Hi, everyone! I'm determined to lose 7 more lbs so I can hit my short-term goal of 140, but I really need some help. I've been on a plateau since June. June! I just ran the numbers, and since then, I've been eating 2,000 calories less a week than when I was 5 lbs heavier (at the start of June I was 152). I'm really worried that I'm not eating enough and that's what has been hindering my weight loss.

Right now I eat around 1500 calories a day of healthy food, making sure I eat a small meal every 3-4 hours. I take a moderately intense -- as in, I'm huffing and puffing and have to take the occasional 30 second water break -- bike ride for 90 minutes 3 days a week. Starting this week, I've also added in a shorter bike ride for 30 minutes 4 days a week, for a total of 7 days a week. The rest of the time, I'm lightly active around the house (although I use the computer a lot!), and I have a part-time summer job where I stand for 4-6 hours at a time. I don't feel like I do loads of activity, which is why I eat 1500 a day.

Does it sound like I'm eating enough? I've checked different websites, but all of them give me a different number, and I'm not sure if I qualify for "lightly active" or "moderately active."

Any advice is greatly appreciated. I'm really sick of being on this plateau!

dear canadia, first let me congratulate you on your results so far!
it is hard to say how many calories you should be eating, we are all different, but if i were you, i would try calorie cycling for a few weeks and see if it helps (it really should). i can't link, but if you google it, you will find a few good websites on the subject. good luck!

i was on a 4 week plateau. I finally upped my avg. calories by 200 per day, and calorie cycled using this calculator as my guide:http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
At the bottom of the blue box there is the 7 day zig zag

It felt really counter intuitive and some days I couldn't eat all the way up to the highest number, but it worked. After not losing for a month, I lost 1.4 pounds.

I'm going to do it this week, too.

Just try it and see. I figured that what I was doing wasn't working, so I was willing to try something new.

quince: Thank you!

seagirl: 200 calories?! That's so scary when you're dieting! But if it helped you, I think I'll try it for at least a week. I mean, the worst that will happen is that I'll stay exactly the same... as I've been for the past month.

Are you going to go back down to your original calorie amount after a few weeks, or are you going to stick with this new number?

I'm going to stick with a 1700 cal avg. with calorie cycling for the next few weeks.

I'm exercising a lot more than I had been, so I think I need the calories.

Thanks for the info. I'm upping both my exercise and my calories, so we'll see how it goes. I'm going to use the zig zag from the website you linked.

Monday 1636
Tuesday 1309
Wednesday 1964
Thursday 1636
Friday 1473
Saturday 1800
Sunday 1636

Along with the zig-zagging calories you should try HIIT (high intensity interval training) which are shorter workouts of 30 minutes, starting with a 5 min warmup, 1 minute of fast biking with 1 minute of slower recovery biking, do these intervals 10 times, then cool down. Do this HIIT every two days.

Have you started weight training yet? I highly recommend that too because as you make muscle, the muscles are much more metabolicaly active and burn calories even when you're resting. Weight training also makes you stronger for your cardio workouts. You should weight trainin on the alternate days when you aren't doing any cardio... you could also do some steady state cardio on those days.

Hope this helps keep us posted on your progress

Ilene: Thanks for the advice! I actually sort of do HITT already, because I'm going up and down steep hills every other minute or so. However, I'm going to increase the amount of time I do this per week. I already managed to do an extra 100 minutes this past week, going from an average of 150 to 250.

As for weight training, I'm moving in about 2 weeks and I'm waiting until then to start up with that, because I don't want to buy any more extra crap. I've heard great things about it though. I'll probably be asking some questions about it once I get started!

I'm trying the zig zagging myself this week, so best of luck to you canadia! I've been on plateau now for over a month, so I feel you.

Thank you, RangerChic! Good luck to you too!

I'm a plateau too!
And yes, I think that calories cycling would definetely be the best thing to do!
I don't think you were eating too little (even if FOR SURE not a lot ... I think plauteau occurs when we stick to a certain amount of calories, it doesn't matter if they are slightly too little or slighty ok.
In my opinion, you are doing quite a lot of activities... okay, maybe you are not training as a professional sportman, but I would say you are between moderatley active and higly active!

Thanks Ilene for the HIIT! I will try it next fall, when I'll probably (maybe maybe... ehhe) join a gym (I'm already doing swimming and fast walking).

Anyway, even if it's been one month I'm on a plauteau... I would say I'm quite happy with it... even proud!
I think that from time to time, at a certain range of weight, our body needs to settle down... which is great, because to me it feels like my body is learning to be at a certain weight... is learning to be thinner! And this also means that I'm REALLY at this weight, is not temporary. I would not gain a pond easily if I eat two more chocolates

I'm glad I'm at this plauteau
Also, I've not been really dieting last month, so I can't complain.

I don't count calories at all, so I can't comment on that question, but, as I have lost, I have just cut another high fat item from my daily intake (I eat very little fat at this point). I'm continuing to lose. When I hit a plateau a month ago, I decided to cut something indulgent (my nighttime "healthy" chococolate chip cookies--replaced with fruit). At this point most of my meals are healthy foods and small (very little fat except nuts, ground flaxseed (on my breakfast), salmon, a little in "lean" ground turkey, the ocassional hot chocolate, and that sort of thing). I'm following superfoods RX and can't say enough good things. I never feel deprived or hungry, eat very substantial meals, and weight loss is continuing.

One thing I will say: during the weeks when my weight loss stalled, I could definitely point to a reduction in the duration, frequency or intensity of my exercise (with frequency being the biggest factor--if I missed 3 workouts per week, then I wouldn't lose).

I consistently lose if I work out 6 days per week--burning approximately 5800 to 6000 calories a week. I know that sounds like a lot, but it works (and I used to be a marathon runner before injury, so it seems normal to me).

I'm rambling but the biggest thing I noticed in your post and wanted to comment on--was the biking. I bike and/or do the elliptical machine or swim--6 or 7 days per week. 4 days I ride for 2 hrs, the other two or three days--I get a combo of 60 min on elliptical or 1 hr 15 min on bike. But the bike is not as good as the elliptical, which is not as good as running. If you can run (and you keep up your eating plan), then the intensity may help you lose more. It's hard to ride a bike with anywhere near the intensity that even a slow run brings. If you hate running, try a walk/run cycle at first.

Good luck!

I'm getting ready to start running again as well, but I'm not going to jump back into head on. I'm going to power walk for the first few weeks or so until I see my weight loss slowing again, then I will increase the duration of my exercise and I will begin to run. Each time you reach a period of no weight loss you have to up your exercise intensity. Good luck and hang in there!!