Is gaining and losing the same pounds over and over again a

spinaddict4life
spinaddict4life Posts: 93 Member
edited September 29 in Health and Weight Loss
Just wondering if I have been gaining and losing the same pounds over and over again for Since the end of May is that a plateau? I have been losing inches though

Replies

  • donnaeve8
    donnaeve8 Posts: 113 Member
    That's been me...trying to bust through it by lowering my calories and just started 30 day shred today. I'm so tired of looking at my ticker saying "12 lbs lost!', "8 lbs lost", "10 lbs lost", "7 lbs lost!". LOL!! That has been going on for months I feel!! Everyone has a different opinion about how to get through them so just try different things and go with what works..
  • spinaddict4life
    spinaddict4life Posts: 93 Member
    Oh to see any number below 199 for more than a few days I know. I hope you end the cycle soon
  • shaundam
    shaundam Posts: 38 Member
    I was just saying the other day
    gain 5lbs
    loose 5lbs
    gain 5lbs
    loose 5lbs
    gain 5lbs
    loose 5lbs
    gain 5lbs
    loose 5lbs

    It's all i've done for 3 weeks. Then the last 2 days there have been an extra 2 lbs off. so hopefully it doesn't turn into gain 7 lbs loose 7 lbs lol
  • vold94
    vold94 Posts: 256
    For the past 12 years or so I've been stuck at 230, haven't been able to get below it now matter what I've done. Then I entered into a relationship with my now husband and gained alot of weight being "happy" and health issues. My weight then climbed to 280. After fixing my health issues I lost 20 pounds really quick, then I started different "diets" and what not and did lose another 15-20 pounds but to only put them back on. I started MFP at that time at 261 and since then have lost 18 pounds putting be down to 243, I'm looking forward to getting out of the 240's, but I"m dreading being in the 230s due to never being able to get out of them for so long. That will be when I'm in the position you are now in, so I wish you the best of luck as do I myself!
  • onceathief
    onceathief Posts: 7 Member
    Congrats on your hard work! I'm not an expert on this by any means, but it does sound as though your weight may have temporarily levelled off. But don't worry, from my experience and what I've read, it's normal for your weight to do this for a period of time. It's only a matter of time before it continues to drop, so don't get frustrated. For me in the past it may be a week, two weeks, or even a month or more (and everyone is different) but eventually it will continue to go down. If you are continuing to lose inches, you may be gaining some muscle which weights more.

    Here's some more info in case you want it:
    http://www.oprah.com/health/Weight-Loss-Advice-Fitness-Plateau-Dr-Katz
    http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/10-ways-to-move-beyond-a-weight-loss-plateau

    Keep up with your hard work and good luck! :smile:
  • shellee9tj
    shellee9tj Posts: 221 Member
    I lost 54lbs (my goal) last Sept and maintained for a few months, even while on a 10 day vacation, and then all of a sudden I have been gaining and losing the same 5-7lbs since Feb, it is sooooo frustrating :mad: I have recently decided to really crack down and log EVERYTHING I put in my mouth and I also went back to working out at night instead of during the day or morning because nightitme snacking is a problem for me, this way I am exercising instead of eating. Also, I have been drinking at least 8 glasses of water if not more because I think yo-yo weight probably has alot to do with water weight. Just hang in there and maybe try changing your exercise activity or switching things up with your food choices to try and reset things. Your body gets stuck sometimes when it's on a routine for too long. Hope this helps, good luck!!:flowerforyou:
  • jimswife1
    jimswife1 Posts: 42 Member
    I have a problem getting below 208, something about that number that my body seems to like. I'm mixing up the workouts and the food. Like an earlier suggestion, trying new and different things to kick start the process again. Best of luck to everyone.
  • RozeGod
    RozeGod Posts: 118
    Yep= me too! I havent touched my ticker because it was making me crazy. I weighed 150 at the beginning 4 weeks ago and it goes from 145 up and down constantly never moving beyond. I am sticking with it anyway because eating better makes me feel so much more alive. Exercising makes me happy - no scale can take that away- dammit! (lol)
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    I did that for six weeks (plateaued). Tried zig zagging, no luck.

