Plateau help

futiledevices
futiledevices Posts: 309 Member
edited November 8 in Health and Weight Loss
I know there are several topics on this, but I didn't find any that applied to someone like me, who has barely lost anything and now can't seem to lose any more. I started out at 1200 calories, but that felt too low for me, so for a while I've been eating 1400. I haven't gained anything, but I also haven't lost anything in a couple of months. I usually go to the gym 3 days a week and burn around 500 calories each day. The last two weeks I haven't been working out much. I wanted to lose 30 pounds total, but I've only lost 10 and now my weight will not budge. This is very frustrating and I'm almost considering trying low carb, even though I don't find it realistic. Does anyone have any advice for me? I will add my current stats: I'm 5'1", 140 pounds. I work on my feet 4 days a week, totaling around 20 hours. My BMR, according to MFP, is 1359.

Replies

  • olyrose
    olyrose Posts: 569 Member
    I don't know exactly what to tell you, but some things maybe to consider...change your weight loss goal to 1 pound a week and see what that calorie goal is. Eat a little more the days you work out. It could be that you're overestimating the calories you've burned, so maybe account for that when you are planning your food.

    It could be the type or quality of food you're eating. Try to limit sodium, and drink a lot of water, focus on veggies and healthy proteins for your meals.

    It also helps me to switch up my workouts. I hadn't lost anything in almost two months so I started working out on the treadmill instead of the elliptical. I finally saw a loss this week. Sometimes we just have to do things our bodies weren't expecting. That includes different workouts and different foods. Good luck!
  • futiledevices
    futiledevices Posts: 309 Member
    I don't know exactly what to tell you, but some things maybe to consider...change your weight loss goal to 1 pound a week and see what that calorie goal is. Eat a little more the days you work out. It could be that you're overestimating the calories you've burned, so maybe account for that when you are planning your food.

    It could be the type or quality of food you're eating. Try to limit sodium, and drink a lot of water, focus on veggies and healthy proteins for your meals.

    It also helps me to switch up my workouts. I hadn't lost anything in almost two months so I started working out on the treadmill instead of the elliptical. I finally saw a loss this week. Sometimes we just have to do things our bodies weren't expecting. That includes different workouts and different foods. Good luck!

    I'm set at 1 pound a week. I also have my sodium set to 1500 mg because I have problems with vertigo. I sometimes get a little higher than that, but pretty much always under 2000 mg. My blood pressure is very good according to my doctor. I usually run on the treadmill or use the stationary bike and I don't use MFP for tracking calories burned because it overestimates, so I use my HRM. I'm at a loss as to what to do now. I haven't worked out as much lately, as I said, but I did start the 30 day shred and my legs ACHE so much that I can barely walk, so I'm taking a break from exercise today. Thanks for your suggestions, but they don't really apply to me right now, unfortunately.
  • tuftyclub
    tuftyclub Posts: 11 Member
    consider calculating your bmi on another site - and maybe eat a little more. I was stuck at the same weight on 1600 calories for 3 weeks. Upped to calories by another 400 a few days and today I have lost 2lb.

    Sometimes your body might need a kick start.
  • jaavasalmi
    jaavasalmi Posts: 5
    Jillian Michaels says that plateaus are because your body is in deprivation mode. You need to up your calories a bit and take a week off working out to remind your body that it's not starving.
  • tuftyclub
    tuftyclub Posts: 11 Member
    deprivation mode sounds interesting. I'll google it
  • chickybuns
    chickybuns Posts: 1,037 Member
    You could try bumping it up a litte more or changing your workouts or the intensity of them. Also, what seems to work for me is to have a day where i go over my maintenance calories by like 200-300, but still stay within for the week. It's fun and it works! Good luck
  • shavonne
    shavonne Posts: 46 Member
    The only thing that worked for me was upping my cardio. Good luck!
  • Ritagettinfit
    Ritagettinfit Posts: 17 Member
    I have had this problem on more than one occasion. What I had to do was change my work out to focus on one thing at a time...for example. I worked out doing Cardio...Monday then upper body Tuesday...lower body Thursday then core workouts on Friday....I also learned that it is helpful to give myself 48 hours for recover time. ..I choose sat and sun. Do this and you will see progress continue for about 3 weeks with the same schedule then switch the day's around....oh yeah also changing the time of day you work out will help kick start progress. Hope this helps.
  • Mom2M_and_O
    Mom2M_and_O Posts: 214 Member
    It's a good idea to check your BMR on other sites. I did this myself a few days ago and found that MFP's calculation is 100 calories lower than most others I found. So, I have my caloric goal set 130 calorie or so higher than MFP. Also, calculate your TDEE so you know how much of a deficit you're actually getting between unconsumed calories and exercise. If that deficit is way higher than 500/day, then you might consider eating back some of your exercise calories since our bodies need fuel. For myself, I have my calorie goal set to 1500, my normal TDEE comes in around 1800/day. So, if I burn 200 calories in exercise that gets me up to a 500 cal deficit.
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