Plateau Poblems?

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bodyzen
bodyzen Posts: 122 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hey everyone! I have a couple questions I was wondering if anyone could help with...

To give you some background on myself, I'm 5'4" and currently weigh 123lbs. I have been losing weight and exercising since March 2011. It's been slow and steady and I've only lost 23lbs, but the changes I've seen in my endurance, strength and overall health have been amazing! I am a vegetarian and have been for about 11 years. I work out at the gym 4 times a week for one hour (30 min cardio, 30 min strength training), I do hot yoga once or twice a week and go for 2 or 3 trail runs a week (anywhere from 4km to 10km).

My problem lately is that I haven't been seeing any new changes in my body and the scale seems stuck. I want to get down to about 115, so I know these last few pounds will be the most difficult to shed. But I really don't know what I'm doing wrong. Any advice to break past a plateau? Generally I eat around 1200-1600 calories (depending on my activity level) and for the most part it's healthy food, though I have been known to give in to the odd plate of nachos on occasion.

Any ideas or helpful words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated. :)
Thanks again everybody, you all are amazing!

Replies

  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    how often have you eaten above maintenance?

    it's possible you might need a week off from both dieting and workouts, although possibly a large refeed day is in order
  • kmshred
    kmshred Posts: 393 Member
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    how often have you eaten above maintenance?

    it's possible you might need a week off from both dieting and workouts, although possibly a large refeed day is in order

    yup do this. problem solved.
  • bodyzen
    bodyzen Posts: 122 Member
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    how often have you eaten above maintenance?

    it's possible you might need a week off from both dieting and workouts, although possibly a large refeed day is in order

    I usually have one day a week that I go over. There are some days where I don't count all my calories, and just estimate too... But if a few days off from working out and just eating more will help, I can definitely do that! :)
  • Justkf
    Justkf Posts: 208 Member
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    I broke my plateau by not eating back my exercise calories. I stayed with my mininum of 1200.
  • hazelnut861
    hazelnut861 Posts: 390 Member
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    That's what I did. Also I changed up my workouts. I went from an hour of cardio 5 days a week and 4 days strength training to running 3 times a week and doing about 30 minutes of cardio after 4 days a weeks strengthen training . Just a small difference. I also have been diligent about drinking my protein shakes..
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Options
    how often have you eaten above maintenance?

    it's possible you might need a week off from both dieting and workouts, although possibly a large refeed day is in order

    I usually have one day a week that I go over. There are some days where I don't count all my calories, and just estimate too... But if a few days off from working out and just eating more will help, I can definitely do that! :)

    well not just over your calorie allotment that MFP gives you , i mean over maintenance level cals.

    let's assume you have you goals set at a 1lb a week loss, eating over maintenance would mean eating over 2153cals for the day

    also i'd suggest upping protein, even as a vegetarian you should be able to up it with dairy, greek yogurt etc. if that proves difficult, a protein powder may help. with as much working out as you do, i'd get at least 1g of protein per lb of lbm
  • bodyzen
    bodyzen Posts: 122 Member
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    how often have you eaten above maintenance?

    it's possible you might need a week off from both dieting and workouts, although possibly a large refeed day is in order

    I usually have one day a week that I go over. There are some days where I don't count all my calories, and just estimate too... But if a few days off from working out and just eating more will help, I can definitely do that! :)

    well not just over your calorie allotment that MFP gives you , i mean over maintenance level cals.

    let's assume you have you goals set at a 1lb a week loss, eating over maintenance would mean eating over 2153cals for the day

    also i'd suggest upping protein, even as a vegetarian you should be able to up it with dairy, greek yogurt etc. if that proves difficult, a protein powder may help. with as much working out as you do, i'd get at least 1g of protein per lb of lbm

    OOh yeah I probably very rarely eat above 2153 calories a day! I see what you mean. And I plan on upping my protein, just the other day I bought some whey protein powder that I plan on using once a day in a smoothie. :) I'll keep a closer eye on it though and make sure I'm getting enough. Thank you so much for your help!
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    the leaner you get the more often you should eat over your maintenance, prob in your case at least once a week or every two weeks should be alright. you will have an initial weight gain due to water retention but usually that will subside within 2-3 days. eating over maintenance can get some hormonal production that is slowed down/repressed due to dieting and exercising back to normal
  • divebuddy55
    divebuddy55 Posts: 5
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    Well done! it sounds like you are in great shape. And you look awesome in you picture. But I am concerned about your goals. You were at a BMI of near 25 (just barely overweight) when you started, now you are at 21, below ideal, and at 115 you will be underweight. At that point you run the risk of health issues you do not need. So caution about loosing more weight!

    If you want to see further changes in your body, change up your exercise routine. Make sure you are working your whole body, and I like that you are doing strength and cardio. Interval training is also a great way to step it up.

