Plateau :,(

A co-worker of mine is a former body builder and still works out daily. I knew I would reach a plateau at some point and so asked her what to do to get past it when it hit. She gave me two bits of advice which I will pass on to you. Two or three times a week, go slightly over your calorie limit. If your brain is in starvation mode, it will shut down your metabolism. Eating a little more a couple times a week turns off that starvation mode and fools the brain into thinking you are eating "normally" again. You will start losing again when you go back to keeping within your calorie count. She also told me to jump start my heart while exercising. If you normally walk, for example, for about 5 to 10 minutes, either jog or walk double time. Then settle down again. Increasing your heart rate, even for that small amount of time will help with your metabolism.
I looked up my friend's advice concerning going over my calorie count on line and found another website that agreed with her so, when I felt I was approaching a plateau, I tried it. Lo and behold, that week, I lost 2 LBS!

Can you open your diary?

No offense, because you seem like a really sweet person - but you eat a lot of junk.

Try giving up the chocolates, cakes and nutella for a week or 2. That's all. Look up clean eating, more protein, whole foods like almonds and fruits. It might do the trick.

No offense, because you seem like a really sweet person - but you eat a lot of junk.

Try giving up the chocolates, cakes and nutella for a week or 2. That's all. Look up clean eating, more protein, whole foods like almonds and fruits. It might do the trick.

You can lose weight as long as you have a calorie deficit even if it's junk. But I think the biggest risk is since your foods are full of so many "bad calories" it will be easy to slip back into weight gain if you're not extremely careful with portions. I would starve all day if I ate the food in your diary because I'd be hungry constantly and probably give in and overeat. Instead of going all out health food addict overnight, why not pick one or two items you eat regularly and see if you can find a more healthful version of it. Gradually you my transition to all healthier foods as you discover options you didn't know about. Try a natural no sugar added peanut or cashew or almond butter with wheat toast instead of your breakfast maybe? Nutella is yum, but maybe a treat.

I'd also make sure you are weighing everything. As I said, your foods lend themselves to small errors in portions having huge calorie changes.

But I wish you all the best in your journey. If it were easy and quick, everyone would do it.

I gained 12 lbw eating Nutella during the winter while going to the gym 6 times a wk. CLEAN food must be implemented. keep trying to substitute it.

" I'm getting up a 5.15am for the gym when its doing nothing! "

exercise is only 20%
food is 80%
Clean food is the KEY

I am on a plateau too for 1 mth & 1/2...I have a clean diet but workout too much...Imagine that....its harming me.

You still have a bit to lose so just some light workout will do ...Focus on cleaning up your diet! Its not easy I have been researching and learning for 3 mths. I completely changed my grocery list BUT to things I like eating. it has to be a lifestyle not a temporary change so you have to like the clean food you pick. NO sugar NO Nutella.

This article is a life saver for busting plateaus:

http://fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/most-dreaded-word-in-weight-loss.html

you can eat your way out of your excercise any given time to negate whatever you did at the gym.

like the other poster above said- food is 80 percent of your result,excercise is only 20 percent.get more protein in and cut out processed foods as much as you can.If you dont have time for picking lunch-take a sandwich,chicken breast and some veggies,if you cant get to lunch until 4,have healthy snacks like greek yogurt cups,apple with almond butter etc.Junk food has to go lady.

Not an expert by any means, but I would recommend eating a relatively even number of calories several times a day (5-6 small meals) and eat as little of the processed stuff as possible.I do realise that this is far easier said than done and, no, I haven't quite mastered this myself, but I've certainly noticed a difference since I worked on making these changes.

Something I've found that's helped my plateau was eating more. I'm at 1600 cals on days I don't workout and can get up to 1800 NET on the days that I do. According to your diary you net anywhere between 900-1300. Try increasing calories (was scary to me at first) for a month and see how your body responds.

This is my current problem - I am scared to....i guess b/c we lost weight at a lower calorie so we don't want to change.

Something I've found that's helped my plateau was eating more. I'm at 1600 cals on days I don't workout and can get up to 1800 NET on the days that I do. According to your diary you net anywhere between 900-1300. Try increasing calories (was scary to me at first) for a month and see how your body responds.

This is my current problem - I am scared to....i guess b/c we lost weight at a lower calorie so we don't want to change.

^ This is true. Even on days when I'm exercising I'm loath to eat more. But I end up having to because I end up being more hungry.

DO NOT AND I REPEAT DO NOT GIVE UP ON YOURSELF U ARE WORTH IT..... Do beat yourself up everyday over weight .. getting up at 5 am isnt for nothing even tho u cant see it its working ) put that scale away and always remeber this is your life yoyr body your health ... YOU ARE WORTH IT )))))))))))

^^^THIS^^^ Very smart woman here!