Plateau? Or am I doing something wrong?

Melaniec78
Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
edited October 1 in Health and Weight Loss
I am supposedly doing things right- muscle weighs more blah blah blah THE SCALE HAS NOT MOVED IN A WEEK!! Am I seriously plateauing after a little over a month???? And it's not that TOM just got over that and had no bloat gain (which also was weird).

I am trying to stay positive and remember that this journey for me is as much about getting healthy as it is about losing weight but dang- we all just secretly want to hurry up and get sexy.

I have been South Beaching and lost 23 lbs in the last month and a half (One month with mfp) and exercising more and more (It's almost as addictive as chocolate) every week. This week I went from walking 3 miles 4 days a week to doing couch to 5k 3 days and stepped up my wii active routines (mostly strength building and toning) on my 4 non running days. Do I keep it up and hope it changes? Take days off? I don't know..........

Replies

  • dsjohndrow
    dsjohndrow Posts: 1,820 Member
    I've had the same deal. It seems like not much is happening, and I went to 7 days a week. It was recommended that i mix up my workouts, and split them into two sessions. It was also recommended to increase (I know!) my calories to equal my daily allowance + the exercise burn + 200. Apparently, the body doesn't like starving. I'll let you know in 2 weeks.

    Good luck.
  • Chainsaw_Flowerchild
    Chainsaw_Flowerchild Posts: 65
    How is your caloric intake? Are you eating back the majority of your exercise calories?
  • Melaniec78
    Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
    I'm at 1200 a day due to being an office worker and sedentary before this journey. I usually eat most of my exercise calories back (within maybe 50 defecit and some days around 100 extra (healthy protien calories usually) because people say tricking your body helps.

    One of my MFP friends was having the same prob once she started exercising (but for weeks) and she just posted that she upped her calories and protien and is losing again. But what do I up them to while still being able to be healthy and lose?

    This my first time ever exercising and I don't want anything to deter me but I am one of those people that has to see results or I give up on stuff and I don't want to give up.....
  • robertf57
    robertf57 Posts: 560 Member
    a WEEK!!! Seriously! STEP AWAY FROM THE SCALE LADY!
    Weight loss is not a straight line event. there will be ups and downs. I can easliy go up 3-4 lbs simply by how much I sweat during a workout!. Stop obsessing and just keep to your plan.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    I agree with Robert, it won't change every week and a plateau is more several months of no weight loss, it's more of a stall after a few weeks. Also, it seems like you are doing a lot of exercise and even with eating your exercise calories back, it might not be enough (it's hard to tell without you opening food journal). Below is a link to help evaluate your caloric needs. MFP can under estimate your Basal Metabolic Rate (amount of calories you burn if you slept for 24 hours; essentially, the calories you burn to have normal body function). The website below is a better indicator of this function. Also, you should try to change up your routine every 30 days as your muscles can adjust and make it more difficult to lose weight and gain muscle.



    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
    a WEEK!!! Seriously! STEP AWAY FROM THE SCALE LADY!
    Weight loss is not a straight line event. there will be ups and downs. I can easliy go up 3-4 lbs simply by how much I sweat during a workout!. Stop obsessing and just keep to your plan.

    I agree. Weight loss comes and goes in spurts. If the scale didn't budge for 6 weeks, I'd call it a plateau. 1 week, it is called the normal ups and downs of losing weight.
  • Melaniec78
    Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
    a WEEK!!! Seriously! STEP AWAY FROM THE SCALE LADY!
    Weight loss is not a straight line event. there will be ups and downs. I can easliy go up 3-4 lbs simply by how much I sweat during a workout!. Stop obsessing and just keep to your plan.

    I agree. Weight loss comes and goes in spurts. If the scale didn't budge for 6 weeks, I'd call it a plateau. 1 week, it is called the normal ups and downs of losing weight.

    I do obsess I'm not going to lie. Kind of a control freak I guess and if I don't see results sometimes I give up on stuff. I WILL TRY VERY HARD TO RELAX!! I know I need to.
  • Melaniec78
    Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
    I agree with Robert, it won't change every week and a plateau is more several months of no weight loss, it's more of a stall after a few weeks. Also, it seems like you are doing a lot of exercise and even with eating your exercise calories back, it might not be enough (it's hard to tell without you opening food journal). Below is a link to help evaluate your caloric needs. MFP can under estimate your Basal Metabolic Rate (amount of calories you burn if you slept for 24 hours; essentially, the calories you burn to have normal body function). The website below is a better indicator of this function. Also, you should try to change up your routine every 30 days as your muscles can adjust and make it more difficult to lose weight and gain muscle.



    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

    Thank you so much for the great reply. This is the first time I've ever had to 'try' to lose weight. Also my first time ever really exercising any more than a walk around the block. So any advice helps a bunch. THANKS!!
  • H_Factor
    H_Factor Posts: 1,722 Member
    I have read that a true plateau occurs when the scale does not move AT ALL (up or down) for 3 weeks.

    so, no, you're not at a plateau right now, though you might want to give your body 1 or 2 rest/recovery days. additionally, it wouldn't hurt to have a "feed" day once or twice a week where you eat a few hundred (or more) extra calories to jog your metabolism.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    Thank you so much for the great reply. This is the first time I've ever had to 'try' to lose weight. Also my first time ever really exercising any more than a walk around the block. So any advice helps a bunch. THANKS!!

    The best thing you can do is eat enough calories and try to workout for about an hour a day for 5 or 6 day a week. Also with working out, you should do strength training and cardio (2-3 days each). When you do lifting, I would try to make it so you fail after 12 reps.

    If you aren't good at designing a workout program, look at something like chalean extreme, p90x or insanity, etc...
  • Masterofarts
    Masterofarts Posts: 4
    Don't give up. I have been there. Don't change anything. It could take your body 3 weeks to get into what you are doing physically and then WHOOSH you'll lose 5 pounds all of a sudden. I went through this and I can tell you DON'T GIVE UP AND DON'T LOWER YOUR CALORIES. Sometimes, a cheat like 2 cups of pasta or an extra helping of bread might be just what your body needs. So, good luck and keep doing what you are doing. :smile:
  • Melaniec78
    Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
    Don't give up. I have been there. Don't change anything. It could take your body 3 weeks to get into what you are doing physically and then WHOOSH you'll lose 5 pounds all of a sudden. I went through this and I can tell you DON'T GIVE UP AND DON'T LOWER YOUR CALORIES. Sometimes, a cheat like 2 cups of pasta or an extra helping of bread might be just what your body needs. So, good luck and keep doing what you are doing. :smile:
    I ate little caesars pizza last night and ran the calories off (c25k) and the scale moved 1/2 lb today!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The pizza also made me hella sick after all this healthy eating stuff and I'm miserable at work so next time I will make it homemade with whole wheat crust. But at least the scale moved. I seriously need to stop obsessing and weighing so much. Once a week from now on even if it makes me rip my hair out lol!

    Thanks for indulging my FREAK OUT MOMENT everyone :noway: :sad: I will try not to let it happen again.:laugh:
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