Anyone else plateaued for months?

keeponkickin
keeponkickin Posts: 1,520 Member
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi,

I've been on a 3 month long plateau now. Frustrating is putting it mildly. I'm in my last 10 to 15 pounds to reach goal and now I am dead in the water. I have tried it all. Increased calories, decreased calories, switched up my routines, worked out harder, split workouts, spike days, cheat meals, zigzagging, going on maintenance for a while and then returned to lower calories. I have worked every angle. If I do manage to take a couple of pounds off, my weight pops right back where I am now and sticks there again. I have lost and gained the same 2 to 4 pounds over and over again. It's like my body wants to sit right here. No thank you, I'm not done yet.

Just needed to vent a little and was wondering if anyone is in the same boat as I am or if you once where and broke free and how did you do it?

Replies

  • alise_lmx
    alise_lmx Posts: 292 Member
    When I started here I lost a few lbs and then plateaued for about 2 months. It was really frustrating. I think eventually I stopped weighing myself every day and just tried to relax for a while. I took about a week off even from exercising other than walking my dog. Honestly I think my body just wanted a break, bc I had been working out a ton since I started mfp. Not sure if that will help you but just wanted to let you know I've been there too!!

    Good luck! :flowerforyou:
  • Blueberry09
    Blueberry09 Posts: 821 Member
    First off - congrats on losing 100+ pounds. That in itself is pretty amazing!

    I only had 25 to lose (sw-165. Gw-140) when I started my journey Jan, 2011. I followed the settings MFP set for me - 1200 cals ( because given the choice who wouldnt want to lose weight faster?) I lost 13 lbs up to June of last year and this is where I still am. I've tried all the things you've tried, upping cals, lowering cals, changing workouts, zigzagging, you name it, I've tried it! Next week I have an appt with a dietician to have metabolic testing done- hopefully I will gain some insight as to why I stalled.

    I know most will say ignore the scale but I find that kind of hard. Measurements are difficult so I go by the fit of my clothes - that hasn't changed since June either :( although I did notice a slight difference after 2 weeks on the 30 day shred.

    Good luck to you - they the last ones are the hardest to get rid of!
  • nehauck
    nehauck Posts: 14 Member
    Have you been taking your measurements? Sometimes the scale doesn't show all the progress being made! That being said, I agree with alise_lms, whenever I go on vacation I come home w/ extra pounds lost. Keep to your calorie goal but take a week off of exercising and see if it helps.
  • BobbyDaniel
    BobbyDaniel Posts: 1,459 Member
    I hit a plateau for about 3 months, but it was on the front end of my weight loss. It took me shaking things up a lot, like finding MFP and getting started on tracking my food as well as changing up my exercise regiment and starting C25K.
    But on the flip side, I did have a hard time shaking the 10 or so pounds from the holidays that are now just coming off. For this it took me upping my calories and protein levels. That is what worked for me though, you may be different.
    I do get the frustration though and hope the plateau is broken soon!
  • abutterflyemerges
    abutterflyemerges Posts: 101 Member
    Hi,

    I've been on a 3 month long plateau now. Frustrating is putting it mildly. I'm in my last 10 to 15 pounds to reach goal and now I am dead in the water. I have tried it all. Increased calories, decreased calories, switched up my routines, worked out harder, split workouts, spike days, cheat meals, zigzagging, going on maintenance for a while and then returned to lower calories. I have worked every angle. If I do manage to take a couple of pounds off, my weight pops right back where I am now and sticks there again. I have lost and gained the same 2 to 4 pounds over and over again. It's like my body wants to sit right here. No thank you, I'm not done yet.

    Just needed to vent a little and was wondering if anyone is in the same boat as I am or if you once where and broke free and how did you do it?

    Make me your friend...I have been plateaued forever and ever. I have done what you have done and you wanna hear something else? I recently had breast reduction went from a 46DDD to 36C!!!! Doc said it was about 5 lbs of fat so 5+5=10 right? I kid you not after the swelling went down my weight remained the same before going into surgery which means I gained 10lbs of how I do not know because even though I wasn't able to exercise i was also not eating very much do to recovery. mmmm go figure :mad:
  • reedkaus
    reedkaus Posts: 250 Member
    what are your diet ratios like? try having 55% kcal from carbs 15% from fat and 30% from protein. this can make a very big difference for a lot of people. this may be slightly dramatic, and you could try 55% carb 20% fat 25% protein
  • oh_mg
    oh_mg Posts: 35 Member
    As you get closer to your goal, you can't expect huge losses every week. Small losses are still progress in the right direction!

