Plateau busters

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Good morning! I was wondering if any of you possibly had some advice for a 33 year old dad that works full time, does school part time, runs a business on the side and helps take care of a one year old.

Since Jan 1 I've lost 30 lbs just using natural supplements and watching what I ate. Starting weight was 235, now I've been hovering around 205 for about 3 weeks. I've started working out to include weight training to help build lean muscle mass, started doing HIIT routines as well for extended calorie burn. I started using this app yesterday to better track calorie and macro-nutrient intake. I still plan on taking my greens, fat burner and fat blocker. I'm considering including another supplement that promotes HGH production as well as a multi-vitamin.

Any advice aside from what I'm already doing to bust past this plateau?
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Replies

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
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    Dump the fat burners and fat blockers, get a food scale and get accurate with your intake. What is HCG? Dump that too!
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    What are your goals? I'm thinking from what you've posted that you may be better served asking in the body building forum as I'm guessing you want more than just the few pounds off.

    If it is just weight loss, than @Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink is right, but if it is body building, I'm not sure that it is. Seems to me HGC is body building territory.
  • 85Cardinals
    85Cardinals Posts: 733 Member
    edited March 2017
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    If I'm stuck for 2 or 3 weeks, I'll have a get-out-of-diet-jail free day where I eat whatever I want and then get back at it the next day. Has worked wonders for me.

    That pre-supposes you're already weighing and logging everything you eat and hitting your numbers. OP, I'd be very skeptical of those quick-fix supplements.
  • HealthierRayne
    HealthierRayne Posts: 268 Member
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    If you just started working out and hitting the weights you might not see the scale move for a little bit. I've noticed this happens to me religiously when I pick up weights at the gym after being away for a while, even when my food is on point. Make sure you do measurements - you will see your progress there for the first little bit. Re-composition is a huge deal, the scale doesn't always tell us everything.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
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    I'd have to agree. The only thing the supplements are likely doing is adjusting your appetite. They do nothing to actually burn fat/lose weight. The only thing that can do that is calorie restriction. The supplements usually will either make you feel fuller, or in some cases make your stomach upset so you don't want to eat as often. It's also a mental crutch to think that if you take a pill and drink a bunch of water you won't be hungry. The sad fact though is you could have saved your money and just drank the water. If you're hovering at a specific weight then you're eating the calories required to maintain that weight. You'll need to further reduce calories to lose more weight. Logging and tracking what you eat, as well as logging and tracking your exercise calories can help, that's what MFP's diary is all about.
  • bluehayan
    bluehayan Posts: 26 Member
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    The supplements I've been taking helped to increase metabolism and burn fat as well as prevent absorption of fat/carbs. Not only did I lose 30 lbs but I dropped 4 notches in my belt. I'm not discounting water and diet as having anything to do with that weight loss, but a portion of it is due to supplements as well. I tried just changing diet and increasing water with little to no results in the preceding months.

    It's apparent my body has gotten used to these initial changes, as explained by the plateau. I'm not opposed to cycling off of the fat burner/blocker. In fact, not taking them for a couple months could have better benefit if introduced later on.

    Ultimately, my goal is to cut down in weight to get back to my weight when I left the Marine Corps of 180. I can't do that without also building some lean muscle mass, which will help to burn more fat as well. I don't want to put on too much muscle, just enough to be easy to maintain.

    I'm just brainstorming ideas for other possible changes moving forward. I definitely appreciate everyone's feedback!
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
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    Whether or not you drop or continue taking the diet pills/supplements really doesn't matter. You'll need to further restrict calories or increase exercise (or both) to continue to lose weight.
  • cremorna1
    cremorna1 Posts: 133 Member
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    How did you bust the plateau? Any special tips?
  • cremorna1
    cremorna1 Posts: 133 Member
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    No pill, supplement,fat burner or blocker will help.

    Totally agree.
    I was thinking of "tips" like diet break or calorie cycling, high carb days or days off from exercising :)
    But probably the best tip is just to have patience!



  • bluehayan
    bluehayan Posts: 26 Member
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    Accurate, honest calorie logging & patience.

    This is the only way.

    No pill, supplement,fat burner or blocker will help.

