Plateau

Hi jdavis193,

I read somewhere that sometimes your body gets used to when you eat about the same number of calories a day for long periods of time. So where you once saw results your body is not used to the new diet. So it suggested fluctuating the number of calories you take in every few days.. not a huge difference, maybe 200-300 calorie difference then go back to what you usually eat. It sounds reasonable enough so it doesnt hurt to try that.

The other thing to keep in mind, which maybe you have done already, is that if you have lost weight then you have to adjust your caloric intake to match your new weight, otherwise you are basically eating to maintain that weight. Hope that helps!

This doesn't work for everyone but it did for me;

When dieting, you're eating pretty much all low-cal foods which contain all artificial sweetners (mostly saccharin and aspartame). With a lack of glucose and other real sugars, you're metabolism starts to slow. It's similar to if you were stranded on an island with no food and starving. Your body goes into a starvation mode and therefore conserves everything that you put in it. Which is why they say starving yourself in order to lose weight doesn't work because as soon as you do start eating (even if it's a little bit), you're body will conserve it. Now granted, I understand that dieting and being stranded on an island are two different animals but the point is that when people plateau it's because they're metabolism has slowed. So the theory is if you slowly start to introduce real sugars into your diet, you will kick up your slowed metabolism. Now how much you should start eating without over doing is probably the tricky part. I find that when I'm following my diet strictly all week, I might only lose 1/2 lb or a 1lb. However, if at one point during the week I go grab a chargrilled chicken sandwich and fries, I lose more.

The only other suggestion I have is to take up running. I've never seen a form of excerise that has produced results as fast as running does.