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MyFitnessPal Community

Darn plateau...can I beat it?

curvykim78

I've been doing this for 15 weeks now. I've lost 14 pounds, but I have been stuck at this weight for 3-4 weeks now. After listening to the others, it seems like they think I need to eat more. I adjusted my goal from losing 2 pounds a week to 1.5 pounds a week. It has put me from 1200 calories to 1290 calories a day. My question is this...is the 90 calories enough to make me overcome this plateau or should I go by the BMR number I found online which is 1878.
If it helps, I was 172, currently 158 and 34 years old, healthy, and walk the treadmill 4-5 days a week for 35-40 minutes weekly carrying 5-8 pound weights. Any ideas for me to get over this hurdle?
THANKS!!

Replies

curvykim78

I've been doing this for 15 weeks now. I've lost 14 pounds, but I have been stuck at this weight for 3-4 weeks now. After listening to the others, it seems like they think I need to eat more. I adjusted my goal from losing 2 pounds a week to 1.5 pounds a week. It has put me from 1200 calories to 1290 calories a day. My question is this...is the 90 calories enough to make me overcome this plateau or should I go by the BMR number I found online which is 1878.
If it helps, I was 172, currently 158 and 34 years old, healthy, and walk the treadmill 4-5 days a week for 35-40 minutes weekly carrying 5-8 pound weights. Any ideas for me to get over this hurdle?
THANKS!!

antihillmoby

Me too - I would like to see the answers to this.

binderde

I was at a plateau for about the same amount of time, and I was eating under my goal consistently, in the last few weeks I started to just eat right at my goal and i have lost 2 pounds already. So the key is to just keep at it and see what works, I think eating more should help and you should be shooting for 1 pound a week not 2 or 1.5, so maybe try 1 pound a week and eat at the calories recommended. If it doesn't work then at least you still ate your goal and only for a few weeks too.

psuLemon

Not eating the way you have been as it wAY too little calories. But lets gather some data. First use the link below to figure out your estimated BMR and post that. Also, what do you do for a living and what do you do for exercise?

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

ps- based on your current stats, you should be closer to 1 lb per week and eating at least 50-75% of your exercise calories but we can adjust things once you post results.

bump

bump

Bump.

bump

I've been doing this for 15 weeks now. I've lost 14 pounds, but I have been stuck at this weight for 3-4 weeks now. After listening to the others, it seems like they think I need to eat more. I adjusted my goal from losing 2 pounds a week to 1.5 pounds a week. It has put me from 1200 calories to 1290 calories a day. My question is this...is the 90 calories enough to make me overcome this plateau or should I go by the BMR number I found online which is 1878.
If it helps, I was 172, currently 158 and 34 years old, healthy, and walk the treadmill 4-5 days a week for 35-40 minutes weekly carrying 5-8 pound weights. Any ideas for me to get over this hurdle?
THANKS!!

If you are losing inches, you are losing fat and toning. I have lost about 40 pounds but have not lost a pound since early March. It is super frustrating but I have accepted that I need to stop looking at the scale. Also, I have increased my calorie limit on MFP to 1500 calories. Though, I do eat my exercise calories, so the increase can leave me eating 1800-2100 calories a day. I've been losing inches/fat but not really losing "weight" or pounds on the scale. It is pretty awesome still. I fit into a size 9 in Juniors the other day. Keep in mind, when I started MFP, I was wearing size 14 in women's!

mississippi_queen

Bump

pandaJOY7

I think if you are eating healthy and exercising the numbers will eventually catch up. Maybe you are redistributing your body mass, and building muscle that weighs more. How have your body measurements been???

Also, are you drinking enough water??? That is what really helped me to get past my last plateau.

Just don't give up. The numbers will eventually reach where you are. And, YES, you CAN beat the plateau!

kindra3434

I haven't hit plateau yet...but I have a plan for when I do. I plan on eating more and adding in more challenging workouts.

tabinmaine

If your BMR is over 1800 than yes you are eating way too little......

Modcom

I hit a 2 week plateau while staying on course with my exercise and calories. All of a sudden the weight started dropping off again. Perseverance, tenacity and steadfastness is the long term strategy. I won't say it wasn't hard and depressing to see the scale stagnant for that long, but it finally paid off.

