4 Month Plateau

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skyerobinson8 wrote: »

Hello!
So for starters I am a fairly fit, 5'6 young female stuck at 130lbs. I was a solid 120 but I was having trouble gaining muscle and burning some of the remaining fat, although I really didn't eat when I was supposed to or as much as I should have. I would not have breakfast or lunch, and only have a mediocre healthy dinner because I am really busy. I figured my body was in starvation mode, so I bit the bullet and incorporated a healthy breakfast and lunch in the mix (and I am not just saying it's healthy, it is healthy) No simple carbs, only stuff like eggs, veggies, lean meats, you get it. I watched the scale and my body creep up to 130 lbs and stay there. I had read when your body is coming out of not being properly fed it will gain and take a second to start burning again, well it has gained and has not fallen. At all. No matter how active I am (which I work on my feet actively 7 days a week, chase a toddler on my off time, AND do HIIT in the mornings.) NO BUDGE. WHY. I do not see more muscle definition or growth, no fat loss. I am really starting to get aggravated. Any advice guys?

I agree with the comments above, and would add this:

There are strong hints in your post that you've been reading and believing some questionable information sources. I'm reading various health/diet myths in your post.

* "having trouble gaining muscle and burning fat": It's difficult to impossible to do both at the same time, especially if already fairly fit (in terms of strength).

* "starvation mode": Not a thing. It's possible to eat too little, sap your energy, get lethargic, and burn fewer calories thus slowing weight loss, but that's about as close as it comes. If bodies held onto fat, no one would ever starve to death. Sadly, thousands of people do so worldwide every year.

* "simple carbs": There's nothing magically wrong with simple carbs, as long as they don't drive other needed nutrition out of your way of eating. Often, people mis-identify carb types; I don't know whether that's the case for you or not. Simple carb sources include fruits, which are very good for you. Complex carbs include bread, potatoes, grains, etc., and they're also good for you. High-carbohydrate foods (simple or complex) that are not nutrition dense, but are calorie dense, are not the most helpful eating choices for anyone trying to lose weight . . . but that's true of any foods that are calorie dense but not nutrition dense.

* "healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner": Overall good nutrition is helpful for health, but it's very possible to gain weight eating healthy foods, if one eats more than necessary amounts of them. That's pretty much how I got obese in the first place . . . and I got thin again eating pretty much the same foods. Moreover, there are no "bad foods" that kill weight loss irrespective of portion size and calorie content.

* "when your body is not being properly fed it will take a second to start burning": Not really, other than that lethargy thing, if the lethargy becomes ingrained/habitual. There might be a little water weight retention in some circumstances, but it's temporary, and not fat so not that important.

* "AND do HIIT": HIIT is popular, but not typically the best for calorie burn. It's not the metabolic magic that the headlines claim. Steady state cardio for the same amount of wall clock time, at the highest sustainable intensity that still leaves you energetic for the rest of your day, typically gives you the best calorie burn.

* NO BUDGE: You started eating more, you gained weight. That's normal. To lose weight, eat less than you burn (estimate a small deficit calorie goal (0.5 pounds/week loss rate would be the maximum at your already low body weight), track eating and activity carefully, monitor for 4-6 weeks, then adjust). Strength training will help preserve muscle as you lose weight. After losing to the weight you prefer, eating nutritiously at maintenance calories while doing progressive strength training will slowly build muscle via recomposition, or you can run bulk/cut cycles to build muscle a little more quickly (at the cost of being at a higher body fat percent during the bulks).

* "No muscle definition or growth": Muscle growth, even in a calorie surplus, is a very slow proposition. For women under the best circumstances, a pound of muscle gain per month would be really good progress, and that would only be within the realistic realm of possibility for someone who is reasonably young, eating plenty of protein and general good nutrition, getting a calorie surplus (i.e., gaining weight), and consistently doing a well-designed progressive strength training program. Muscle definition also depends on losing enough fat that the muscle shows . . . but you should be pretty close to or in that status at 5'6" and 130 (I'm 5'5" and 133, which is why I think that.)

You can achieve your goals. Reading the "most helpful posts" sections here will give you a start on accurate information you need in order to do so. If I had to pick just one post from among these to start with, it'd probably be this one: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Best wishes!