PLATEAU!!!!!!!!

Hey;

I just went through two plateaus. The first one was difficult, the second was less difficult.

The one thing that I tried to keep in mind is that no matter what, whether I lost weight or not, what I was doing for my body was beneficial and increasing my health. So my advice is not to lost hope or motivation, keep on dieting.

Second thing I did for myself is I really examined what I was eating, and tried to figure out not how I could further reduce what I was eating, but how I could substitute something better for something worse. For example, I tried to cut down the amount of sodium in my diet.

Finally, to break my plateau, I engaged in a hard physical activity. So on the day I decided to break my plateau, I kept my regular calories, and then went for a 32 km bike ride towing my 1.5 year old in a bike trailer behind me. This intense exercise broke my plateau twice, and I felt encouraged.

For me, the most important thing is focusing on my overall health, and trying not to get obsessive about my weight.

Steve


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

I believe I have been through one plateau since starting back in April.. It was horrible. I drank about 4L of water everyday and calorie cycled for two weeks. Usually not exercising (believe it or not) helped me too.

to avoid plateauing, i "spike" one day a week. doubling my maintenance calories and i eat whatever i want.

to avoid plateauing, i "spike" one day a week. doubling my maintenance calories and i eat whatever i want.

this is good. also, changing up your exercise is a great way to avoid or break up a plateau. if you run, go swimming; if you do strength training, try some kettle bells.

It has happened to me a couple times but usually for about three weeks. I am not sure what to say to help besides hang in there and stay the course with MFP. All I did was keep working hard, watching your calories and trying to increase your exercise.

Thanks for the encouragement that a plateau is possible to break.

REALITY CHECK
I looked at your diary and you can't eat fast food! McDonald's and Dairy Queen are junk food. Switch to clean eating and you'll be able to eat more. It's 80% what you eat and 20% exercise. Good luck to you!

Hello Myfitness pals.

Just wondering how everyone breaking their plateaus:

1.How long was your longest plateau and what did you change to break it? Also:


2.How many plateaus have you had on you weight loss journey?

My longest one was .. 5.5 mos. took FOREVER... I tried everything, i changed my workouts, my diet.. & it wouldnt budge! i was stuck!! I ended up ordering some body by vi adding a shake in the morning, and i lost 5 lbs that month! .. i guess all i had to do was something drastically different..
I had done 3 rounds of p90x, i did turbofire for 4 mos (& lost nothing .. inches or lbs) now I am on my 3rd round of insanity, w. 14 lbs to go, i thought maybe i was plateauing again, but i actually think its just slowed down to a crawl for that last little bit!

This is only the 2nd time ive tried to lose weight first time was ages 17 to 21 I hit several then. That was before the Internet was much use . I hit my goal weight of 180 doing mostly the wrong thing and gained most but not all of it back over ten + years. This time I'm either lucky or just doing enought variety. Since ive had a much faster and very steady weight loss. I expect to hit one in the next 20 pounds. Though thanks to these forums I have a few tricks to counter it.

Just broke through one this morning after six weeks of sitting at or slightly above my lowest point. I knew that what had started it was going on vacation with family, but was totally fine with that (as it was expected) but got really frustrated when it just kept going. I was eating the same foods and the same calorie levels as I had been the whole time I'd been losing weight but no change.

Finally, I realized that my last drop in weight coincided exactly with when I'd last worked out (this is why it's a good idea to log everything with the date). I didn't think the workouts were making any difference because I was so inconsistent/sporadic with the timing; I'd do three days in a week then nothing for two weeks then one workout, plus it was virtually all weightlifting so it's not a huge calorie burner. So I stopped doing it and thought nothing of it. Well, when I realized that a few days ago, I did one again, and suddenly dropped a pound and a half today, effectively breaking that damn plateau.

I have no idea why it has that effect, but I guess it works. *shrug*

Started at 205lbs on January 1st. Made my goal (175lbs) about 2 weeks ago. Currently weighed in at 171.

I hit a Plateau in April at 182lbs. I stayed at that weight for about 3 weeks. Basically I kept plugging along. What seemed to get me through it was one day of light calorie intake followed by a day of intense exercise.

So for example - I play league inline hockey on Sunday mornings - so during my plateau, I would eat really light on Saturday (I would do just a protein shake for dinner that night), then the next morning I would play two league games in a row (about 2 hours of intense athletics) - when I came home I would be super light (almost 4-5 pound water weight loss).

The I would basically return to my normal healthy eating regimen on Sunday afternoon - after about two-three weekends like this, I broke through the 182 barrier and I started weighing regularly at 176-178 and kept going down there.

I am plateauing now at 171-172, but this is the exact weight I want to stay at, so I consider this hitting my goal, not being stuck.

Plateaus don't exist. It's in your head. Eat better food, eat less, exercise more, or just stay off the scale if you're sure you're doing everything right. Focus on other NSV's for a bit to keep your confidence.

It's probably a combination of factors. Bodies are complex, and you have multiple variables in play.

Just like 2000 years ago people thought dancing a certain way would bring rain, or sacrificing a virgin to the volcano gods would prevent destruction. They sacrificed the virgin, no destruction, and the local religious leaders were hailed as saviors of the community, with further tips to the gullible masses on how to live their lives.

Good luck.

--P

I disagree. Your talking to someone who was at least 10,000 under her calorie goal each week and didn't lose anything. I was eating a balanced diet and exercising 6 days a week and most Sundays. My body truly stalled out. I upped calories and Boom! I lost weight. I see the same thing with many of my friends.

Your entitled to your opinion but I am in shocked that you said "Its all in your head" when she is clearly eating right and exercising. She is ONLY eating 1200 calories a day and you want her to eat less AND exercise more??? Dang...thats really unhealthy.

In MY opinion, don't listen to this. Your doing good, just change things up but in a healthy way.

Perhaps I worded that too strongly. I suppose in some people there can be real physiological reasons for weight loss to stall. But I do believe the dreaded "plateau" is mainly a psychological phenomenon for the vast majority of people, yes.

My guess is that people's diaries are +/- 20-30% of reality. And this probably varies over different periods. Portion size mistakes, oversights, subconsciously trying to maintain a daily number, not wanting to disappoint friends, choosing similar foods in the database that don't reflect actuals, etc., etc. Not to mention bad days that just never get recorded. Sure, some people overestimate their calorie intake on purpose. But knowing human nature, most people probably do the opposite. The bias is probably even worse for exercise calories. That 20 minute walk to the post office gets recorded at 300 calories to scarf down another plate of brownies.

When you oftentimes look at how people "broke through" their "plateau," it seems to involve a change in diet, or more exercise. They will call it "confusing their body" with different food or different types of exercise, but the reality is that weight loss is not so complex at the basic level, and your body is certainly not getting confused. In the end, they got back to a calorie deficit, and, suddenly, out of the blue, a miracle....

--P

To break my Plateaus I switched up my workouts by doing different moves and routines. I also started Shakeology to help my nutrition plateau and get my body everything it needs