Hi everyone! I'm new to posting, and it's nice to meet you. I am turning to you for help because I can't seem to find an answer to my question.

I have lost thirty pounds, by watching my portions and exercising. For years I tried different diets, hoping to find the magic one that will shed all of these pounds. It turns out if I just watch what I eat and exercise, it just falls off. Or at least it did...

In the past three weeks or so, I have lost nothing. No pounds, no inches. It's like my body went on strike. I'm guessing this is a plateau. So what I'd like to do is tell you what I eat and my exercise routine, and maybe you can help me to get past this.

They are both the same five days a week.

Breakfast: I serving of cereal (Rainsin Bran or Just Right)
Snack: Piece of fruit
Lunch: One slice of whole wheat toast with peanut butter and 1/2 a glass of milk
Snack: One piece of fruit
Dinner: Small plate of meat, brown rice, and veggies.

Exercise:
30 minute bike ride in afternoon
30 minute power wlak or jog in the evening.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

How many calories a day are you eating? Maybe it's just me but that seems like not much food. Specially your lunches seem tiny! Maybe up them a bit since you are also working out an hour a day.

I have found that I don't need to eat too much. If I have more at lunch, I feel bloated. I don't count my calories, so I'm not really sure how many I have. Should I be eating more? I'd be kinda nervous to, I don't want to put on weight...

i had a plautea for 2 weeks.

i heard a plautea is either your body is getting used to the new weight, and shifting gears to then have a drop soon.
so keep at it. a plautea for a few weeks is nothing to worry about. besides your maintaining the weight you've lost, so that's great news!!

it sounds like you're doing all the right things.

if i may suggest something. which helped me to hit through the barrier.
i pushed myself in my exercise, harder than i've pushed before, i went out of my comfort zone. and REALLY sweated.

and also , i ate very slowly! between each mouthful of food, i took a 1minute break. literally 1 minute. i had a clock infront of me haha.

you will find that you will end up eating slightly less, but still be satisfied.

good luck!

and well done on your 30lb loss, that is totally AWESOME!!

Eating more of healthy food doesn't necessarily mean you are going to gain weight. But just glancing at your food intake it looks like you might be eating less than 1000 calories a day (though I don't know which bread you use, what PB, etc)- which it too little. Eventually your body will refuse to lose anymore (as you see happening).

Try tracking your calories for a day or two (I use sparkpeople.com) and then also try to figure out how much you are burning as well. At minimum you should be eating at least 1200 calories a day. At your weight you should be able to eat 1320 a day and still lose.

Thank you for the reply. Actually, now that you mention it, I have been getting kinda lazy with my exercise. I think I might do that, push myself until I'm sweating buckets.

Cheers!

I know it's a crazy idea to get your head around...but you may need to eat MORE to lose.

you're welcome! glad i could help! good luck! you can do it!!
if you like, you can join us in the exercise thread, and confess each day what exercise you did. i find it very motivational we're a nice bunch too
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/exer...bility-26.html

maybe try adding up your calories for a day and see what you get. that sounds like a small amount of food to me, like id be hungry, and i only eat 1200.

IMO that is way too little food. Your body might have gone starvation mode, and exercising more might only make you sick. You have to recalculate your consumption and eat at least 1200 calories a day, plus compensate for the extra exercise. I am losing about two pounds a week and I eat 1500 to 1600 per day.

I think you have to rethink your diet.

You know I just started reading "Burn the Fat, Feed the muscle" and I highly recommend this. One of its biggest thing is that the reason "popular" diets is that they are based on very low calorie diets. (1200 calories is starvation to your body) It works for a little while and then your body goes...oh wait a sec...stop the presses.....we're not getting enough food! You only need to have a calorie deficit to lose but that deficit shouldn't be more than 20% of your maintenance calories.

This is a hard thing to learn but its important. Over the last few days I have been raising by calories to over 2000 a day and suddenly the scale is starting to move.

Another really great piece of advice is to eat at your maintenance calories for a week or two and then start again. Lets your body relax.

You are exercising 1 hour a day and eating very little protein and a bunch of carbs. Carbs cause bloating in me. Try eating more protein at lunch and breakfast. Your body needs it to repair the small muscle tears that occur when we exercise. Do you feel able to eat this way for the rest of your life? It also looks like you need more veggies at lunch.

Eating the same thing every day could also be slowing down your weigh loss. Not eating a healthy balance of protein/good fats/carbs can slow down your metabolism so it holds on to the fat in your body and burns muscle. For me personally, my weight loss is best at 1400 calories a day high in protein and good fats with only about 25% of my calories coming from carbs. I also do a 1700 calorie day every 4th day to make 100 percent sure my body is getting all the nutrients I need.

i'm doing weight watchers and i have the same thing. i'm doing everything i'm supposed to, staying within my points and i'm stuck at 173. i'm trying everything, it's so frustrating!

It sounds like little food, but you didn't list exact portions for your cereal, peanut butter and dinner, so it could also be too many calories. Changing up your workouts, working out harder and adding weight training can help with plateaus, but you really need to count your calories to make any adjustments because too little or too much can be hurting your progress.

I'm almost the same height and weight as you, so what you weigh now is right at the high end of a healthy weight range.
When we start getting to what is considered a healthy weight is when we really need to tighten up and clean our diet up.

Before when I was over 200 pounds the weight came off much more easily by just eating healthier foods and stopping the snacking at night without really counting calories. Now at my current weight I know I'm struggling with losing because I need to count every calorie, measure and weigh all my food portions.