I need help and who better to ask than the tried and true! I have been op with WW for 11 wks now and am very faithful to the program, problem is I have hit a plateau. I know since you all are either lifetimers or on maintenace you have experienced plateaus. What did you do to break them? Here is what I have done. 1st of all I have always ate my min amount of points each day and never used my activity points. That worked up to 2 wks ago, so this week I started eatting one day high and one day low, thinking that might shock my system. Another thing that has changed is my workouts...where I was working out 2-3 days a week, I have been working out. religiously, 5 days a week for the last 3 weeks. So I thought maybe I had hit the plateau b/c of the extra exercise and maybe my body needed more than 18 pts per day. I know muscle weighs more than fat, but I am not doing alot of weights..I am mainly walking on treadmill and doing sit ups and inner/outer thigh work. I was doing more weight training before the plateau. I drink 90-100 oz of water per day, so lack of water is not the problem.
I don't think I have lost any important information out. So based one what I have told you, what do you think I can do to break this???? I would like any advice you can offer.
It sure sounds like your body has gone into starvation mode. When I became a lifetime member, I lost a total of 65 pounds. For the entire time, most of the time, I ate at the high end of my points AND ate my exercise points. I consistently lost 1-2 pounds a week and sometimes lost 3-4 pounds a week. Make sure that you add your exercise points to both the top AND bottom of your points range. Assuming your points range is 18-23 points and you earn 3 exercise points, your new points range would be 21-26 points. In essence, you are eating below your range when counting exercise points.
Also, sometimes as we get comfortable with the program, our portions get bigger. