Hey all,
I just hit my first weightloss plateau after 4 weeks, and I am realizing that I messed up- I think I dropped my calorie intake way too fast when I started, and slowed my metabolism (I was eating 1200-1500 calories a day and exercising for over an hour, when I used to consume around 2,500-3,000 calories and not exercise). I have read about breaking plateaus, and right now I have had a 3 day span of raising my caloric intake to hopefully shake things up a bit, and get my metabolism back up to speed. however, I stumbled upon a few articles on calorie cycling and I was wondering if anyone has tried it?? It's supposed to eliminate plateaus and keep metabolisms at a max burning rate. From what I understand, you drop your calorie intake by 500 for a few days, and then bump it up for one or two by 500 calories. One verson of it boasts losing 9 lbs in 11 days, which seems very extreme- but if it eliminates plateaus like it claims, it could be a good thing. Any insight/experience with it?

It sounds interesting but I think that might be premature in your case. If you have only been on a diet for four weeks your body is adjusting to your weight lose. I was on a plateau for four weeks before suddenly one day I was peeing like crazy and I lost another 6 lbs. Now, I note my weigh-in and just keep doing what I have been doing.

I would suggest that you 1)keep track of all of your food intake---even the nibbles, the sips, the spoonsfuls.Yes, those are calories too. That might account for one pound over a week's time.
2)are you weighing and measuring everything or following the labels for the suggested serving size. That can be an eye-opener. Most prepared packaged products (say that three times) have 2 or more servings!! If you eat the whole thing you probably ate more than you thought.
3)I have heard that drinking more water will flush out any water retention you might have.
4) Don't give up. You didn't gain this weight over night and you aren't going to lose it over night. As I am sure you have been told before, the closer you are to your goal weight, the slower it comes off.
5) Increase your exercise if it's not too challenging.
6) Eat healthy-starving will have a rebound effect. You will end up binging.

Losing weight is a steady process.

Good luck