I've been hovering around 200- sometimes a little higher, sometimes a little lower- for about 2 weeks now. I've been averaging 1400 calories a day with a good amount of fruits, veggies, and protein. My carbs have always been a little high (50-60%)... could that be helping keep me on this plateau? I also work out at least 4 times a week for 40+ minutes of cardio, mixed between bike and treadmill. I'm really starting to get SO frustrated. Does anyone have any advice how I can help myself work through this? I didn't expect to hit a plateau so soon, especially since the first 14 or so pounds just kind of melted off of me.
Maybe you should up your caloric intake a little bit. I don't think 1,400 calories at 200 pounds is a good way to go - where will you go it once you get closer to goal and need to reduce your caloric intake further to bust the plateau?
What does your fat intake look like? Keeping it under 15-20% might make you lose more weight. Also, you should do some weight training exercise and maybe some abs stuff - it may not make you lose WEIGHT, but will definitely help you lose FAT! A lot of people seem to forget that conditioning exercise is a good idea when they're overweight because they think they're too flabby for it to help... WRONG! hehe
Also, stupid as it sounds, sometimes you just have to be patient and stick it out. I've lost 25 pounds and seen one small plateau + one major one happen. If you're eating healthily and working out, your body will look the way you are treating it in time. You can't eat a lowfat/low cal diet and do ample amounts of exercise without seeing SOME kind of result!
PS: up the cardio and maybe find a few other things you like. When you rotate exercise types, your burn more calories because your body hasn't gotten used to it yet.
PPS: try exercising for an hour and 30 minutes each of those 4 days. I know it sounds like a lot (and it is!) but you WILL get results, mmkay?
I'm with glory87 on this one. Also, although you have been averaging 1400 cals, do you have days where you go a lot higher? Sometimes that will cause a stall.
With working out that much, I'd suggest you try to keep your protein higher--say, use this percentage: protein/carb/fat = 30%/40%/30%. If you want to try either lowering or raising your cals, you could--but only make a change of 100 cals at a time, average. Keep at whatever you choose to do for a week at least before you change again--otherwise it becomes a battle of trying to figure out how to "make" your body do what you want, and you won't have a clear picture of what really works for you.
You are not on a plateau, by medical definition, until you have maintained the same weight for 6 weeks. You need to be more patient. Your body needs periods to tighten up and make adjustments for the weight you have lost. Did you gain weight every single week you weren't dieting - probably not. Give yourself time!
Wow, Quilter, I had no idea that you are not on a plateau until you have maintained the same weight for 6 weeks. My "major plateau" was just for about a month, and I thought that was DEVISTATING.
You are not on a plateau, by medical definition, until you have maintained the same weight for 6 weeks. You need to be more patient. Your body needs periods to tighten up and make adjustments for the weight you have lost. Did you gain weight every single week you weren't dieting - probably not. Give yourself time!
Very insightfull info there quilter. We never give it alot of thought as to how much work it may take the body to "tighten" back up. Maybe that's why sometimes, even if you haven't lost much weight in awhile, you can still take measurements and be amazed that you've lost inches.
I know I have not been eating as well as i had been lately and I have got to seriously get back on plan. I'm still losing approx. a pound a week, sometimes it is taking a week and a half to lose a pound, but i think it's because i am being just a little too lineant with my eating lately. But of course, thank goodness, it's not causing the scale to go up any....just dropping a little slower.
I think Quilter is right. That's why I call them "stalls" rather than plateaus if they are of short duration. It's really not uncommon to not lose weight for a week, two weeks, even three weeks... and then drop again.
Thanks everyone, your advice is quite encouraging. I guess it's just hard when I lost so fast at first and now it's slowed down. Doesn't make me want to quit by ANY means, in fact it makes me want to work harder. I was just so excited about Onederland and now I haven't seen it in a few days. Oh well, now that I know it's normal- and I think I knew that, I just needed to hear it- I feel a bit better. I think I might put the scale in the closet for a week or at least a few days so I can start to train myself not to get too caught up in numbers. Thanks all.
Stuck in a rut
hehe
