Plateau Help!
 

So I'm not sure what is going on, but I think that I've hit a plateau. It is driving me insane! I've switched up my workout routine and I have for about a week now, but I haven't lost ANY. I don't know what to do. I'm not sure if I'm eating enough or eating too little. I use myfitnesspal and I normally stay under 1500 (what I'm supposed to eat each day) but my net is a lot less because of exercise and I've read some stuff that says your net should equal about what you're supposed to eat. I'm not sure that I should do that. I'm afraid that it'll make me gain or something! I just need help and advice. :(

I've had 2 weight loss plateaus on my journey. Dreaded, but inevitable. Both times I broke them by calorie cycling or zig zagging. This is the plan. Add up 5 days of calories. So if you have 1500 calories a day that would be 6000 calories. Start with a low day (say 1000 calories) then the next day do a high calorie day (say 2200) then a low calorie, then a high calorie than a low calorie)
All 5 days should total 6000 calories.

I was on a plateau for more than a month. I stayed on plan, I exercised, I walked, but the scale would not budge! I did the calorie zig zag (which worked amazing the first time I did it in November...dropped 6 pounds!) but this time the 6th day I gained a pound! ARGH!! however the next day I dropped 3, and 2 days later I dropped 2 more. : ) So it did word! And I'm still losing. It got me off the plateau for sure.

Good luck to you. Remember, sometimes our bodies just need to readjust to the new weight. Give yourself some grace! This is a marathon, not a sprint.

HAPPY EASTER TO YOU!

Remember when you are using a calorie counting website that they ask you if you want to lose 1 or 2 pounds a week. So if it gives you 1500, that should be the amount of calories you eat period, even if you burn 200, at the end of the day you should have consumed 1500, not 1300.

Zig zagging does work. It's also called calorie cycling.

I didn't even know what calorie cycling was until now. Weird, but I'll defs keep this in mind when I hit the inevitable plateau!

Double check to make sure you're at a deficit. If you are, it's just water retention. It will flush out eventually. Keep it up.

Thanks guys! I'm really hoping its water retention! It can be sooo frustrating. I've been weighing a lot earlier than normal, so I'm hoping that's part of it. I get to weigh at my normal time tomorrow so we'll see if it goes down any.

IMO, you should NEVER go below 1500 net calories.

I think I explained this on another thread a while ago, but i'll go for it again. :) I love myfitnesspal, and I swear by it, but I think that it's calorie recommendations are sometimes too low. I feel like myfitnesspal uses your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) to give you your calorie recommendations. Your BMR is the amount of calories your body needs just to function if you were to stay in bed all day - aka the calories your body needs to complete basic functions like breathe, blink, digest food, grow hair, repair cells etc. So as you can imagine, your regular life in addition to exercise increases your body's caloric needs.

I don't know if you have MFP set to 1 lb a week or 2 lbs a week, but personally, when I first started dieting, I had myfitnesspal set to the 1 lb per week, but I was actually losing about 1.5 lbs per week. Now that i'm at a normal BMI, it's slowed down, but for a while there, I was losing weight faster than MFP said I would.

I think any guide that has you eatng below 1500-1700 calories a day is too restrictive, which is why I am very against the 2 lbs per week on MFP. If you're eating below 1500-1700, your body is most likely in starvation mode, and instead of losing weight, your body will just hold onto any calories it receives.

If you've been netting below 1500 for a while, it's possible that increasing your caloric intake may backfire at first but in the long run, it will help you lose weight more efficiently.

Let me know if you give it a try. I hope this helps! :)

I plateaued for an entire month (hovering between 188-187)... And after being miserable for the first two weeks, I decided to enjoy it. I ate what I wanted (within moderation). Eventually the scale went down on its own (185) & that prompted me to go full force on everything again. Food for thought :-) Either way, I hope you're able to bounce back soon!