Stay with it and keep up the good work!!!

chattipatty2

bump as you and I are very similar in wt/loss/plateau status.

mamabear23

I was just on a plateau for the last 3 weeks. I had lost 1.5 lbs the week after I was on vacation and then gained 3 back. Stayed at that wait for 3 LONG weeks no matter how much exercise and staying under my calorie goal I did.

You can do it.

curvykim78

I posted my BMR and exercise inthe original post. As far as my job, I am a home daycare provider who chases kids around in circles all day.

criscricket

Not eating the way you have been as it wAY too little calories. But lets gather some data. First use the link below to figure out your estimated BMR and post that. Also, what do you do for a living and what do you do for exercise?

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

ps- based on your current stats, you should be closer to 1 lb per week and eating at least 50-75% of your exercise calories but we can adjust things once you post results.

Ok I did this and I got "your current BMR is 1536 calories." I work at a desk job and I run three times a week for 45 minutes, do weight training 1-2x a week. Some weeks I get more cardio like a step class and some weeks I may take a yoga class. So average 4-5 days a week doing something.

The chart says I should be eating 2158! Wow thats alot more than I am doing now.

here's the chart:
Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1670
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 1914
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2158
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2401
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2645

poulingail

I like this statement from the link provided above.
<Based on how much activity you do on an average day, the calories in the right column will be the number of calories that you will be able to eat at your goal weight. If you start eating those calories right now (eating like the thinner you), you will eventually become that thinner person. As you get closer to your goal weight, your weight loss will start to slow down. It is OK to eat a few hundred calories less per day (200-300) to speed up your weight loss at this point.>
What I don't agree with is the calculated calories. MFP is giving me 1380 calories a day. The chart from the link looks like this.

Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1632
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 1870
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2108
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2346
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2584

When I have eaten at these levels, I have gained weight quickly and held on to it longer.
For me, the plateau broke when I changed things up. My schedule changed quite a bit for a couple of weeks.

Try eating more at different times of day, less at others.
Change the foods you are eating.
Change up the time you exercise.
Here's an odd one, stay up and active later. I like to be in bed reading at 8:30 or 9. One more hour of activity could break a plateau.

All of those things changed for me for a couple of weeks and I suddenly found I had lost 5 lbs after plateauing for 3 months. Let me know if you try these suggestions and if they work for you. I want to change things up more often to see if I can keep my body out of a rut and too routine. Last night I was still doing light housework at 9.

acstansell

I've plateaued twice - once at 37 and again at 48... I'll probably plateau again.

1) don't give up - plateaus don't mean you're done, it just means you're stalled and you need to change it up. It can be frustrating and annoying, but don't give up.
2) drop your calories for a few days to just kick your body into gear.
3) don't splurge until you hit goal.
4) change up your cardio - if you run, interval - that kinda thing.
5) Consider if it's water weight - if it could be check your sodium and try to keep that low for a week or so.

These are just the things that have helped me. All of these things can maybe help to kick you over the hump. I was at 48 for almost 3 weeks - then I lost 3 pounds - I splurged one day and pulled back a lot for the rest of the week. Then, I started lifting and running again. I also made sure I drank 8 glasses of water.

chattipatty2

Not eating the way you have been as it wAY too little calories. But lets gather some data. First use the link below to figure out your estimated BMR and post that. Also, what do you do for a living and what do you do for exercise?

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

ps- based on your current stats, you should be closer to 1 lb per week and eating at least 50-75% of your exercise calories but we can adjust things once you post results.

Ok I did this and I got "your current BMR is 1536 calories." I work at a desk job and I run three times a week for 45 minutes, do weight training 1-2x a week. Some weeks I get more cardio like a step class and some weeks I may take a yoga class. So average 4-5 days a week doing something.

The chart says I should be eating 2158! Wow thats alot more than I am doing now.

here's the chart:
Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1670
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 1914
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2158
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2401
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2645

So wait, Im confused...sorry. Does this mean that if you stick to your level of activity, that you don't eat back your exercise calories? So lets say Im moderate, and I work out moderately for 3-5 days a week, do I just aim for 2158? This is not my BMR, but I have seen this chart before and got confused, so went back to MFP as I could add in my exercise calories. Im so confused. HELP.

psuLemon

I posted my BMR and exercise inthe original post. As far as my job, I am a home daycare provider who chases kids around in circles all day.

