Ok, so ive been faithfull to my diet and mostly faithfull with my excersising. i have been slowly but steadily been losing weight, and very proud of myself for doing so...
Welllll... ive now reached a dreaded Plateau. im so frustrated. its been 3 weeks and my weight has not budged. at first i just kept on doin what i was doing, with no result. i then have tried a little harder to eat less calories and work a little harder, not to kill myself but enough to try to jumpstart myself again with , again, no result. what gives? i know plateaus happen, but do they last this long?, is there a way to fight them off? i refuse to give up my new lifestyle of healthy eating and feeling good but its soooo friggin hard when i know im being good, but seeing no new results. im open to any and ALL advice.
oy-vay. thanks.

Some folks don't call it a plateau unless it goes on for a couple months or more. At any rate, you are stalled!

It would help if you told us how many calories you eat, on average--say, in the past 3 weeks--and how often you exercise and what you do. Maybe we can make suggestions.

Jay

ive been sticking to about 1000 calories a day, less if i can. then and i work out 4 times a week. well, 4 times at the gym and my karate dojo, but i walk just under a mile the other 3 days ( take a long walk to work). 4 days a week is all i can squeeze into the week, i am a full time student and i also work full time. its very hard to make spare time.

there are those here who are far more experienced than I, but that few calories with that much exercise seem too low. I would think you should be eating at the very least 1200 cals a day with that much activity. it may sound weird, but there are times when increasing your cals just a bit can re-start a weight loss. Like I said, there are those here who can refute me if I'm wrong, and please do you guys, but when I first read your 2nd post, my first thought was "starvation mode". when your body is not getting enough fuel to burn, it will hang on to everything we put into it. and if that's what is happening, then lowering you calories will not help, it will only hurt,and will also lower your metabolism. If I was voting, I'd say keep up with the 4-day a week workouts, and increase your calories a bit. that sends a message to your body that "hey, there's not a famine going on, I'm getting what I need, so its cool to let go of what I don't". At your present weight, a 1000 cals a day (actually less, because you're burning a lot of it off) isn't good for you. I know with my body, if i were burning that much and eating that little, I'd feel light headed and tired all the time. been there done that, and learned a lesson from it.

Too few calories, you are slowing down your metabolism.

Whoaaaa, that's way too few calories. Especially for your weight and activity level.

Up your calories! You may see an initial gain, but after your body re-adjusts you should start losing again.

You are 162 pounds. You exercise every day, at varying intensities, work full time and go to school full time and you expect your body to release stored fat when you are supplying it with a mere 1000 calories (or LESS ) daily?

You need to eat more.

Does your school have a nurse practitioner or do you have insurance that will allow you to see a nutritionist or a medical professional to give you nutritional guidance? I think that would help you a lot.

Best of luck!

Hey Samantha,

Yep, I think 1000 cals a day is too low, given all that you do and your age (you're relatively young). I'm surprised you have enough energy to keep going!

Go up to 1200 cals or even 1300! (the added 200-300 cals should be good foods--add more protein, for example! and complex carbs) and keep your exercise the same. Try that for two weeks and see what happens.

Also, how do you track your calories? I assume you have some kind of tracker.

Good luck!
Jay

yeah you have to eat at least 1200 per day bare minimum...


your body thinks you are starving so it's not going to give it up...

seems counterintuitive to eat more to lose but it's the truth.. sadly it's a very fine line we have to find... and it's different for everyone.

I dunno, I do 1k or less as well. But, I'm probably a lot less active since I'm a stay-at-home mom - I just do a 2.5mph walk for 60min on the treadmill everyday. I know there are days I've eaten 1200, 1300, or 1400 and that minimal amount more made me gain weight.

1000 works for a small breakfast, lunch and dinner and one snack. It's hard to hit it right and it's hard to make it go even lower. But more than that makes me gain.

If I hit a plateau anytime soon, I guess I might up to 1200... I can already imagine how much more I could be eating. I'd feel devious.

If you try upping cals, Samantha - let me know if it works for you!

Hey cupcakesundae,

Your weight isn't really high, which might have something to do with why you have such a struggle. I'm fighting with these last 3 pounds (158 to 155).

Other than calories, the mix of nutrients can also have something to do with it. I find that I do better with a protein/carb/fat ratio of 30%/40%/30%--or as close as I can come to that. Do you use FitDay? It tracks these for you.

Anyway, something else to try!

Jay

my calorie number is only an estimation. as close to one as i can get though, i try to count as well as i can, i have a food journal that i try to stay pretty faithfull to. my excersises are not very strainfull because of my asthma, it realy restricts me, and my karate class is more muslce strength and flexiblility training, not so much cardio.

and im not sure i want to call it a starvation mode, i eat when im hungry, im not (knowingly) starving myself. i feel ok, so long as i get enough sleep. though the night befor a test thats not so easy.

It's not about "how you feel" - seriously - if you're eating 1000 calories per day, you are eating too little, especially if you're exercising. And it doesn't matter that you're doing more "muscle training" than cardio. You are eating WAY too little. So you may not call it "starvation mode" but that's what your body is doing.

Also, where are your calories coming from? Give us an example of a regular day for you... breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. AND BEVERAGES.

Its not so much you are trying to starve yourself knowingly its what your body thinks with that few a calories. I went for 3 yrs on 800 or less calories a day and gained weight. Your metabolism slows way down on that amount of calories in an effort to preserve what calories it does get. I think upping your calories will really help. I am now aiming for 1488-1500 and I feel much better. I try very hard to eat something every 2 hrs even if I don't feel hungry. So far its working I think. I'll let you know when I weigh in next week.