    Sorry, I usually do not reply to posts, but I know the point is to be healthy, and you are!
  • Jensey76
    Jensey76 Posts: 18
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    the leaner you get the more often you should eat over your maintenance, prob in your case at least once a week or every two weeks should be alright. you will have an initial weight gain due to water retention but usually that will subside within 2-3 days. eating over maintenance can get some hormonal production that is slowed down/repressed due to dieting and exercising back to normal

    Wow, this has left me with soooo many questions. I am not technically overweight by BMI standards (my BMI is 22) after losing 10 lbs, but I also have hit a plateau. So my questions: how did you come up with the number 2153? And are you saying that when trying to lose the last stubborn 5 lbs, you should eat this much once a week, and the other days eat the lower calorie that MFP decided would allow weight loss?
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Options
    the leaner you get the more often you should eat over your maintenance, prob in your case at least once a week or every two weeks should be alright. you will have an initial weight gain due to water retention but usually that will subside within 2-3 days. eating over maintenance can get some hormonal production that is slowed down/repressed due to dieting and exercising back to normal

    Wow, this has left me with soooo many questions. I am not technically overweight by BMI standards (my BMI is 22) after losing 10 lbs, but I also have hit a plateau. So my questions: how did you come up with the number 2153? And are you saying that when trying to lose the last stubborn 5 lbs, you should eat this much once a week, and the other days eat the lower calorie that MFP decided would allow weight loss?

    the 2153 was a guess, since her diary has a calorie goal of 1653 and i figured she was shooting for 1 lb a week, so a 500 cal deficit

    as for refeeds, i'd normally keep calories the same during the week and just up them for the refeed day as opposed to cutting them the other 6 days or so to compensate for going over maintenance the refeed day

    i loosely structured my refeeds off this, i shot for give or take 1g of pro per lb of bw, <50g of fat for the day and the rest in cho and the total cals was about 500 cals over my maintenance

    http://jcdfitness.com/2010/06/the-preemptive-refeed/
  • Jensey76
    Jensey76 Posts: 18
    Options
    the leaner you get the more often you should eat over your maintenance, prob in your case at least once a week or every two weeks should be alright. you will have an initial weight gain due to water retention but usually that will subside within 2-3 days. eating over maintenance can get some hormonal production that is slowed down/repressed due to dieting and exercising back to normal

    Wow, this has left me with soooo many questions. I am not technically overweight by BMI standards (my BMI is 22) after losing 10 lbs, but I also have hit a plateau. So my questions: how did you come up with the number 2153? And are you saying that when trying to lose the last stubborn 5 lbs, you should eat this much once a week, and the other days eat the lower calorie that MFP decided would allow weight loss?

    the 2153 was a guess, since her diary has a calorie goal of 1653 and i figured she was shooting for 1 lb a week, so a 500 cal deficit

    as for refeeds, i'd normally keep calories the same during the week and just up them for the refeed day as opposed to cutting them the other 6 days or so to compensate for going over maintenance the refeed day

    i loosely structured my refeeds off this, i shot for give or take 1g of pro per lb of bw, <50g of fat for the day and the rest in cho and the total cals was about 500 cals over my maintenance

    http://jcdfitness.com/2010/06/the-preemptive-refeed/

    OK, so my daily calorie goal is 1200 cal, so once a week I should eat 1700, and the other days 1200 (or more if I exercise)? Thanks for the info, I might try this. A little scary since my mindset has been "only net 1200 cal/day, but I might try it.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Options
    the leaner you get the more often you should eat over your maintenance, prob in your case at least once a week or every two weeks should be alright. you will have an initial weight gain due to water retention but usually that will subside within 2-3 days. eating over maintenance can get some hormonal production that is slowed down/repressed due to dieting and exercising back to normal

    Wow, this has left me with soooo many questions. I am not technically overweight by BMI standards (my BMI is 22) after losing 10 lbs, but I also have hit a plateau. So my questions: how did you come up with the number 2153? And are you saying that when trying to lose the last stubborn 5 lbs, you should eat this much once a week, and the other days eat the lower calorie that MFP decided would allow weight loss?

    the 2153 was a guess, since her diary has a calorie goal of 1653 and i figured she was shooting for 1 lb a week, so a 500 cal deficit

    as for refeeds, i'd normally keep calories the same during the week and just up them for the refeed day as opposed to cutting them the other 6 days or so to compensate for going over maintenance the refeed day

    i loosely structured my refeeds off this, i shot for give or take 1g of pro per lb of bw, <50g of fat for the day and the rest in cho and the total cals was about 500 cals over my maintenance

    http://jcdfitness.com/2010/06/the-preemptive-refeed/

    OK, so my daily calorie goal is 1200 cal, so once a week I should eat 1700, and the other days 1200 (or more if I exercise)? Thanks for the info, I might try this. A little scary since my mindset has been "only net 1200 cal/day, but I might try it.

    well the idea is to eat over maintenance not your calorie goal set by MFP, so let's assume you are shooting for 2lbs a week, your maintenance would be around 2200 + exercise cals, so you'd want to eat at least 300 cals over that for 1 day

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