Frustrating plateau for over a month

[napalmtree]

Short version: despite my best efforts, I've hit a plateau and it's been going on for about a month and a half now. I haven't lost any weight, inches, or body fat. If you've been through a plateau, how did you overcome it? What should I do?

Long version:

I have not lost a single pound, percentage of body fat, or inch off of anywhere on my body...in almost one and a half months.

I started losing weight last January, and have gone from 200ibs to 140. I've been stuck at 139.8 since the end of Sept.

I almost never remembered to write down what I ate, or count my calories. I simply went by these rules: no candy, no processed foods, no fried foods, nothing with flour, no added sugar, one fruit a day, minimum 6 non-starchy veggies a day, and don't drink my calories.

I will say that the few weeks I did count my calories, though, I was consistently eating around 1000 calories a day, give or take 100 calories. And I overestimate my calorie intake to ensure I don't goof up. My diet journal shows this trend in the months of January, May, and August (though there were only like 3 days in August I remembered to record what I ate). I pretty much always eat the same foods, too.

As for exercise, well, I always did three days of strength training. I started out with 30min a day of cardio 5x a week, and worked my way up to an hour a day by July-ish.

I've always mixed up my workouts, too. I started doing P90x (plus some of my own stuff) at the beginning of Sept. In mid-October I began doing 20 minute high-intensity running intervals on my three non-strength training days. I reduced my 'regular' cardio by 20 minutes on interval days so I wouldn't over-train, and did the 40 extra minutes on my stationary bike instead of running.

When I realized I didn't lose -anything- during October, I began writing down everything I ate again, and purposefully eating 1,600 calories a day. I've always been skeptical about 'starvation mode,' because people starve to death all the time, and anorexic girls drop weight quickly. Still, I figured I was probably wrong, so I should try. I continued my exercise as usual, but made an effort to eat exactly 1,600 calories.

Nope. Not a single inch, pound or b.f. % lost. Not even an ounce. I've been at 139.8 pounds, 28.3% b.f. and measurements of 36,31.1,40 for 8 days now. I haven't even seen an expected water weight fluctuation!

What do I do? I wish I had been cheating on my diet and exercise, because that would make me feel better about this! I've been so good about eating right and exercising, and changing up my exercise. Nothing is working.

Thank you for any and all help/advice. I really need to hear from other people who've had plateaus and broken through them, and how they did it, because I am close to just giving up. I don't want to give up.

[Arianwen]

Are you still only eating 1000 calories per day? I'm not sure that is enough for your activity level etc? Try adding in a few extra calories equal to what you burn off exercising?

[Rana]

Have you taken a week where you take a break?

And you eat maintain-weight calories and you don't exercise?

And if so, what were the results of that week? (did you stay the same weight?)

[Koshka]

This is a very long article that I have found helpful on this issue. While it has a lot that is WW related there is a lot that is relevant to any type of weight loss.

http://www.freewebs.com/goingskiing/...tsthoughts.htm

I will say that as you get closer to goal weight it is harder and harder to lose weight. Where you would have lost weight before you don't now. Before, small imperfections in eating or exercise might slightly slow loss but wouldn't end it. Now, they tend to derail it completely. My husband is only 10 pounds away from his goal weight and is finding it very slow going.

[joltyness]

Sometimes, weight loss stagnates for seemingly no reason. Just keep at it. It'll probably be slow going for a little while. Push yourself every time you exercise (especially with strength training... if you do the same exercises all the time, your body may have grown used to them. Maybe try mixing up your strength routine?) and keep a watchful eye on what you eat. If the math adds up, there's no reason why you won't lose weight.

Also going to echo the above poster about your 1,000 cal diet. That's a bit low.

[lin43]

What you're describing is one reason why I haven't weighed myself since I started. I knew I would get frustrated or discouraged if I worked my butt off and lost nothing. So, I focused on behaviors, and I knew/know that if I continue doing the right behaviors, the weight will come off----maybe not on my preferred time schedule, but it will come off.

I also think our bodies tend to have a weight setpoint, i.e., a weight that our body naturally prefers. We can go lower than that, but, again, it may not be at our preferred speed. Be consistent and you will most likely continue to lose.

I know that many will disagree with me, but I do think that going too low for a long period of time can get your body used to a low calorie level and it makes it more difficult for you when you get to maintenance (this is one of the many reasons I chose calorie counting---I wanted to make sure I didn't go too low in my calories). If I were in your situation, I would stay at that 1500-1600 calorie level. As long as that is not your maintenance calorie level, you should still lose, albeit slowly. Going back to 1000, though, will make it that much more difficult when you finally do get to maintenance, IMHO.

[Esofia]

It's an excellent overall food plan (and there is really no need to cut out all grains, not even if you're gluten-intolerant), but what works at 200 may not be enough at 140. I'd stick to counting calories, and check that you're doing it accurately. Could you give us a typical day's food diary, along with the calorie counts? It's very easy to underestimate calorie consumption, even if you're measuring.