I think you are mixing your BMR and TDEE. Because I just ran your numbers and your BMR is around 1488 if you are 5'5". And even if you were 5'10 it would only be 1512.

So for this sake we will say 1488 and you are lightly active as you chased children and you probably burn 200 -300 calories a day with exercise, soo

TDEE = 1488 * 1.375 + 250 = 2296 (average burn)

Deficit from there

CN = 2296 * .8 = 1836

You should probably be eating close to 1800 calories a day on workout days or 1600 on non work days or on average 1700 calories a day. You aren't losing as you aren't eating enough. That 700-900 calorie crap that you are doing is the issue. You gotta fuel your car to drive, and you gotta fuel the body to burn fat.

Also, look to start doing heavy weight training where you fail at 8-12 reps. WT will provide you much better fat burning than all the cardio crap in the world. Cardio is good for burning calories and having healthy heart.

psuLemon

Not eating the way you have been as it wAY too little calories. But lets gather some data. First use the link below to figure out your estimated BMR and post that. Also, what do you do for a living and what do you do for exercise?

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

ps- based on your current stats, you should be closer to 1 lb per week and eating at least 50-75% of your exercise calories but we can adjust things once you post results.

Ok I did this and I got "your current BMR is 1536 calories." I work at a desk job and I run three times a week for 45 minutes, do weight training 1-2x a week. Some weeks I get more cardio like a step class and some weeks I may take a yoga class. So average 4-5 days a week doing something.

The chart says I should be eating 2158! Wow thats alot more than I am doing now.

here's the chart:
Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1670
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 1914
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2158
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2401
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2645

I would eat between 1900-2100 based on the numbers I ran for you. Your biggest benefit will come from cutting some of the cardio and increasing weight training, especially if you want to burn fat.

jovz10

i've hit plateau twice.... first time, i hit plateau after 3 weeks when i was netting 1000cals (goal: lose a pound a week, sedentary)..... i didn't know i need to eat some my exercise back.... my body went to starvation mode.... i read to up my calorie intake... fist to get away from starvation mode.... consumed my matenance cals (1800cals) and exercise cals for a week.... then, kept my goal to maintenace (little active) and didn't eat my exercise back (net 1300)...

second time, it happened again... did the same thing, consumed my maintenace and exercise cals for a week... then, changed my level to active (net 1500) and not eat my exercise back.....

BeachyBecky

I have plateau'ed as well for the past month. Driving me nuts.

mommy2girlies

bump

curvykim78

I appreciate all the answers...but darn it can be so frustrating! Everyone has a different way of getting around their plateau. I was hoping it was a one solution type fix. So now it' hit and miss, and hope it works since everyone's different. idon't know where to start now.

kiminikimkim

I too, follow the 1200cal diet per day. Once a week, I go over my allotment, it happens. I joined a Bootcamp class when I plateaued.

Your exercise needs to step it up a notch from walking to more rigorous activity, including weights. Get yourself a Heart Rate Monitor watch and make sure your heart rate is in the Anaerobic and VO2 zones (between 148 to 185 beats per minute).

Don't forget Calisthenics is important too.

Heart Rate Monitor chart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Exercise_zones.png

terri51870

The more I read, the more confused I get. I have been at this 8 weeks & I lost 18 pounds in the first four weeks. I was eating less than 1200 calories a day, plus jogging on the treadmill 6 x per week for 30 minutes. I've been stuck for a month now, lose a pound, gain a pound. I have no problem getting all my water in daily. From all the reading I have done, I see where my body was in starvation mode, so several weeks ago I increased my calorie intake to 1930 (which includes eating back exercise calories) & increased my cardio time to 45 minutes, still 6 days a week. I would really like to bust out of this rut. I have 12-15 pounds to reach my goal. Like I said, thoroughly confused on all the formulas, the BMR, TDEE, eating back exercise calories, not eating them back? I am 41 years old, 5'5", and 168 pounds. Any suggestions?

curvykim78

1878 is my BMR, and thats a lot more than the 1200 that my fitness pal says....ugh...this is confusing!