When Plateau shows up??? Can happen at the beginning of the weight loss??

1) you're not in a plateau

2) you are undereating. 1200 cals is the minimum MFP will set, and given that you are exercising six days a week, you should be eating more than that. Unless you have a significant amount to lose, set your weekly weight loss target to 1 lb, eat the calories MFP sets for you, plus 50-75% of calories burnt through exercise. You're probably retaining water from stressing your body so damn much.

seriously, just stick with it. as the above said increase your calories but don't eat back all of your exercise calories. my weight fluctuates for a while and then will suddenly drop (google the Whoosh effect).

Good luck! x

draganana484 wrote: »

What do you think about aminoacid and protein shakes? I've been using those to for 1 week now.

Why?

Hey draganana484,

I'm new here, but have some sound, no fad knowledge on diet, supplements and your current situation .

Branch chain amino acids (BCAA's) are great for muscle recovery. Best to take them before and after your workout. Protein shakes are used to make up the difference in your daily protein macro requirements. Simply put, if your target protein intake is 100g per day and you get 75g from your food, the remaining 25 can come from your shake. The general rule is that you get your shake down post gym session (within 30 mins as your muscles will absorb quickly). You can always eat more protein and ditch the shakes, but it does become expensive and hard work when you are choking down 211g a day

The only other proven supplement worth mentioning is creatine. Message me if you want to know more about it, but it's safe, boosts muscle endurance and is taken by most sports professionals. Don't bother with anything else. No fat burners or any magic pills. They simply don't work!

I would echo Nony_Mouse and say that your calorie intake is very low, so I have three solid pieces of advice that have always helped me find some balance when cutting my additional body blubber;

1 - Go and speak to a personal trainer or nutritionist in your gym and ask them to work out your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). You can then work out the exact calories you need to eat per day and how your macros should be broken down. A lot of sites suggest you take your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and reduce by 400-500 calories to create your deficit. This advice is nuts as it does not account for your overall daily activity. You could end up eating 750-1000 calories to little a day which will grind all progress to a halt. Always best to work out your TDEE and reduce 400-500 calories from there

2 - Rest! I get that you want to be active and hit the gym, but you body needs time to recover from each session. Rest days suck at first. You feel like you are being lazy, or wasting time, cheating yourself out of an extra 300 calorie burn. You feel restless etc etc etc... The truth is if you hammer the gym to hard, to often, whilst eating at a calorie deficit, your body naturally starts to hold onto energy stores (fat) as a precaution. I aim for hard 4 gym sessions per week, however on my "rest days" I stay active with some dynamic stretching, gentle laps of the pool, a good long walk in the fresh air... After starting this process myself, my gym sessions have become more explosive and I never walk in feeling like I can't be arsed and I know that my rest days are just as important as my gym time.

3 - Back to food... You can't maintain eating a calorie deficit and hit the gym all the time. This will force your body into a plateau and make you miserable, cranky and eventually leave you elbow deep in a giant bag of Doritos apologising to everyone within your bad mood blast radius (I have been there or more than one occasion). Ignore the "cheat meal" crap you here about and think long term. My approach when cutting fat is to have at least one day per week when I eat at my TDEE level (usually a Tuesday), and one day (usually Sat or Sunday) where I eat 300 - 400 calories over my TDEE. I don't eat crap, but have an additional pasta meal to replenish my energy stores so I don't go bat *kitten* crazy from the constant deficit and can hit the gym with full energy.

Every 4 weeks, I will have a week where I eat at my TDEE level every day. This seems to help me avoid plateaus and I feel physically and mentally stronger for it.

Hope this helps and you get back on track

draganana484 wrote: »

Nony_Mouse wrote: »

1) you're not in a plateau

2) you are undereating. 1200 cals is the minimum MFP will set, and given that you are exercising six days a week, you should be eating more than that. Unless you have a significant amount to lose, set your weekly weight loss target to 1 lb, eat the calories MFP sets for you, plus 50-75% of calories burnt through exercise. You're probably retaining water from stressing your body so damn much.

And... Sorry to bother you, you seem to know a lot about this... What do you think about aminoacid and protein shakes? I've been using those to for 1 week now.

Others have answered this, but since you asked me...

You only need to worry about those if you're not getting adequate protein through your food (aim for 0.6-0.8g per lb of goal weight). Amino acids are part of protein, so you're covered for those. I have a protein shake every day to help me meet my protein needs (vegetarian who can't eat eggs), but I wouldn't let it crowd out solid food. I happen to find milk very satiating, so it works well for me as my bedtime snack.

Re the feeling good and not starving on that low cal intake - that won't last.

Something else to keep in mind is that at first you lose weight rapidly especially when you start with changes to both food and exercise. But with the exercise your body starts to trade fat for muscle and muscle weights more that fat. After the first month you should take your body measurements and see if there’s change. Track your progress that way. You may not see it on the scale.