Plateau :(
 

Hi everyone, I'm new here but I've been on my weight loss journey for a while. I've lost 45 pounds so far and I've been stuck at the same weight now with about 10 pounds left to go. My typical food intake for a day would be a nonfat latte, oatmeal with blueberries, a banana, salad with chicken, an apple, and either healthy cereal with milk or a smoothie for dinner. I go to the gym 3-4 days a week and do at least 30 mins of various cardio, usually trying to do intervals. I also go to kickboxing classes twice a week. I try to drink at least 10 cups of water a day too and don't know why I can't lose any more weight! The only problem I know I have is trying to still eat healthy when I'm out at restaurants but I don't think one meal a week should be sabotaging all of the hard work I've been doing. If anyone has any suggestions for anything else I can try or anything I can change I'd really appreciate the advice. :) Thanks!

The only thing that stands out is that your diet appears to be very carb heavy. Lowering carbs and increasing proteins and fats might help you.

Oh and add in strength training! Lastly, are you sure you need to lose 10 more pounds?

Thanks for responding :) I don't know that I definitely need to lose 10 more pounds, but I would like to. I'm 5'6 and currently 135 pounds. I guess I just have been keeping a lot of carbs in because I want to make sure that I have enough energy when I'm working out in the evenings :/

You mention that you typically work out in the evenings -- this has been something I progressively came into doing myself, and I wonder if it hasn't been the cause of my plateau/slow 5-10 lb regain.

I know so many people would balk at the idea of doing this, but would it be possible for you to do a cardio session (like running or biking) before you eat breakfast? Because you mention that you've already lost 45 pounds doing your gym routine, your body has probably become accustomed to the routine, and no longer uses as many calories doing it. I'm just changing the timing with my usual 1 hour/day cardio schedule, and although it's only been like 3 sessions so far, I do think it's helping. The other thing, too, is that you're likely just burning the calories you ate earlier in the day when you workout in the evenings, rather than your own body fat. This is the main reason why working out in the morning is so effective.

The other, possibly more palatable, suggestion is that you spend more time on cardio. Even with the kickboxing classes, 30 minutes 3-4 days a week will cease to be effective once you're in good shape, which it sounds like you are :)

So it's kind of a good thing, maybe, to be plateau'ing: it means your body must be more fit and efficient!

Agreed, on all counts!!! Carbs bloat me up like a blimp.

5'6" and 135 and a cardio queen. The idea of high carbs for energy is a myth. Proteins and fat give it to you too, just a slower release, but what you really need is just to build muscle and lean out instead of relying on cardio for all that burn. You may find you just need to reshape your body, not drop more weight. Mix in strength training with cardio. I think you'll see big improvements.

Yes, this!!! Cardio burns energy in the moment. If you build muscle, you turn your body into an oven. Then you burn it all the time!

I think the following changes could help:

more veggies (I advise 10 f/v per day minimum)
healthy fats (3 servings/day)
more protein
less starches
incorporating low impact cardio 3x/week
interval cardio 2x/week max
weight training 3x/week