    Say what you want but I've gotten some pretty decent results with those things that supposedly don't work.
  • bluehayan
    bluehayan Posts: 26 Member
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    What got me past the plateau was hitting up more HIIT, less strength training, further calorie restriction, more water
  • jbitakis
    jbitakis Posts: 13 Member
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    I've noticed that on these forums everyone seems to downplay any weight loss/fat burner pills. I have to agree with bluehayan that these supplements can be an additional weight loss help. Even if they just suppress your appetite, that alone can help you decrease your calorie count. By the way, what is HIIT? Also, can I ask what the name is of the supplement?
  • bluehayan
    bluehayan Posts: 26 Member
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    HIIT is high intensity interval training. There are many different forums and workout routines you can follow for this. Essentially, you rapid cycle high intensity intervals with low intensity intervals. It helps to actually burn more calories than cardio. I've used a couple different supplements, primarily Fat Fighters, Thermofit and Greens from It Works. The first 2 months I really didn't alter my diet too much or count calories and lost 30 pounds. Some of that was dropping soda, some of that was making smarter decisions with food, but some of that was also the supplements.
  • jbitakis
    jbitakis Posts: 13 Member
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    I'm at a Plateau right now. 46yrs old. 5'11. Started 1/25/17 @ 240lbs. 46 inch waist.
    Now 225 @ 43 inch waist. But I've been stuck at that weight number for the last 3 weeks! The waist I didn't start measuring until 2/9. So from 2/9-3/29 my waist dropped from 46 in. to 43 in. But since 3/29 no waist size change. My calorie count says 2075 for a 2 lb/week loss, but that seems to be off.
    I've also ramped up my exercising. I've been doing 20 min./day on the stairs burning 258 calories each day. I also go separately 4-5 times/week and lift weights (chest, legs, back, shoulders, abs doing 1 body part each time i go) Since I rest 2 min. between sets I don't say I burned any calories when I do weights. What else can I do??
  • Nicreal518
    Nicreal518 Posts: 4 Member
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    bluehayan wrote: »
    Good morning! I was wondering if any of you possibly had some advice for a 33 year old dad that works full time, does school part time, runs a business on the side and helps take care of a one year old.

    Since Jan 1 I've lost 30 lbs just using natural supplements and watching what I ate. Starting weight was 235, now I've been hovering around 205 for about 3 weeks. I've started working out to include weight training to help build lean muscle mass, started doing HIIT routines as well for extended calorie burn. I started using this app yesterday to better track calorie and macro-nutrient intake. I still plan on taking my greens, fat burner and fat blocker. I'm considering including another supplement that promotes HGH production as well as a multi-vitamin.

    Any advice aside from what I'm already doing to bust past this plateau?

    First off, congrats on that huge weight loss achievement!

    Plateau's are extremely frustrating especially when calories are restricted already.. I just got through mine and its always satisfying when you get through it. Before you drop anymore calories make sure you're weighing everything accurately. If you have already done that, its time to drop 200 cals off your current deficit. This will bust you through the plateau in no time.

    I would lose the fat burner and dont worry about HGH unless advised by a doctor.

    As you lose weight, your BMR drops and the new leaner you, needs less calories to maintain your weight, thus the need to also create a "new" deficit in calories. Usually, before i do this I have a cheat day for mental purposes. Then the next day I drop the extra 200 cals. Hope that helps.
  • tabletop_joe
    tabletop_joe Posts: 455 Member
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    Not to be Debbie Downer, but those supplements will work now, and then they'll stop working when you stop taking them. The sudden lack of whatever boost they give you may cause you to regain.

    Of course you should do whatever works for you, though!

  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    edited April 2017
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    Accurate, honest calorie logging & patience.

    This is the only way.

    No pill, supplement,fat burner or blocker will help.

    This. Especially since there is a mountain of proof that these supplements are a waste of money.

    Why fat blockers, though? Fat is important.

    No supplements work. None. I've tried them all. I'm guessing since you started eating more fruits and veg, you started eating more volume and less calories. That is what did it. If you actually do some research on how the human body works and how weight loss works, you'll see that some silly little supplements wasn't responsible for YOUR hard work. Why give the credit to something else? Why would those pills place a disclaimer that they work in conjunction with diet and exercise? Yeah....

    You lost 30lbs in 2 months? That's a loss of 3.75lbs per week. As you just started losing, most of the loss from the first month are water weight. I recently gained and lost 14lbs of pure water weight in a week, and continue to lose 1-1.5lbs per week without silly pills. They're a waste of money. If they truly do work, why are these overweight people still walking around?

    This is how weight loss actually works:
    Everyone's body requires a certain amount of calories to maintain current weight; maintenance calories. If you eat under these calories, you lose weight. Simples. This is all you, not some silly pill that actually does make something lighter: your wallet.

    Check out examine.com. You'll see all your supplements listed as poor.