Plateau ... increase my caloric intake?

redshoeshelley · March 2012

Looking for people who've had success with increasing their caloric intake to break a plateau. I've been holding at the same weight for a month now and although I can see a difference in the fit of my clothes, I'd really like to see some movement in the scale.
I eat fairly well and often. (Look at my diary ... )
I enjoy the occasional treat like everyone else but this week I need to kick it into high gear.

This week I am going to focus on the following:
1. Eliminating Coke Zero from my dinner (usually only 1 can a day).
2. Eliminating refined sugar treats (damn black licorice gets me every time)
3. Choosing better carbs.
4. Increasing my protein.
5. Pushing my limits in Body Pump (for those of you who are unfamiliar ... Body Pump is resistance workout training. Focusing on low weight loads and high repetition movements. You perform 70-100 repetitions per body part totaling up to 800 repetitions in a single workout. LOVE THIS CLASS !!! (And boy do you feel it the next day!)
6. Spring has sprung and I can get out the kicks and hit the pavement more often. Planning on adding this to the mix this week as well.

Suggestions MFP peeps?
Thanks a million

billgiersberg · March 2012

Someone else posted this link about plateaus. I hope it helps you with yours.

http://fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.com/2011/05/most-dreaded-word-in-weight-loss.html

medaglia_06 · March 2012

I had a mini plateau last week (actually gained 3 lbs for no apparent reason)... I increased my calories over the weekend and lost two pounds! I'm back down to my initial calories though, I don't want to push it! LOL

Good luck! And congrats on the weightloss so far!

kd80538 · March 2012

I posted on this last week...

So...I can TOTALLY relate to this post. I hit my goal in December, and then immediately gained. So, in January, I upped the intensity and frequency of my workouts, but didn't change calories or anything else. Since then, I've been in a 7-10 pound flux...some weeks maintaining, some weeks gaining, and found myself SO discouraged and frustrated.

After reading the posts about higher calorie intakes, and some guidance from those who have succeeded at it, I decided to give it a go. Two weeks ago, I upped my caloric intake based upon the following advice:

Go to Fat to Fit (www.fat2fitradio.com) tools and do the Military Body Fat Calc THEN the BMR tool.

The BMR tool will give you EXACT calories to eat daily determined by your activity level.
Add 20% to this number to figure out your TDEE.

So by knowing:

TDEE
BMR
Body Fat

The first week of this, I had a gain...and it FREAKED me out...but I stuck with it for another week, and today I weighed in to find good news...a loss!!...the 4 lbs that I "gained" last week, plus another .5 lb loss. I'm still tweaking on the exact right mix for me, but am convinced that my body really does need the extra fuel. I'm now within 1.8 of goal, and feeling great - not hungry, energized for workouts, etc!

It is scary as hell, but I've seen so many success stories on here, and am finding it working for me so far as well.

redshoeshelley · March 2012

This is GREAT !!
Thanks bunches ... I'm going to give this a whirl and see what happens this week

carriem73 · March 2012

I posted on this last week...

So...I can TOTALLY relate to this post. I hit my goal in December, and then immediately gained. So, in January, I upped the intensity and frequency of my workouts, but didn't change calories or anything else. Since then, I've been in a 7-10 pound flux...some weeks maintaining, some weeks gaining, and found myself SO discouraged and frustrated.

After reading the posts about higher calorie intakes, and some guidance from those who have succeeded at it, I decided to give it a go. Two weeks ago, I upped my caloric intake based upon the following advice:

Go to Fat to Fit (www.fat2fitradio.com) tools and do the Military Body Fat Calc THEN the BMR tool.

The BMR tool will give you EXACT calories to eat daily determined by your activity level.
Add 20% to this number to figure out your TDEE.

So by knowing:

TDEE
BMR
Body Fat

The first week of this, I had a gain...and it FREAKED me out...but I stuck with it for another week, and today I weighed in to find good news...a loss!!...the 4 lbs that I "gained" last week, plus another .5 lb loss. I'm still tweaking on the exact right mix for me, but am convinced that my body really does need the extra fuel. I'm now within 1.8 of goal, and feeling great - not hungry, energized for workouts, etc!

It is scary as hell, but I've seen so many success stories on here, and am finding it working for me so far as well.

I'm always interested to see what web sites give you for body fat % etc- so thanks for the link- I went to this site and put in my measurements, and it told me my body fat % is 35.7- HOWEVER, I track my body fat % at the gym with my trainer using one of those electric meters/monitors, and my true body fat % is 25.3 at the moment- I was shocked the first time I saw how off these web sites can be- 10% is a HGE discrepancy

I think we should all be a little cautious about web sites (including MFP) that give us a one size fits all perspective- I would suggest for accurate results to check with your gym/physician to see if they have the electic meters/monitors.... then base your calore intake on your acutal results...

But back to the original topic, thanks to everyone for thier thoughts on increasing calories- I think it may be the trick I need too to overcome my recent plateau!

Jennyisbusy · March 2012

I have been looking over my data from last summer and it *looks* like every time I cheated, when on vacation, had company and ate more than I lost some weight. Then I would say "oh I am lucky" and buckle down and not lose weight until the next I ate more. So I have just started tinkering around increasing my calories permanently. I am making an effort to figure how many calories I actually burn everyday and then adjust my deficit to that.

You may want to consider doing something like that, or getting on a zigzag plan to break things up. Most of all don't give up!!!

The scale is not your friend it won't give you a break for carrying extra water in sore worked out muscles, TOM, or whatever odd things may happen we don't know about.

You may benefit from setting a goal that is not 'weight' related, ie hitting your calories goal for the week or exercising the number of days you want. If you consistently hit those goals then the scale should follow suit in a healthy way! and you can celebrate your success along the way.

Good luck :flowerforyou:

redshoeshelley · March 2012

I have been looking over my data from last summer and it *looks* like every time I cheated, when on vacation, had company and ate more than I lost some weight. Then I would say "oh I am lucky" and buckle down and not lose weight until the next I ate more. So I have just started tinkering around increasing my calories permanently. I am making an effort to figure how many calories I actually burn everyday and then adjust my deficit to that.

You may want to consider doing something like that, or getting on a zigzag plan to break things up. Most of all don't give up!!!

The scale is not your friend it won't give you a break for carrying extra water in sore worked out muscles, TOM, or whatever odd things may happen we don't know about.

You may benefit from setting a goal that is not 'weight' related, ie hitting your calories goal for the week or exercising the number of days you want. If you consistently hit those goals then the scale should follow suit in a healthy way! and you can celebrate your success along the way.

Good luck :flowerforyou:

This too is great information ... I just read about the zig zig plan!!! Might be worth a shot

Thanks a billion !

Plateau ... increase my caloric intake?

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