    Sometimes our bodies just need to stop, rest, catch their breath before powering forward. I started to plateau once I hit 150 lbs. lost - lost and gained the same 2-5 pounds for 6 months. Part of it was major life changes (relocating across country for a job meant that weightloss wasn't my highest priority), but a lot of it I think was just my body adjusting to the changes (I had lost the 150 in 12 months).

    I finally started losing again a few weeks ago, when life settled into a routine and I could focus on actively losing again. What I found worked for me was to focus just on eating - I cut out all workouts besides long walks a few times a week (I usually run/bike a lot, 500-1200 calories per workout - walking for an hour is only about 350 calories), but kept my calories within my range and drank lots of water. The scale started to move again, and then I added more rigorous exercise back in. I always tried to avoid eating my exercise calories; allowing myself to eat half of them has also helped, I think.

    Good luck with breaking your plateau - what kept me sane during mine was accepting that a plateau is like maintenance - at least I wasn't free-falling back into old habits and regaining everything back!
  • allenpearcy
    allenpearcy Posts: 227 Member
    I recently recovered from an 8-week plateau. I don't really think I did much to break out. I just kept at it and it finally happened. If anything, I might have increased the amount of my "exercise calories" I had gotten used to eating. You might also try diet and/or exercise confusion...meaning just break your patterns and trick your body into listening again. HTH. Good luck!
  • lmpresnell
    lmpresnell Posts: 5 Member
    Hey,

    I've been up and down the scale about a million times in my life and I know what you are going through. One thing I found is that if you drink at least 3 qts of water everyday, it will help remove excess water weight. When you first start doing it, you might feel like your peeing a thousand times a day:), but that will slow down.

    Also, I used to eat bran cereal every morning for breakfast, it kept things moving...thus weight loss :).

    Good luck!!

    Lori
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
    Ye gods you've come so far though! Amazing work!

    I have read in several places that some people who have lost a lot of weight can have BMRs that run up to 10% below predicted level. Could it be possible that you've actually reached a maintenance level rather than a deficit. Maybe reshuffle your calculations a bit.

    I'd also heard of success in those last stubborn lbs with ketogenic diets. I'm not a fan of them myself but for short periods - probably wouldn't hurt to give it a go.

    Thanks for the inspiration!
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
    Have you changed macro ratios? How many grams carbohydrates do you typically have? Do you have to inject with insulin?
  • keeponkickin
    keeponkickin Posts: 1,520 Member
    Have you changed macro ratios? How many grams carbohydrates do you typically have? Do you have to inject with insulin?

    Inject insulin....yes, on an insulin pump and I use the tiniest of doses. Blood sugars are perfect. I have changed macros around to see what works. I've done 40% protein, 30% carb and 30% fat and have done the 45% carb, 30% protein and 25% fat.

    All the suggestions from everyone has been great and I have done and do them all. I shake up my workouts, I drink tons of water, I get a good amount of fiber in my diet. Still stuck.
  • ingfit
    ingfit Posts: 180 Member
    Honestly I would try eating at TDEE (maintenance) for a week or two and take a break from intense exercise. Or if you are not exercising intensely, try adding HIIT once or twice a week. Here are a couple of links to help:

    http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/520868-i-ve-hit-a-plateau-and-i-don-t-know-if-advice

    Hope this helps!
  • ccaswick
    ccaswick Posts: 1
    I'm relatively new here; not new to dieting. I've probably lost and regained maybe 500 pounds in my lifetime. In the past almost two years I've lost 93 pounds -- first time I've ever kept it off and not gotten frustrated. Summer of 2011, I plateau'd for a solid 3-4 months -- then again over the holidays into early 2012 -- very frustrating, but I didn't give up, just stayed the course and now am loosing again. The closer to goal you get, the slower your body will go, it's resistant. Just keep it up, not gaining your weight back is almost as amazing as loosing as much as you've lost. Maintenance is actually harder (for me) than losing the weight. Good luck and don't loose sight of your goals, you've got the rest of your life to be healthy and enjoy living, eating and moving -- just stay focused and try not to stress about it too much. I started out losing 10 pounds my first month on my own, then went on Nutrisystem for about 5 months and since then have pretty much been following a Paleo(lithic) diet -- mostly raw fresh vegetables, some fruit, greek yogurt for calcium and protein, Fiber One and beans for high fiber, fish and eggs for protein, berries with my breakfast and tons I MEAN TONS of vegetables. Good luck.
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