Frustrated by this plateau

stealthangel · May 2012

Hi everyone,

I have reached the dreaded plateau. In the past 6 months i have managed to lose 21kg.. but now i have been stuck for the past 6 going on 7 weeks at the same weight. It's not for a lack of trying on the diet or the exercise front. Exercise wise i am working out 6 days a week (4 days resistance training and 2 days cardio), and my calories at the moment are around 1300 which i am wondering is enough or too low. I'm kind of at my wits end about this. I've tried shaking things up by increasing my calories, and also my cardio, but i keep yo-yo-ing up and down from my current weight. Unfortunately the weight and my measurements are not going down as they did before. It's very disheartening. Any advice on how everyone else managed to get through this?

Thanks.

WiegandS · May 2012

I too was in a plateau for a month and a half. To get myself out of it I 1. Started amping up my workouts and 2. cut down my carbs. I did this for about a week and I was finally able to drop out 3 pounds pounds. This may not work for you, but it worked for me. it doesn't hurt to try. Let me know how it goes

meshashesha2012 · May 2012

trying eating at your maintenace for a week or 2

also what type of resistance training are you doing? try strength training with compound movements 3 days a week.

sandown12 · May 2012

Have you found out your BMR & TDEE
Your calories are too low
Join the group
Eat more to weigh less

Also mix your foods about your body gets used to what you eat and weigh & measure everything x

Michellerawrrr · May 2012

Increase your calories and the intensity of your workouts.

RebeccaD1990 · May 2012

Personally I haven't been through this but I am a personal trainer and have studied nutrition. It could be a few factors, if you are not eating enough or infrequently you will be slowing your metabolism. Also it would be really important to look deeper into the specifics of your training - with a fatloss goal resistance training is more beneficial as the appropriate load and intensity will burn more calories and stimulate muscular growth which increases your metabolism even when you aren't exercising. For this growth you also need to allow sufficient recovery so you shouldn't be weight training on consecutive days or you will never allow this process to occur. Looking at your calorie intake I am presuming you are female so your program should have more of a lower body focus as we have more potential to develop muscle in this area and they are bigger muscles so burn more calories. When doing cardio you may need to look into your intensity, to optimise you will want to induce an EPOC effect which is when you strip your red blood cells of oxygen from training at a high intensity. Resultantly you temporarily increase your metabolism post, as your body is actively repairing - this can be done through interval training. I hope this helps, hard to be of use through a blog.

em9371 · May 2012

Yep probably not eating enough, you need to fuel your body properly.
Try a week or two at maintance, then restart with a moderate deficit based on bmr / tdee.

The post 'in place of a roadmap' explains how to work this out.

I set my cals that way and have had no sign of a plateau in 7 months :-)

isabey · May 2012

Hi Angel.... I see you dont post very often,.. and it seems that you are finally breaking down and start looking for help where you feel you just not getting anywhere...!
I can understand your frustration... 5 weeks of status quo must be incredibly discouraging ...! I was ready to quit after 5 days of plateau...!
Look at all the answers pouring in... Sometimes too many to know what to do...
Everyone is different and what works for one may not necessarily work for another....
The KEY is don' t give up.... just keep trying different things,... soon you will find one that works for you and the progress will continue...
There are lots of good advice in this site....and for sure I would try some... However, my advice to you is... use the site and surround you with people (Friends) with same aspiration and motivation.... Support and inspiration is key....
Add me in as a friend if you like....
And Congrats on all of your efforts so far.... !

stealthangel · May 2012

Thanks to everyone for the replies.

The training program i am on at the moment is the Jillian Michaels Body Revolution. I started that about a month ago, so i was hoping that the new more intense workouts than i did before would break the plateau. In terms of eating, i eat 5 times a day (3 main meals and 2 snacks).

I have worked out my BMR and TDEE. Since i work out 6 days a week, i calculated the formula between moderately active and very active, and got the following results:

Moderately active: 2770 calories
Very active: 3082 calories

With a deficit of 1000 calories (in order to lose 1kg a week), this means that i should be eating between 1770 and 2082 calories, way over what i am eating now.

Could the low calories i have been eating be causing this?

Amy911Gray · May 2012

Have you tried loading up on vegetables at lunch time? This totally works for me--I just blogged about it recently!

stealthangel · May 2012

Hi Amy,

I try and eat veggies with my lunch and dinner, but i must admit that i haven't been sticking to it as much as i did before. Additionally, i have been eating a bit more carbs than i did before (all wholegrain). I am also wondering if i shouldn't increase my protein and cut back on my carbs...

jml7403 · May 2012

Since the only meat I eat is fish/seafood, my doctor recommended the Mediterranean Diet. It worked for my first 18 pounds or so, then I was only losing a few tenths of a pound a week. He also had recommended South Beach. I checked it out, and they have a plan for vegetarians! Now, I am out of my plateau and losing a few pounds a week again. The moral of this story is that if you change your diet a bit every few weeks, you become more successful!

stealthangel · May 2012

:embarassed:

Frustrated by this plateau

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