    My solution was to take a SHORT two week break from it all. I stopped obsessing over eating clean, though I still maintained my diary...as well as from exercise. I was however still 'loosely' zig zagging....2 days low, 1 day HIGH.

    The freaking weight melted off like butter....8lbs in 2 weeks. To be honest I think if I kept it relaxed, I could have easily lost 12lbs in 3 weeks...but I don't like not exercising and maintaining muscle..so I've since put back on 2lbs of water weight.

    My waist however...lost, literally, almost 4" over that period as well, and has lost another 1/2" since I started working out again monday. My biceps grew 1/4", and the rest of my measurements stayed virtually the same.

    *shrug* it might not be for everyone...but it worked like butter for me =p.
  • spinaddict4life
    spinaddict4life Posts: 93 Member
    I know it has to be water as the I get to 199.8 and then two days later I am at 204. Last week I went to 205, then back to 202, then 200 and today back at 204. I even started running and doing high intensity interval training. and nothing. Thnk I am going to have to say by bye to the scale a few days
  • spinaddict4life
    spinaddict4life Posts: 93 Member
    I think I need a break. I have been perfect for this past year pretty much. Never had cheat days. Weighed measured everything and I think I have become too diety. I find myself craving things like fried chicken, hot wings, Nestle Tollhouse cookies, and I have not allowed myself to have any of those things except a few cookies since starting my journey. Oh and I never ever eat all my esercise calories and rarely eat above 1700 once or twice I got to 1800 or 1900 and just cut way back the next day
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    I think I need a break. I have been perfect for this past year pretty much. Never had cheat days. Weighed measured everything and I think I have become too diety. I find myself craving things like fried chicken, hot wings, Nestle Tollhouse cookies, and I have not allowed myself to have any of those things except a few cookies since starting my journey. Oh and I never ever eat all my esercise calories and rarely eat above 1700 once or twice I got to 1800 or 1900 and just cut way back the next day

    There you go...take a break...eat more food...just make sure it's not too long. It was REALLY hard for me to start eating a little better again...and I knew weight would come back with exercise. Watching the scale drop like a rock is addictive...and if you keep it up too long, you'll screw up all you've gained with the eating clean.
  • shellee9tj
    shellee9tj Posts: 221 Member
    I agree that you should take a break I tried that during my active weight loss when I hit a plateau and it worked to break through it, I didn't go crazy or anything just went slightly over on cals and ate what I wanted for the most part anyway!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    For those of you who have plateau'd, it is ok. It just means you have to re-evaluate what you are doing? Have you changed your routine up? If not, remember, the body will adjust to a routine every 30 days. This means, you have to change up the weight routine and the cardio routine and maybe the food routine. Play with your ratio's between carbs/proteins/fats (do a 40/40/20 split to start). Evaluate your sodium intake. If you eat a lot of processed foods, that number will be high and you will retain weight.. Maybe you are not eating enough. Do me a favor and look at how I calculate my calories. Use this formula and compare it to MFP. Hope this helps.


    My approach looks at Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you slept 24 hours, for me, my BMR is 2000 calories. I then mutliply it by my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE); how many calories I should eat to make up for daily activities (walking, working out, etc) to get a total number of calories. Because I do a program like p90x, I multiply my 2000 calories by 1.725 which equals 3400 calories. This amount of calories is the amount I need to eat to maintain weight. I back off 500 caloires as my deficit and eat 3000 calories in a day. This is the website I use.


    http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

    I then go into a custom setup under my goals and set my daily intake for 3000 calories (well I will starting sunday, right now it's 2800 because I haven't officially started p90x until sunday). Additionally, to follow the p90x food guide, I set up custom ratio's. I do 45% of carbs, 35% of protein and 20% for fats. As I progress, I will lower protein and increase carbs. This method has worked for me and others I have worked with on the site. MFP just makes it simple for anyone to come on and lose weight. I take more of a scientific approach to weight loss. When I started I was 210 & 18% body fat. Now I am 189 and 12% body fat and hoping to break single digits within 3 months.

