Hey,
I am currently struggling with a plateau that has lasted for a month.. It is driving me crazy and making me want to give up.. I work out more and my weight still stays the same.. It's so FRUSTRATING!!! Just wondering if anyone has any advice on how they got over plateaus or anything.. I need any advice right now to keep myself going.
Thanks a million..

Hi Jill

Arrrrghhh plateaus can be so frustrating! I really think the only real way to get "over" them is to be patient and get *through* them. Hopefully the day will come very soon when you look at that scale and cheer! Hang in there!

Are you eating enough? You may not be eating enough calories everyday. Try upping it for a couple of days than dropping it back down agian. Try zig zag calorie count. And Try a new exercise routine. not just more of it, but mix it up. Your body gets use to the same ol thing everyday and it needs to be kick started. Your doing great! Good luck!

I agree with zig-zagging and you need to CHANGE things around. The body loves to stay the same.

Try eating different foods, more protein, fewer carbs, more good fats.

Try a different activity, skating instead of jogging, tennis instead of stationery bike.

Failling all that - just hang in there! I've had plateaus last 4 months... the body will realise eventually what you're trying to do

Good suggestions, everyone! LOL my first answer was lousy!! Glad some of you jumped in here with better answers LOL

Dance4joy, your answers are never lousy. Your smile and encouragement are as important as anything.

I'm in with 2frus .... have a good long critical look at your food and activities and change something up.

Each time I have lost 30 lbs. it seems I hit a plateau, I have now lost a total of 73 lbs. in 9 months and am again at a plateau. The things I have tried are increasing cardio workout by 10% weekly, restarting Atkins induction phase of only 20 carbs , and changing up exercise plan to include jumping rope, I did lose 1 more lb. last week, but so far I think I am just going to have to let my body adjust to my weight plan, nothing else seems to work. I did consider switching to South Beach Diet, but am afraid I would gain weight from increased carbs allowed, and hate to switch when Atkins has been very successful for me so far.

Other idea is take tape measurements, sometimes when the scale isn't moving your body maybe shrinking. It might help to get over the hump till that scale drops again. CONGRATS on all the weight loss - that is awesome!

Thank you everyone for replying to me with great tips.. I have my weigh in tomorrow so we'll see what happens.. I think I might switch up my exercising this week and eating something different. Hopefully it works!! Thanks again,
Jill

I had a weird plateau experience. I started losing weight in July 2004, I started at 195 lbs. I lost fairly steadily 1-2 lbs a week (with several 1-2 week plateaus) until around March 2005 when I hit 140 lbs. My original goal was 135 lbs, imagine my frustration when my weight did not move for weeks! Finally in June, I decided I must be finished and moved to maintenance mode. Increased calories to around 1800-2000. Imagine my surprise when the scale said 138 in August. I wasn't even trying to lose weight. Then, 135 in September - still NOT trying ot lose weight. I am now fairly stable at 127 lbs. Still eating 1800 calories or so a day.

Just weird, I lost the last 13 lbs verrrrry slowly over time (about a year) eating more food than when I dropped the first 50 lbs.

Good luck, plateaus SUCK!

I've been stuck on a plateau for about 3 weeks, tryed the zig zag thing.. hasnt worked. A friend of mine suggest that since im working out so much that I may be gaining muscle weight while losing fat weight. All I can say is hang in there and dont get discouraged... try checking your measurments instead of getting hung up on the numbers on the scale.

It took getting the stomach flu to blast me out of my current plateau. I don't recommend this method, let me tell you!

It is terribly frustrating to plateau for a long time, but I keep reminding myself that this process is not about this day or this weigh-in or whatever: it's about my entire life. Remembering that helps my perspective! (And then I start wondering what I can do to bust the plateau.)