Any Tips for Breaking a Plateau??? Please Help!!

My first suggestions would be to eat more!! If you're only eating 1200ish calories and spending 2 hours at the gym then you're not eating enough to sustain your body so it's going to hold on to every ounce of fat that it can.

Perhaps you're not getting enough calories for the amount of exercise you're doing. You have to eat some of those calories you burn off, around half, or you'll put your body in starvation mode. When you're body gets to that point, you end up storing any bit of fat you eat and holding onto it. You're lucky you're not gaining weight!

So, from now on, just eat half of the calories you burn, and see how that helps you out for the next few weeks.

And what do you do at the gym? Perhaps increasing cardio to burn through fat, rather than exercises that keep you still, like weights and what not. Hop on the treadmill and just plow through that for a half hour or so before a strength training workout, to get the body moving and pumping.

You need to eat a minimum of 1200 calories. How is your water intake? As soon as I upped my water I started losing weight easier.

I started at 240 and ate between 1400-1600. I don't think you are eating enough. You have to feed your body for it to lose weight, I know it sounds silly, but everytime I get stuck I up my food intake by 200 calories and I start losing again and bring my calories back down. I am now at 185 and still eating around 1500 calories and still losing 1-1.5 lbs a week. Don't be afraid to eat!

My first suggestions would be to eat more!! If you're only eating 1200ish calories and spending 2 hours at the gym then you're not eating enough to sustain your body so it's going to hold on to every ounce of fat that it can.

Totally agree; I was in the same boat last week. I increased my calories & lost 2 lbs in 3 days. Your body will 'hoard' every ounce it gets because it is afraid there is no more coming in. Sounds crazy, but it does work!!

Many people on a plateau have found that eating their exercise calories will allow them to drop the weight. They stay at 1200 calories for a couple of weeks...go up to 1400-1500 and they lose the weight. I would also recommend only weighing in one time per week. Most MFPers have their weekly weigh-in day, first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom and before eating or drinking anything. That keeps it consistent and gives your body enough time to show you a result on the scale. And if your body is sore, you definitely need to eat more because your muscles need to repair themselves. Otherwise, your body will start to eat at your muscle instead of fat. You want the loss to be fat, not muscle. Good luck!

A "few days" is not a plateau. I was stuck at the same weight for over 3 weeks even while dieting and working out religiously. My suggestion is to be patient. This journey is not a sprint, it's a marathon. Just keep working at it.

That too...a few days is nothing to freak out about. I've lost 2 lbs in the last 3.5 months and that was all at once about 6 weeks ago.

I am wondering are you drinking enough water, and are you eating back your exercise calories?

Also, about two weeks before my TOM, I hold the same weight, then get back to losing once it's over. Hormones cause me to hold water. I just patiently wait out those two weeks, and all is good again.

I've definitely been logging in 1200-1500 calories up until today, so I will add some of my exercise calories into my diary and see how that goes. I think I was very confused by the fact that apparently you are supposed to burn more than you consume. So I didn't really understand why I was supposed to eat back my exercise calories. But looking at it now, with all the exercise that I'm doing (ellipitcal, cycling, treadmill, strength training), it's almost like I haven't really eaten anything for the day. Thank you all for the helpful information. I am such a newbie when it comes to weight loss, so I still don't have a grasp on this yet, but it's nice to have such great support here.

MFP already figures the deficit for your weight loss goal into your calories for the day. For example, if by your BMR you should be eating 2000 to maintain, and want a 1 pound per week loss, MFP will give you a calorie goal of 1500 (500 x 7 = 3500 = 1 pound per week). You should be eating back your exercise calories to maintain that same deficit or thereabouts.

kgepp posted this earlier, it's really interesting.

http://www.activepassivediet.com/files/active_passive_chapter_1.pdf

Ok...I'm going to put this out there, not because it's the way you SHOULD break your plateau, but because it's the way I broke MY plateau that lasted 6 weeks.

First, I fasted for two days straight. I didn't choose this, I was violently ill with a stomach virus lol. The third day, I ate a crapload of junk food in order to get some calories in (I was under a possibly false assumption regarding maintenance of muscle...I needed calories!), and hadn't been to the grocery store in a week (had been taking care of my sick children for the week prior). I had been eating clean for over 3 months straight...I mean, clean. No junk food, nothing to drink but water. This broke THAT streak. Next...because of the enforced breakage of my clean eating 7 day zig zag plan...I started a 3 day zig zag...2 days low (1300-1500), 1 day high (2100+). I ate like crap for two weeks...mostly Taco Bell...drank soft drinks...the whole deal. I also didn't exercise a day for over two weeks.

I lost 8lbs, 4" on my waist, and gained 1/4" on my biceps, in that time.

I was honestly SCARED to start working out again lol...because I knew I'd put back on 3-5lbs of water weight (which I did). I still haven't got my diet completely back on track...partly because I changed to another form of intake (Eat, Stop, Eat) which closely matched what happened to make me break through my plateau in the first place. It's working perfectly...total, in three weeks since being sick...I've lost 11lbs, and my workouts are more intense than ever.

Cris

If I had to guess, I would say that you are still losing fat, but are gaining muscle! It sounds like you are doing an incredible job with your workouts.

There is an odd period when you begin to build muscle where things kind of stay even for a while, but it will break. I think you should be eating more in the 1300-1400 range daily and don't feel guilty eating back some of your exercise calories.

Keep up the good work!