    Cliff notes: if you go by the sites calculations, you absolutely should eat back your workout calories as they preload the deficit. If you go by the more scientific method, you don't have to worry about it, it's already figured in your number.

    Good luck everyone.

    Oh btw, i take a break from working out for two weeks after each 90 day program I complete. You need breaks.
  • spinaddict4life
    spinaddict4life Posts: 93 Member
    So the site calculator says I need 1615 calories to lose weight, so if I go by that calculator I need to eat my exercise calories?
  • suzooz
    suzooz Posts: 720 Member
    I have been gaining / losing the same 2 pounds for 4 weeks now -- and tomorrow's weigh in doesn't look good, either!

    My body has done this every 9 pounds (not 10 -- 9. UGH!) It plateaued at 9, and again at 18, and now again at 27. I'm sticking with the program, and being patient, but it's starting to get annoying!
  • spinaddict4life
    spinaddict4life Posts: 93 Member
    At the end of the day your body is going to do what it wants I guess.
  • spinaddict4life
    spinaddict4life Posts: 93 Member
    I hear you has me baffled
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    Do me a favor, go to the below link and calculate your estimated body fat. If you can give me that number and your weight (over private message if you would prefer) and let me know your workout routine, I can calculate a good number for you. Also, I might suggest doing a custom setup on your carb/protein/fat ratio to help things. Once I get that info, we can go from there.



    http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    My suggestion is to change it up. I've had very good success with eating at maintenance for a week (every three months) and then abruptly dropping back down to 1200, along with changing my workouts.

    If you've been doing treadmill, try the elliptical or HIIT's with a kettleball. If you've been doing elliptical, try running outdoors or full-body boxing. If you always run 3 miles, do 5. If you spend 45 minutes on the treadmill on medium intensity, try 15 minutes at full blast, alternating with running stairs. Check out Tabata Protocol's and maybe do that? The cross training one uses different exercises - 20 seconds of max effort exercise >>10 seconds rest>>20 seconds of another max effort exercise>>10 seconds of rest for a total of 4 minutes (8 rounds). The idea is to challenge your body and force it to give up the weight.

    I overcame a 6 week plateau doing the above two things and have not had another one since.
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Do me a favor, go to the below link and calculate your estimated body fat. If you can give me that number and your weight (over private message if you would prefer) and let me know your workout routine, I can calculate a good number for you. Also, I might suggest doing a custom setup on your carb/protein/fat ratio to help things. Once I get that info, we can go from there.



    http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html

    20.6% (relatively close to my skin fold number...but it says I'm 25lbs overweight too :p), 184#. I exercise 3-5x a week, 3x intense bodyweight strength training (30-45min for 350+cal), and short duration interval training on off days. Sat and Sun are dedicated rest. The actual workout routine is listed on the first page of the link in my signature.
  • jmruef
    jmruef Posts: 824 Member
    What other people have said. Don't be afraid to do something different and go over your calories once in a while. I did this weekend - if I was really meaning just to zig zag, I would have gone over by a couple hundred. However, I was on vacation, so I freakin' POLE-VAULTED over that 1200 calorie limit! When I got back I'd lost 2 pounds. [Hm...I think I should look into marketing the MGD diet...KIDDING, reaally! :laugh: ]

    But I think our bodies adjust and get used to what we feed them day in and day out so the zig-zag thing does have merit. Keeps us on our own toes, so to speak.
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    My suggestion is to change it up. I've had very good success with eating at maintenance for a week (every three months) and then abruptly dropping back down to 1200, along with changing my workouts.

