Hit a Plateau, any advice?
dh2312
Posts: 33
I am 5'5 at 148lbs and am eating 1200 calories a day, or at least trying to stick to that number. I've hit a plateau at this point and am not losing anymore. Wondering if I should raise my calories to about 1400, or cut carbs or something?
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Replies
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I am not an expert and I do not know everything about you, but normally when you hit a plateau, something has to change, either the diet, exercise or both, eating less will not help though as it is unhealthy. Shocking the body by doing something different is a good way to start.0
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i would eat more. your body probably went into starvation mode.0
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I am 5'5 at 148lbs and am eating 1200 calories a day, or at least trying to stick to that number. I've hit a plateau at this point and am not losing anymore. Wondering if I should raise my calories to about 1400, or cut carbs or something?
If you don't exercise you should be eating 1400 calories based on your stats. If you exercise it should be more. So how much do you exercIse?0 -
Do you mean a true plateau lasting a month or longer, or a week or two with no scale movement?
My advice, if it's a true plateau:
Eat at maintenance (or 100 calories below maintenance) for a week. Ignore the scale during this time, as it will show an increase but it won't be fat. After that week, decrease your calories to 20-25% below your TDEE. You will start losing again.
If it's not a true plateau, I'd still change my calorie goal to a 20-25% cut from my TDEE at minimum, in your place.0 -
I have hit the same thing! I have tried to increase my running but its still not helping!0
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how long have you been plateaud?
are you losing inches but not scale weight or is a complete stall?
i recently had about an 6 week crawl (it wasnt quite a plateau since i was seeing changes in my measurements but not on the scale) and what seemed to help was changing my macros a bit. i didnt really change the amount of calories i ate, just changed the percentages of things. it was unintentional and i ended up eating way more carbs than i normally had been for 4 months. that ended up getting the scale moving.0 -
How long have you been losing weight, and how long have you been at this plateau?0
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I agree with Twizted. What exercise do you do? I would suggest more. More cardio, more burn. I pushed through a plateau when I graduated myself from hiking to trail running. Running kicked the weight loss in gear again for me.
Also check your diet, cut back on processed foods, eat as much fresh food as possible.
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I am 5 ft 4 inches, weigh 118, and I eat 1600 calories daily, plus eat back my exercise calories. I lose about a pound a week. You definitely should be eating more.0
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Maybe take a week off. I am not saying go hog wild, but give you body a week to rest and recover. I hit the worlds longest plateau. When I gave up dieting and exercise for a few days, it was like it jump started my body again. I know it sucks to see the scale get stuck! Good Luck!0
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try eating "different" -- change it up.
Try different exercising too, change that up too -- strength training?
You're just battling against a set point, and you need to push through it. Bob Greene of The Best Life (Oprah's coach) has written some great strategies on beating the plateu set point.
http://goarticles.com/article/Stuck-at-Your-Set-Point-Weight/39917170 -
How often are you working out? Are you eating 1200 net? I am also 5'5 and stopped losing around 145 pounds. I was doing all cardio. I increased my work outs by adding more weight lifting and walk a couple of miles on weight lifting days. Went from 6 days a week of cardio to an hour of weights 3-4 times a week. Eat back most all my exercise calories. I have dropped 7 pounds since then. This worked for me.0
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I talked to a nutritionist I know and she said my body was in starvation mode at 1200, aspecially when you are active and your body needs the cals the most. When I went over 1200 for example
(on a weekend) because of this my body would cling on to any extra cals I ate and It would be stored as fat. therefor I could not gain the muscle I wanted or lose weight long-term. It made no sense to me to eat more but now it does, I feel a lot better and am gaining muscle
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eat more, strength train0
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We may need a little more info to give you any meaningful input. How much are you exercising? - How long have you been plateaued? What is the ratio of carbs, fat and protean you are currently eating.
If you are not exercising, start. If you are exercising, change the nature and intensity of it.
Don't focus just on how much you weigh, there are other variables other than fat the play into this, such as water retention, constipation, etc. You may be losing fat but other factors are keeping your weight the same.
Relax - stop weighing yourself. When I just kept working my plan knowing that the math was in may favor. After 5 days or so I'd step on the scale and be down 2 or 3 lbs. I think stressing about can play a role in fat retention.
Be patient, you didn't put the weight on all at once, nor will it come off all at once.0 -
I've hit the same thing. I've lost 42lbs so far and now nothing. I'm 5ft 3 & eating 1200 cals a day. I'm not particularly mobile (I have arthritis from the neck down). I'm swapping my meals around, so my main meal will now be a lunch time. Hoping that works.0
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i would eat more. your body probably went into starvation mode.
Her body hit a plateau, starvation mode is a couple of words throw around to scare you into eating more calories.
Mix it up some high cals one day, low the next day, different exercises. You are not in starvation mode, unless you've ate NOTHING IN THE LAST FEW YEARS or your under 5% body fat, and I don't think you are. Mix it all up0 -
I agree with the others. You need to make sure you are eating the right amount. I don't believe in cutting something out completely, unless you truly need to for health reasons. I am currently taking pointers from Chris Powell's 7 day carb cycle solution. You cut out carbs Monday, Wednesday and Friday. My hubby and I have really seen some changes in how we feel and been losing inches. He talks about plateaus too...I agree with changing things up to shock your system...just make sure you aren't cutting back on calories or over exercising for your caloric intake. If you are carb cycling, the shock to the system is to go a week without cutting carbs and then go back into the carb cycle. Hope this helps. Good luck!
