I'm suck in a plateau.. HELP!

You need to change up your routine... you can probably even drop your work outs down to every other day.... your body is use to what you are doing. I was stuck for about a month, then changed my routine..... I'm currently working on toning and not so much looking at the scale.... working out more is probably putting muscle on you and you know the deal with muscle it weighs more. up your cardio work outs, stay away from a lot of strength training.... for now... hope some of that helps:flowerforyou:

I wouldn't advise to drop the strength training. Muscle burns fat. It might make you hate the scale, but you will be smaller because a lb of muscle is smaller in size than a lb of fat. (i.e. 1 lb of muscle is more dense and takes up less space in your body than 1 lb of fat).

I do however agree that changing a routine is good, but don't change things too often. Stick with a program/schedule/guide and remember this is a lifestyle change not a quick fix.

Bump for later!~

& I am right there with you. In April I only lost 1 lb overall!! I'm hoping May will be better!!

I do agree with the taking measurements post. I wrap a ribbon around my waist and label it with the date and my weight ... I've only lost 3 lbs since I last measured but I have lost 3.5 inches so my working out is paying off!!!

I just did the F2F BMR to show how many calories I should eat and it said Sedentary - 1744, and Lightly Active -1998, Moderately Active - 2252.

Fitness Frog has my BMR at 1526 and my TDEE at 2365 for (moderate) or 2098 for (light).

A while back I ate high like around 2100 on average and kept gaining. Then I went drastic and lowered my calories and was only netting around 1200. And now I'm back to averaging after workouts 1624. If I'm hungry I usually eat more but for the most part I'm satisfied.

I was at 162 at the begining of the year and now I'm 168 lbs. I started lifting 3-4 days a week in Feb - heavy and lowered my cardio to 3-4 days a week but only for 30-40 min. Before I was doing at least 60 min of cardio probably 5x a week. So seeing the scale go up and not really seeing a loss in inches I'm starting to panic.

if you are netting 1624 after workouts, how much are you eating overall?
Is the scale still going up now, or only while you were on 2100?
The numbers in the chart on fat2fit are tdee for your goal weight and only include a very small deficit - based on the figures above, if TDEE is 2365 and fat2fit recommends 2252, thats only 100 cal deficit so 0.2lb /week. It says somewhere on there if you are nearer to goal weight you may need to reduce by another 2-300, just make sure your net doesnt fall below BMR.

Also have you had your body fat % checked? You could have been losing fat / building muscle which may not show on the scale, and the bf % will affect your BMR too, as it takes more calories to maintain muscle than fat.

So lets add some perspective. So based on your weight and age, as well as a rough estimate on height (I chose 5'5" as it's the average) your estimated metabolic rate is 1850 calories. This is the amount of calories you burn if you slept for 24 hours. So lets assume during your workout, that you burn 500 calories and otherwise you are sedentary. Below is your TDEE (total amount of calories you burn throughout the day including lifestyle and exercise).

TDEE = 1850 *1.2 + 500 = 2750 <--- the amount of calories you burn on average

Now we have to form a deficit using the below guidelines.

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

So lets say you have want to lose 2 lbs. That means

Caloric Need (CN) = 2750-1000 = 1750

This means, you should be aiming for 1750 calories a day. Now this is for a sedentary person. I don't think you are sedentary based on what you said but rather lighly active, so you need to add another 200-300 calories.

Also keep in mind, eating less does NOT mean losing more, especially the closer you get to your goal. Keep in mind a calorie deficit is stress on your body. Stress releases cortisol as a defense mechanism. So when you consistently under eat, your body fights harder to maintain it's body fat.

Next, high calories does NOT mean unhealthy nor is it anything to be scared of. I eat 3000 calories a day to lose weight (as a 5'11", 29 yr old guy @ 200 lbs) but i have helped well over 200+ people from this board set up meal plans and 99% of them are eating 1800+ calories. Many of the women (less than 150 lbs) are eating 2000+ calories.


So what does this mean. It's a long winded way of saying you need to eat more. Probably 1800 calories at least. And you do this by eating higher calorie foods. Spoonfuls of peanut butter, nuts, avocado or cooking in olive oil or even protein shakes and protein bars. And once you do this, you will see the weight loss.


Now for exercise. If you want a smaller waistline and lose the fat, then resistanace/strength training will provide better results. Short term, you may lose a little more weight with more cardio, but not long term. ST prevents muscle loss which means your metabolism will be maintained and you will continue to burn more calories than if you concentrated on cardio. And losing weight doesn't mean losing fat. And since a pound of muscle is a lot smaller than a pound of fat, which one do you prefer. Keep in mind, NO ONE but you knows your weight but they can tell when you keep needing new clothes.



http://www.metaboliceffect.com/topic/38-nutrition-lifestyle.aspx

wow....thanks...I'm one of those who are pouting because I've lost 44 lbs and the last 10 just seem to be going soooooooooo slow! Plateau...a 1/2 pound.....plateau...another 1/2 pound......I've recently added lifting and now I fear I'll gain....Lord why am I so bound to that friggin scale to gage my success? I'm 54 years young, wearing a size jeans I've never been in and yet not happy because I haven't reached my next scale victory of being under 150. I know part of it is the damage I've already done to my body and it will never recover, I have crape paper inner thighs, a sagging belly and eewwwhhh triceps. But thats what I focus on...NOT that I ran 4 miles for the first time in my life and can kick butt in ZUMBA....Oh well.....I still see the FAT girl in the mirror. I guess it's time for some positive thoughts. Maybe post some daily confirmation to my desk and fridge.

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