these things!!!!!!!!!

    help.com
  • 123Jude
    123Jude Posts: 56 Member
    I am also in a plateau going on 3 weeks now and getting very frustrated. I thought counting calories and excercsing would be enough, but now I have to figure out all this other stuff (zig zagging, boosting my work outs, reduce fat, reduce carbs, etc.). Why does it have to be so hard? I do't even know what to eat anymore. Off to learn what it all means. Best of luck to you. Keep us posted on your progress and let us know if you find anything that works.

    Ditto. all the health information is so overwhelming i am lost.
  • bluellies
    bluellies Posts: 82 Member
    Have you tried eating your larger meal during lunch? Another thing that a pp touched on is type of meal--I find that if I eat a heavy meal my loss will stall. I'll still be correct with calories, but for whatever reason it affects my loss. I try and only eat a VERY small portion if I'm eating something high carb/fat, and I also try to eat it for lunch instead of dinner. Doesn't always happen, I ate a bag of peanut M&M's when I was way under calories the other night, but it took me an hour and a half to eat them. Ended up still losing as normal, so maybe that would help? IDK, definitely not a professional at this, but if you've tried everything it couldn't hurt :)
  • kmreynolds11
    kmreynolds11 Posts: 109 Member
    I got stuck for a long time in the 140-144 range. I kept trying to adjust calorie intake, exercise, etc. without seeing any difference.... BUT then I decided to get rid of all artificial sweeteners from my diet (or limit them to VERY little). I stopped drinking my Diet Pepsis and started using real sugar (or cinnamon) when I had coffee or lattes instead of Splenda. For me, once my body stopped having to deal with the artificial sweeteners, I started losing weight again. (NOTE: also started drinking more green tea around that same time... instead of my usual afternoon Dt Pepsi)... just an idea.
  • nikkirosem
    nikkirosem Posts: 63 Member
    I was listening to Jillian Michael's podcast on this subject. She says there is no such thing as a plateau. What is happening is if they are actual pounds that need to be lost you need to look at your calorie deficit to see if it is feasible. If they are vanity pounds it is going to be harder because your body is where it is at because it is at a healthy weight. You might want to check it out
  • Amanda0325
    Amanda0325 Posts: 245 Member
    I got stuck for a long time in the 140-144 range. I kept trying to adjust calorie intake, exercise, etc. without seeing any difference.... BUT then I decided to get rid of all artificial sweeteners from my diet (or limit them to VERY little). I stopped drinking my Diet Pepsis and started using real sugar (or cinnamon) when I had coffee or lattes instead of Splenda. For me, once my body stopped having to deal with the artificial sweeteners, I started losing weight again. (NOTE: also started drinking more green tea around that same time... instead of my usual afternoon Dt Pepsi)... just an idea.

    I'm stuck at 140-144... my goal is 130!!.. I'm going to try this! i use splenda a few times a day in my coffee.. I think i may just cut it out all together for the next two weeks and see what happens...
  • moylie
    moylie Posts: 195
    Do you eat back your exercise calories while zig zagging?

    I always eat back my excercise calories. Along w/ zig zagging, I really watched my sodium (aiming for less than 2000/day), upped my water intake, and I also aim for 75-120g of protein per day (adding nuts, protein shakes, etc.).
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