Aaarrrgghhhh Stupid Plateau!!!

nickyjl81
nickyjl81 Posts: 66
in Health and Weight Loss
I thought I'd finally broken my 172lbs plateau when I dipped down to 171.25 yesterday but back up to 172lbs today. I know it could be water weight and I feel a little bloated but I am sooooo frustrated.

I lost 11lbs without any exercise at all then three weeks ago I joined the gym. I now exercise 6 days a week and burn 400-600 cals per workout. My BMR is around 1500 and TDEE around 2200. I've been netting around 1300-1500.

Where am I going wrong?

Replies

  • RoseThePenguin
    RoseThePenguin Posts: 100 Member
    Remember that weight loss doesn't happen over night. I was stuck for three weeks as well but then I took a while week of not exercising and dropped 2lbs.

    Remember to let your body rest every now and again.
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
    You should eat more. I would suggest to get more protein in your diet for sure. Going to the gym (even doing cardio), will require more protein in a diet.

    A rule of thumb is to eat TDEE - 20 to 30%. You are eating WAY less than that.
  • nickyjl81
    nickyjl81 Posts: 66
    Its my own fault for weighing every single day. I just can't help myself!

    I think I'd addicted to the gym now, if I didn't go for a week I'd freak out!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,024 Member
    So a plateau is 6 weeks or more of no weight movement while being consistent on diet and exercise. Anything less is a stall. I wouldn't even say you're at a stall. Your body is adjusting to a new exercise regimen and retaining water. You just need to stay consistent at it and it will move again.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • alexis831
    alexis831 Posts: 469 Member
    Sit it out kiddo... you might be gaining some serious muscle. Do yourself a favor now. Throw the scale out, only check 1x a week if that, start using the measuring tape and invest in a body fat tester and use the mirror too! I went 3-4 weeks with no weight change, I actually went up 2-3 pounds however I lost body fat and overall around 2 inches. So I knew I wasn't in a plateau. But it took me pounding my head against the wall like you to figure that out. You are doing everything right. Don’t change a thing and ride it out. Also make sure you are doing 3 days of cardio and 3 days of weights. That will always help.
  • nickyjl81
    nickyjl81 Posts: 66
    Thanks for the advice. There's no way in hell I'm giving up, I have turned from an absolute gym phobic into a gym addict so I'll definitely stick at it.

    I know I'm losing some inches, I'd be interested in seeing what my body fat is. I'm trying to build more weights into my workouts, I usually do my cardio then go and do 10 minutes of weights but I know I need to to do more.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    Its my own fault for weighing every single day. I just can't help myself!

    I think I'd addicted to the gym now, if I didn't go for a week I'd freak out!

    I weigh every day too. I have a fitbit aria scale so it logs it every day too (on fitbit's website). This isn't a problem as long as you know your weight fluctuates. Remember that you are interested in long term TRENDS not a single measurement. Log your weights every day for a couple of weeks, then plot them (date vs weight) and see if the trends goes down, up, or flat. That is what you are most interested in. Chances are, you are making good progress, but you are letting your daily measurements confuse you!
  • MrsBailey149
    MrsBailey149 Posts: 248 Member
    I weigh every day too. I have a fitbit aria scale so it logs it every day too (on fitbit's website). This isn't a problem as long as you know your weight fluctuates. Remember that you are interested in long term TRENDS not a single measurement. Log your weights every day for a couple of weeks, then plot them (date vs weight) and see if the trends goes down, up, or flat. That is what you are most interested in. Chances are, you are making good progress, but you are letting your daily measurements confuse you!
    [/quote]


    How do you like that scale? I have a fitbit but just a regular scale. Does the fitbit scale do body fat, and if so, do you believe it is accurate?
  • MrsBailey149
    MrsBailey149 Posts: 248 Member
    Sorry, I apparently don't know how to "quote" yet.
  • alexis831
    alexis831 Posts: 469 Member
    Thanks for the advice. There's no way in hell I'm giving up, I have turned from an absolute gym phobic into a gym addict so I'll definitely stick at it.

    I know I'm losing some inches, I'd be interested in seeing what my body fat is. I'm trying to build more weights into my workouts, I usually do my cardio then go and do 10 minutes of weights but I know I need to to do more.

    Good if you already know you are loosing inches then don't worry about the scale! You are doing everything right. Your gym should have a tester that you can use for free or e-bay. Mine was 25.00 and it does a good job, have had it for 5 or 6 years now.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    How do you like that scale? I have a fitbit but just a regular scale. Does the fitbit scale do body fat, and if so, do you believe it is accurate?

    I like the fact that it logs the data on the website automatically for me. It was always hard for me to remember the numbers until I got to my computer an hour later! It does do body fat % and seems to be as accurate as any other bioelectrical impedance analysis scale I have used. It replaced a Tanita Ironman which provided a lot more data, but mostly useless stuff other than a cool factor. I didn't notice them being any different really.

    Oh, and you quote things by hitting the quote button under the post or you can use the ["leftbracket"quote"rightbracket"]the quote text goes here["leftbracket"/quote"rightbracket"] tags
  • Lady_Bane
    Lady_Bane Posts: 720 Member
    Took me 6 weeks to break mine.
  • Bellefay
    Bellefay Posts: 13 Member
    Took me 6 weeks to break mine.
    wow I have been at the same weight for just over 4 weeks now. I have been racking my brains as to why. Checking my food intake, making sure I dont over eat. I even stick to my 1200 cals on no exercise days nothing. I hv slighted increased my calories since Sunday with more carbohydrates. But was told by a friend I must ensure I eat the right carbs or the slow digesting ones. Anyway, thanks for the info, i will continue exercising 4/5 times a week and burning 800 -1000 cals. See if there are any changes.
    :wink:
  • Christi6604
    Christi6604 Posts: 247 Member
    This article helped me break mine: http://fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.com/2011/05/most-dreaded-word-in-weight-loss.html

    Good luck!

Categories