As in how many times during your weight loss journey did you have to switch your diet/exercise plan because you hit a plateau? What did you try differently? Did it help in the long run?
Up until now my weight loss has been pretty steady. I work out a lot, nurse, walk everywhere and do mostly a whole foods diet (no sugar or artificial sweeteners, no juice, make much of my food from scratch, eat mostly just whole grains, no fried foods, lots of veggies/fruit etc). I haven't seen any weight loss for over two weeks now, which isn't a huge amount of time but my weight has been fluctuating like crazy on the scale every morning (it used to be steadily decreasing if only .2 lbs or staying the same). I do need to get new batteries for it so that could be part of the problem but still I don't want to use that as an excuse. Also one of those weeks was my TOM but afterwards I ALWAYS see a drop and this time I didn't.
I tracked my calories this past week most of the days and I noticed I'm eating too much bread (my carb/protein/fat distribution looked fine but I don't think I wasn't eating enough good carbs, you know what I mean?). So I'm thinking of starting the s. beach diet but to still eat fruit maybe once a day. I don't feel like I am gaining weight (my measurements are the same if not a tiny bit smaller) but I'm definitely not losing like I was. I'm pretty frustrated at this point and I can tell that a lot of feelings of this is hopeless and what's the point of not eating sugar if I'm not losing? are creeping up. It's especially annoying because I just moved from 4lb to 10 lb weights this week for when I do exercise videos so I was really hoping for a loss! There has been a lot of stress because we're planning an international move and the whole family has been sick including myself (just a cold so I'm still working out but DH and DD were a lot worse so I had to take care of them).
Any advice would be appreciated because I don't want these feelings to pull me off track!!!!!
Snap! Your question hits me right on the day I've decided to change things, just a little.
The change for me is that I'm going to try calorie shifting (zig-zagging) for a few weeks.
Now I know, I know that if I eat 9,800 calories a week, it really doesn't matter how I split them up. However, after 22 weeks I'm just getting a bit unfocussed, a bit stale and, like yourself sneaking in too many of the wrong carbs. I eat the right number of carbs and cals but I'm starting to get to the 'what can I eat and still get away with it' stage, which annoys me.
So my answer would be - I think small change-ups that help re-focus are great. I'm certainly a lot more excited about dieting today because I've got to diddle and fiddle and compute a bit to hit today's target, which I didn't have to do yesterday.
However, I would suggest just small change-ups, and Not swerving from Plan to Plan.
Snap! Your question hits me right on the day I've decided to change things, just a little.
The change for me is that I'm going to try calorie shifting (zig-zagging) for a few weeks.
Now I know, I know that if I eat 9,800 calories a week, it really doesn't matter how I split them up. However, after 22 weeks I'm just getting a bit unfocussed, a bit stale and, like yourself sneaking in too many of the wrong carbs. I eat the right number of carbs and cals but I'm starting to get to the 'what can I eat and still get away with it' stage, which annoys me.
So my answer would be - I think small change-ups that help re-focus are great. I'm certainly a lot more excited about dieting today because I've got to diddle and fiddle and compute a bit to hit today's target, which I didn't have to do yesterday.
However, I would suggest just small change-ups, and Not swerving from Plan to Plan.
Good luck!
Good luck with switching up your calories! I hope that works well for you!
That's a good point about not switching up things too much. I think I'm fairly close to the South Beach diet but bread has been sneaking in too much in my diet. I think what you said about being unfocused is really it. Maybe I'm getting to used to the whole dieting thing and becoming a bit sloppy with it. I also feel more excited about it today just from avoiding bread this morning! I just hope I see some nice results soon!
My problem is generally switching things up too much. I don't ever give it enough time to work and am generally wondering which of the last five things I did was the reason for the sudden improvement in loss.
I keep thing fresh with the diet quite easily. I'm constantly improving it and tweaking it. I love to remove things from my diet (sweets, milk, HFCS, processed junk) and I love to add things. Every month I'm trying something new and that makes this very exciting.
I also love to change things up at the gym. I was really good about that over the summer when I had more time. Now it's pretty much the same cardio three days a week but I still change up the lifting.
I don't switch things up so much as things sort of evolve. I started with using a lot of frozen dinners for lunch. Bit by bit, I have weeded those out and bring food that I cooked for lunches. (Though, I still have a frozen meal on occassion.) I started adding in a serving a veggies a day and now I eat like six servings or more on a good day.
I keep trying new veggies to find ones I like. I have been playing around with Tofu a little. As I find recipes I like, I add them to my portfolio. I read a lot about what other people do and other diets and try to incorporate ideas into my diet.
I do switch my strength training routine every 6 - 8 weeks. The trainer at the gym gives me a new routine.
What do you do for exercise? Strength training is great and so are intervals of whatever - if you walk or bike or whatever - do intervals.
What do you do for exercise? Strength training is great and so are intervals of whatever - if you walk or bike or whatever - do intervals.
I run about 2-3x per week (it used to be more but due to DD and DH being sick and also bad weather I haven't had a chance to get out as much). The other days I do a Biggest loser video or two (so sometimes level 1 and level 2 of the 30 Day Shred or Level 1 with the Last Chance workout DVD). ETA: I also switched from 4 lb weights to 10 lb weights this week to try and switch things up a bit.
I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who feels the need to switch things up a bit. Please keep sharing your experience, it's been great motivation for me!
Last edited by runningfromfat; 10-25-2010 at 04:56 PM.
I just wanted to update. Going to Phase I seems to have helped. I'm not finally consistently back to 210 (granted I also changed the batteries in the scale so that might be why ). But bread is definitely a weekness and I keep staring at it longingly (DH and DD still eat it so it's right there in the house. I'm just hoping I can keep this up!
I switch the foods I eat, but stay at the same calories. Like when I first started watching what I ate 6 months ago, I ate a TON of salad. Putting grilled chicken in it. Ate mostly salad and chicken actually. Later on, I added turkey, then got away from salad and went to steamed veggies. Along the way, I added in peanut butter and 1 slice of whole grain, low calorie bread. Also eating more fruits than I had been. Right now, I discovered oatmeal, with natural pb added and a touch of honey, omg good...from a post on here. So, I mainly just start adding more foods that I'll eat. Makes it not so boring to eat.
How often do you/did you switch things up?
I think what you said about being unfocused is really it. Maybe I'm getting to used to the whole dieting thing and becoming a bit sloppy with it. I also feel more excited about it today just from avoiding bread this morning! 
I just hope I see some nice results soon!
I don't ever give it enough time to work and am generally wondering which of the last five things I did was the reason for the sudden improvement in loss. 
). But bread is definitely a weekness and I keep staring at it longingly (DH and DD still eat it so it's right there in the house. I'm just hoping I can keep this up!
