weight loss plateau

Bumping cause I wouldn't mind knowing.

I have been at a standstill for a few weeks so decided to change my exercise routines.
I have started the 30 Day Shred and am on day 3 and my scales showing small results.
You need to shake things up a bit.

You need to kick start your body by either increasing your calorie intake by 100-150 calories per day (mainly proteins) and or increasing the intensity of your workouts. I had the same situation and talked to my nutritionist who made this suggestion. It may take a while for your body to adjust to the change but just hang in there, continue your healthy lifestyle and the scale will go down again. Good luck!

I think that you need to keep doing the things that brought you success so for. Smart eating and exercise are the keys. Hang in there!

I'm curious to know ..............what if you DON'T do anything different? What if you still eat under goal most days, you still exercise as much as you've been doing.............WILL the plateau eventually break?

I've been on one for a couple of months. I did the upping the calorie thing, I lowered the calories, I tried to exercise a bit more....nothing has seemed to help.

So, I am deciding to just keep moving forward, EVENTUALLY this has to break, right?

I agree with cosanders22. I've been at a plateau for MONTHS...literally. It wasn't until I recently started INCREASING my calories a little a day (about 100-150 calories) that I've finally started seeing a weight loss again. Who would've thought? But it's absolutely true that your body goes into starvation mode and will try to hold onto whatever it can if you aren't consuming enough calories.

Maybe increase the intensity of your cardio...shorter time but faster, sweating and breathing harder a few times a week. Spin classes help me.

Looks like I have lots of company in Plateau Land. I have been living there for 2 weeks now. I do believe that a gentle bump in good calories will help. I just haven't done it yet.

Good luck and just know that it will pass and the pounds will start dropping again. :happy:

I just wrote something up on this a few weeks ago, so I thought I'd copy and paste it here for you. Here you go...

I just busted out of a 5+ week plateau. I'm down 55 lbs. so far and hope to lose another 17. I was losing 1-3 lbs. per week, but I'm now experiencing roughly 1-2 lbs. per week. With that said, here are some of my tips based on what I've heard and what I've done:

1.) Vary Calories - If you typcially take in say 1500 calories per day every day, try varying that from day-to-day. In my case MFP has my goal set around 1500 calories, but I also eat back my cardio calories so I end up closer to 2,500 calories per day. I try to come in at or a little over that number on some days, under that number on other days. Your body is great at adapting to its environment - give it the same thing every day and eventually your metabolism will slow down as it gets more efficient. Keep your metabolism on its toes by varying intake a bit. I also try to give myself a day every week or two where I go over on calories...not necessarily cheating, but not as strict as the other days.

2.) Rest Day - I was doing cardio 7 days per week and lifting 5-6 days per week. I started taking one day off each week after I plateaued and I've found that it help me get the weight loss moving again.

3.) Water - When I looked back at what had changed from my big weight loss weeks to my plateau period, one difference was water intake. I was religious about drinking 8+ cups of water every day and that had tapered off. I got back to drinking a minimum of 8 cups again and it seemed to help.

4.) Vary Cardio - You body can get used to your cardio - the movement, time, level of effort, etc. I recommend changing things up every so often. I did and it worked. Do ellipticaly all the time?...maybe try a stairclimber or bike one day. Not willing to do that, try a different program on the elliptical (interval, cross training, etc.) or try upping the level of intensity. I typically do intervals on the elliptical, but some days I'll throw in the stairclimber or do more of an endurance program on the elliptical machine.

5.) Consistency - Keep it going. I was getting crazy frustrated when stuck at my weight. The only thing that kept playing over-and-over in my mind though was that if I wasn't losing weight while working out and watching my calorie intake, what would it be like if I stopped everything. Keep going and you WILL break through.

6.) Coffee - I recently switched from black coffee to green tea after reading a few posts from other people who had experienced better results after switching.

I looked into thermogenic products like Roxylean and Hydroxycut, but can't say that I advise going that route. That's my advice/experience for what it's worth. I hope it helps. Keep up the good work!

Try keeping everything the same except cut your carbs. Worked for me when I got stuck. I halved my already pathetically small amount and am back to losing again.