I started my life style change in May of 2005. I seem to have hit this LONG plateau and it is driving me nuts. I have been working out just as much as I ever had but the scale has not moved for about three months. I was losing 1 to 2 pounds a week and now NOTHING! I do use weight machines and I understand that you can build muscle and lose fat and that the muscle weighs more than fat. But how can you lose exactly as much fat as you gain muscle? Also...I have been taking my measurements about once a month for about six months. Those numbers do not seem to be moving either. This I find odd since I am going down in clothing sizes. I must be doing something wrong with the measuring! Anyone had this experience before or knows what is going on? I’m happy that I am fitting into smaller clothes but frustrated about not seeing any smaller numbers on the scale! I really want to my vacation weight loss goal! (See my signature) I am thinking that maybe I am not eating enough. Sometimes when I am working out I feel sort of faint like I need to eat something. There have been times where I actually have to cut my workout short because I am really hungry and don’t feel like I can make it. But this has only happened a couple of times and I don’t want to up my calories if that’s not the problem. Any advice or suggestions???
In the morning I usually have cereal with skim milk or a bagel. Then I have one to two snacks between breakfast and lunch. This can be a cup of fruit, jello, or yogurt... Lunch is usually a Smart Ones or a Lean Cuisine. Dinner is usually something like green beans, corn on the cob and some kind of meat...pork chop or chicken. I drink water all during the day.
Today I have had a bagel for breakfast, then a cup of fruit. I am on my 4th bottle of water. I had a Lean Cuisine for lunch and that’s been it so far for the day. And I am hungry!!! My tummy is growling so I will probably eat my jello soon!
Sometimes, timing can help with that dizzy or weak feeling while working out. I feel weak or dizzy when my blood sugar gets too low, so I space out when I eat at regular intervals -- say, breakfast at 8, snack at 10, lunch at 12, snack at 3, etc. You said you eat an afternoon snack; if you workout in the late afternoon/early evening, you may want to try moving your afternoon snack closer to your workout time.
Also, and this is a big point: as you lose weight, your body needs fewer calories to support itself. I'm not suggesting that you starve yourself, but noting that the same amount of calories that caused you to lose weight when you actually weighed more may be sufficient for maintenance, not weight loss, now that you weigh less.
For example, in the Weight Watchers point system, a person who weighs 200-224 pounds gets 26 points a day, while a person who weights 175-199 pounds get 24 points a day. That's because a person who weights 200-224 pounds needs more energy to maintain that weight than a lighter person does.
So, in summary, you may be eating what it takes to maintain, not lose, at your current weight level. Alternatively, or in conjunction, you can increase either the intensity or the duration of your workout.
Now, I'm not a dietician, but I have lost 30 pounds in the last couple of years, and kept off 25. Like you, I hit a plateau after about 30, and then I started to back-slide a bit with my bad eating habits, but I always find that, when I go back to counting points (and therefore monitoring my caloric and fat intake), I lose weight. We're often not even aware of the dietary cost of some of the things we eat, and there are often little ways to cut fat and calories from your diet.
I workout at lunch time, so I workout from about noon to 1, then I eat my lunch. I try to eat my breakfast and at least one snack before I go work out, sometime I get in two snacks before I workout.
There are two possibilities; one is that you have reached equilibrium with your food intake and calorie expenditure. If that is the case, you will have to try and cut down the calories. Or you could be in starvation mode, which many of us go through. In fact I just go out of a plateau last couple weeks. A lady at work suggested increasing my calories on day 1 and cutting back a little on day 2 and then on day 3 cut back a lot. Repeat if necessary. I did this six days and they average out to be my regular calories intake. But it did shock my system out of the plateau mode.
Also, if you're doing the same workout every day, your body has probably adjusted that, too. I'd suggest changing up your workout and your foods.
When I look at what you're eating, I don't see very much protein, but a lot of processed foods with a high sodium content. Instead of snacking on jello and stuff like that, you might try snacking on hardboiled eggs or egg whites. How about taking a salad with grilled chicken for lunch instead of a processed meal?
Silversparkle you sound like you are going through what I went through last year. I was and still am counting calories, being very careful on what I ate and working out 3 x a week and had not lost one single pound for 5 months. Fast forward to this year and I went to my trainer at the gym to make a new plan for this year. As part of the service at the gym, I had my body fat % measured and was astounded to find that I had lost 12 lbs of fat and gained 6lbs of muscle. I hadn't been failing, or not losing anymore I had been burning fat and making muscle. This made me feel so much more encouraged than anything else could have. From April 2005 to Jan 2006 I had lost 5% of my body fat.