Also, I agree that the high calorie, low calorie cycle helps too. This is actually integrated into the carb cycle also. Either way you go...I think you will see a difference.0 -
I've hit the same thing. I've lost 42lbs so far and now nothing. I'm 5ft 3 & eating 1200 cals a day. I'm not particularly mobile (I have arthritis from the neck down). I'm swapping my meals around, so my main meal will now be a lunch time. Hoping that works.
I think you need to do something more than that. More like up your calories a day or two and then lower them for a day. If your not mobile from arthritis can't you do things in the water? You need to fool your body into thinking your feeding it more so it will start releasing fat for burning again0 -
agree. I would also like to state that 80% of weight loss is your nutrition and 20% is exercise. Calories are easy to build depending on what you eat that wont make you full. Find things with lots of calories like peanut butter/almond butter that are not really filling but are good for you and have high calorie count. I have noticed most women on here aiming for 1200. I cannot say if that is correct but eating a few hundred more wont make you gain weight, especially if your exercising.I've hit the same thing. I've lost 42lbs so far and now nothing. I'm 5ft 3 & eating 1200 cals a day. I'm not particularly mobile (I have arthritis from the neck down). I'm swapping my meals around, so my main meal will now be a lunch time. Hoping that works.
I think you need to do something more than that. More like up your calories a day or two and then lower them for a day. If your not mobile from arthritis can't you do things in the water? You need to fool your body into thinking your feeding it more so it will start releasing fat for burning again0 -
I recently read an article that was talking about how to deal with plateaus, because they are an inevitability for everyone trying to lose weight. The article suggested changing up your calories for a little bit:
If you are eating a low carb diet, switch to a high carb one, or vice versa. Or if you averaging 1500 calories a day, drop to 1200, then go up to 2000, and then drop back to 1500. Basically, your body has gotten comfortable, so switch things up and remind it that it's supposed to be burning that extra fat!0 -
I have always been told that the body will get used to something and not react in the desired manner after so long. Changing the eating for a day of more intake followed by lower intake on occasion helps. Changing around your workouts to keep the muscles guessing is good also.0
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I recently read an article that was talking about how to deal with plateaus, because they are an inevitability for everyone trying to lose weight.
Not really inevitable. I've never hit a plateau.0 -
I recently read an article that was talking about how to deal with plateaus, because they are an inevitability for everyone trying to lose weight.
Not really inevitable. I've never hit a plateau.
I think as long as you know what your doing and do not let it become too routine, then plateau's should be avoided.(maybe lol)0 -
Wow thank you everyone for all the great info and support!
After doing some research and reading some of the EAT MORE 2 WEIGH LESS blog, I have decided to up my calories from 1200 to 1600 a day, a 20% cut from my TDEE. I am on day 4 of it so we will see at the end of the week how it works.
And based off some of your replies, no I guess I can't call this a "true plateau" for it's only been about 2 weeks of no scale movement or inches lost, but I also haven't been exercising like I once was, so consistently.
I am okay with upping my calories though for I have read so many different articles on how you should never be below your BMR, and should not be at 1200 calories/day.
As far as my exercise goes, I started 30 day shred again and am also doing Jackie Warner's strength training dvd, so working out for a total of about 45 minutes 7 days/week. I burn about 200 calories on average each day from exercise.
Weigh in day is sunday so we will see how it goes! I feel much more energized with the 1600 calories, and a lot less stressed on trying to stay under 1200. I hope it works!
Thanks all!0 -
I am 5'5 at 148lbs and am eating 1200 calories a day, or at least trying to stick to that number. I've hit a plateau at this point and am not losing anymore. Wondering if I should raise my calories to about 1400, or cut carbs or something?
Knowing nothing about you, but knowing a lot about plateaus, I am going to offer basic suggestions, which you seem to already know:
1. Increase calories. You suggested 1,400, sure, go with that, but do it for 2-3 weeks and see if there is a difference.
2. Change your work out routine. Confuse your body.
3. You don't have to cut out carbs completely, but I noticed when I hit plateaus, if I LIMIT them, the weight starts dropping again. Everyone can say "Oh, it's water weight, it will come right back when you eat carbs again" and I call BS. As long as you don't eat five servings of pasta for break fast, lunch and dinner after, you are fine.0 -
Have you tried interval training on the treadmill? It is what helped me. I also started clean eating, fruits, veggies, lean meats. It heled me lose all my weight.0
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Simply put...EAT MORE!0
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I am 5'5 at 148lbs and am eating 1200 calories a day, or at least trying to stick to that number. I've hit a plateau at this point and am not losing anymore. Wondering if I should raise my calories to about 1400, or cut carbs or something?
Knowing nothing about you, but knowing a lot about plateaus, I am going to offer basic suggestions, which you seem to already know:
1. Increase calories. You suggested 1,400, sure, go with that, but do it for 2-3 weeks and see if there is a difference.
2. Change your work out routine. Confuse your body.
3. You don't have to cut out carbs completely, but I noticed when I hit plateaus, if I LIMIT them, the weight starts dropping again. Everyone can say "Oh, it's water weight, it will come right back when you eat carbs again" and I call BS. As long as you don't eat five servings of pasta for break fast, lunch and dinner after, you are fine.
Thank you for the tips! I have increased my calories to 1600 and yes I know I should decrease my carb intake, its a hard change for me though for I love cereal, bagels, sandwiches, pasta etc. But I am going to make an effort. Any suggestions on how much of carbs you should cut exactly? Is it like only have bread at 1 meal during the day??0
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