    If you've been doing treadmill, try the elliptical or HIIT's with a kettleball. If you've been doing elliptical, try running outdoors or full-body boxing. If you always run 3 miles, do 5. If you spend 45 minutes on the treadmill on medium intensity, try 15 minutes at full blast, alternating with running stairs. Check out Tabata Protocol's and maybe do that? The cross training one uses different exercises - 20 seconds of max effort exercise >>10 seconds rest>>20 seconds of another max effort exercise>>10 seconds of rest for a total of 4 minutes (8 rounds). The idea is to challenge your body and force it to give up the weight.

    I overcame a 6 week plateau doing the above two things and have not had another one since.

    Hey Stormie, I missed your post =D.

    This is awesome advice btw...and tabata anything is BRUTAL. You can even download a tabata timer (search HIIT) right off the android marketplace for free. I use it for planks, heavy bag work, hell even jumping jacks at max effort tabata style can be rough lol.

    They work though.

    The food thing is important too. You can't be scared to eat, and to reset your metabolism eating really well one week.

    Cris
  • spinaddict4life
    spinaddict4life Posts: 93 Member
    I have never eaten over 1600 calories but once or twice. MFP says my bmr is 1616 though, I do exercise 5 days a week about 70 minutes and do strength too. I wonder if I am undereating? My daily goal is 1500
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    Spinaddict4life,

    Based on the information you provided me, I would suggest bumping your calories up to 1950-2200. You are really on the board between moderately and very active. Also, there is a lot of good info in this thread. Changing up your routine is crucial. Your body will adjust to a routine within 30 days. So if you don't change it, your body can plateau. So just keep adding fuel to the fire and your metabolism will thank you.



    BTW, each time I have plateau'd, I have add an additional 200 calories and it has helped me out with continuing my body to change composition. In fact, this week I am bumping my calories from 2600 up to 2800. I had to do this because over the past 90 days, i lost 3% body fat so I now have more LBM which needs more fuel.

    Lemon
  • nburns325
    nburns325 Posts: 174
    My suggestion is to change it up. I've had very good success with eating at maintenance for a week (every three months) and then abruptly dropping back down to 1200, along with changing my workouts.

    If you've been doing treadmill, try the elliptical or HIIT's with a kettleball. If you've been doing elliptical, try running outdoors or full-body boxing. If you always run 3 miles, do 5. If you spend 45 minutes on the treadmill on medium intensity, try 15 minutes at full blast, alternating with running stairs. Check out Tabata Protocol's and maybe do that? The cross training one uses different exercises - 20 seconds of max effort exercise >>10 seconds rest>>20 seconds of another max effort exercise>>10 seconds of rest for a total of 4 minutes (8 rounds). The idea is to challenge your body and force it to give up the weight.

    I overcame a 6 week plateau doing the above two things and have not had another one since.

    Hey Stormie, I missed your post =D.

    This is awesome advice btw...and tabata anything is BRUTAL. You can even download a tabata timer (search HIIT) right off the android marketplace for free. I use it for planks, heavy bag work, hell even jumping jacks at max effort tabata style can be rough lol.

    They work though.

    The food thing is important too. You can't be scared to eat, and to reset your metabolism eating really well one week.

    Cris

    Cris, what an amazing transformation you've made! You look GREAT!!! :)
  • spinaddict4life
    spinaddict4life Posts: 93 Member
    I just startd eating more. I cant go gorcery shopping until this weekend pay day, and will buy more food but I was always so tired no matter how much sleep I got. Since eating more in two days, and eating more carbs whole grain. I have energy and I am not sleepy on my non workout days.

    I sometimes workout 6 days if I am subbing a class and I do change it up. Kickboxing, yoga, elliptical with intervals, arc trainer, running or walking on an incline, Bob Harper DVD's. I was always starving when I forst woke up but Sunday after I ate 1900 calories Saturday, I was not.
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Cris, what an amazing transformation you've made! You look GREAT!!! :)

    Aww, thank you!! I still see the old me though...so, gotta keep working on it lol =D.
  • spinaddict4life
    spinaddict4life Posts: 93 Member
    I agree Chris great transformation
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