Are you a member of a gym and if so, does the gym offer the service of measuring your body fat %? It might be an idea to get that done every 4 months or so. Your scales might tell you that you are not losing weight but you actually are if you get what I am trying to say.
I don't listen to my scales so much anymore.
Your medication might be affecting your plateau also, I really don't know much about that but I really would recommend the body fat % tracking.
Silversparkle you sound like you are going through what I went through last year. I was and still am counting calories, being very careful on what I ate and working out 3 x a week and had not lost one single pound for 5 months. Fast forward to this year and I went to my trainer at the gym to make a new plan for this year. As part of the service at the gym, I had my body fat % measured and was astounded to find that I had lost 12 lbs of fat and gained 6lbs of muscle. I hadn't been failing, or not losing anymore I had been burning fat and making muscle. This made me feel so much more encouraged than anything else could have. From April 2005 to Jan 2006 I had lost 5% of my body fat.
Are you a member of a gym and if so, does the gym offer the service of measuring your body fat %? It might be an idea to get that done every 4 months or so. Your scales might tell you that you are not losing weight but you actually are if you get what I am trying to say.
I don't listen to my scales so much anymore.
Your medication might be affecting your plateau also, I really don't know much about that but I really would recommend the body fat % tracking.
Good luck!
Interesting! I actually workout at a University and they can measure body fat. I have not had this done because I would feel embarrassed to have someone to this to me! When the scale was not moving for you did you notice any other changes, like clothing sizes? I am not on any medication so that is not causing any weirdness. Thanks for sharing this information. I really want to see some numbers on the scale drop. Guess I will just have to keep at it and hope I break through this!
When the scale was not moving for you did you notice any other changes, like clothing sizes?
Yes ma'am I did! This was driving me up a tree! I had lost two dress sizes, two and yet my scales were saying very little loss if any. I knew I was losing I just couldn't figure out what was going on. My trainer was super pleased too and I can't tell you how happy and relieved I felt.
The scales, they lie sometimes. Evil little things .
Edit: btw have you checked out that amazing picture of fat vs muscle? I think there might be a sticky of it in the Ladies Who Lift forum. It shows you 5lb of fat compared to 5lb of muscle, you can see the difference. It made a lot of sense to me.
I'd try a couple things. 1st, try changing up your workout routine. Maybe take an aerobics class or something, just for a change. I noticed recently that workouts that used to make me sweat a year ago are a breeze now. Fine for maintaining my weight, but I have to do a bit more now that I am in better shape. I agree that perhaps you need to change up your diet a bit. Have a salad with chicken on it for lunch once in a while, maybe some baby carrots or celery and PB for a snack instead of the processed stuff. Heck, even a sandwich can be really good for you if you put good stuff in it.
Good luck!
am just coming out of the same thing, I was at the same # for three months, but could actually feel my bottom shrinking. I was thinking of coming here for the same advice right before I broke on through. I did it by upping my workout time and frequency for a week. I got in a 1.5 hour walk every day and added 20 minutes on the eliptical and 20 minutes of weights, 3x in one week. Four pounds melted off. I'm now figuring out what changes I need to make and can maintain for the next batch of weight loss.
Of course you're hungry. You've eaten mostly carbs which tend to burn up quickly and leave you famished. I personally think you should add more protein and healthy fat to your diet. Try eating something like half a ww bagel and a scrambled egg with an egg white and some low fat cheese. Protein builds muscle and muscle is your friend. Just this little "switch up" alone might snap your body into shedding some lbs.
Measuring can be as tricky as the scale because as your body changes it's hard to hold the tape in the same place. I never could measure for beans. I go by the scale and clothes sizes. And not "new clothes" in smaller sizes (sizes vary and a lot of store do "vanity sizing" where clothes are marked smaller than they are so we keep buying). Keep trying on the same pair of pants over and over again. If they go from tight, to fitting good, to loose, to falling off I don't care what the scale says, you're making progress. I keep pants like this just for trying on and I wash them occasionally so I can wash out any "stretch" from trying them.
Can someone PLEASE explain this to me!
Plateau?
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