Plateauing at 264
 

Hi everyone. I'm Brandon. I'm new here obviously but I'm having a bit of trouble breaking past the 264lb mark. I started at 337 lbs last September and have been doing great up until about 2 weeks ago. I haven't really been doing anything differently though. I work out twice a day and keep my calorie count relatively low (enough to lose weight) but I've been stuck at 264 no matter what I do.

Any tips? Why haven't I been able to break past this mark? My mini-goal is to be at 237 by September 24th and it's been incredibly frustrating. I am less and less motivated every day I don't see any improvement.

Define "relatively low"?

What does your activity level look like?

I try and take in < 2000 calories a day and burn anywhere from 600 to 900 calories a day at the gym. I do 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes at night on the Stairmaster.

Stairmaster is what I do at the gym.

I believe you are over estimating how much you are burning at the gym. 40 minutes total is *very most likely* NOT burning 900 calories.

How are you counting your calories? Are you freehanding it, using an app, a website? Are you weighing/measuring everything you eat? Recording every bite you take?

All that aside, I'd recommend incorporating weight training into your workout time. Instead of doing the StairMaster twice a day, do it once and do weight training the other at least a few times a week. You won't regret it.

Great job losing what you have! You have lost a lot of weight so far!

If you're accurate with your caloric intake than you'll have no problem hitting your goal. Two weeks of weight loss stall is just water retention.

Also - I agree you should stop wasting your time on the stairmaster and instead start working out with weights. I'd suggest you look into starting strength.

Thanks for the tips, guys!

I will absolutely add weight training into my routine now.

John, why is it you say I should drop the Stairmaster altogether?

Well, sometimes I do 60 minutes at the gym, that's where the 900 calories comes from. But I dont do this all the time. It's usually in the 600 cal range.

I do 20 minutes at level 8 on the Stairmaster which burns about 333 calories. I do this twice a day.

Don't believe what the machine tells you. They *WAY* overestimate. If you want a more accurate estimation, consider buying a heart rate monitor. They are also just estimates, but more accurate and for me, really motivating.

If you have time to do cardio and lift weights than do both.

Carido does almost nothing for fat loss except it burns some calories. Cardio is good for building endurance if that is what you're after.

Weight lifting burns calories too but it also does a lot for burning fat and building muscle. You're in a unique spot as a fat beginner in that you can lose fat and build muscle at the same time so take advantage of it.

Diet is JUST as important as exercise as well--what have you been eating daily on average??? Do you know what your fat and carb. intake for EACH day is ? Food journals can be really tedious and annoying but they REALLY work. I record Calories, Fat, Carbs.....Too much of ANY one of these things can cause a gain or LOooooNG plateau.

So I lost 3 lbs since yesterday adding in weight training and an extra 10 mile bike ride. Finally broke the 264 barrier!!! Thanks for all the awesome tips! Can't wait to burn some more fat today!

MOLE: I actually dont really pay much attention to fat or carbs in the food I eat, just basically the calories (which I average anywhere from 300-550 per meal and I eat 3 meals a day, no snacks.) I have been using the Lose-It app on my phone since I started my weight loss which works great (I scan the barcode on my food and it automatically records all the stats.) I log all food I consume and every workout in the app.

CONGRATS on breaking your plateau!!!! That is WONDERFUL news!!! I try NOT to let the NUMBERS of fat, carbs, calories OR the scale RULE my world--by I do pay attention to them ALL!!! Last night I had a 6oz. Lean cut sirloin steak with Brocolli and cheese(low fat shredded sharp cheddar). Because the cut of meat was LEAN the ONLY reason it had 11 grams of fat. One HUGE mistake I used to make was NOT checking my cuts of meat, OR checking and reading labels--while one steak has 11 fat another cut can have up to 60 fat for just a SMALL 6oz. steak! Just read your labels be concious of fat--your gonna do great!!! And CONGRATS AGAIN!!

Boom. I can't thank you guys enough for the tips. By this time tomorrow, I'll have smashed through the 260lb wall and I will weigh less than I did a year after I graduated High School (5 years ago!) And then 3 more pounds after that and I'll have lost 80. Holy ****.

:carrot: That's awesome!!!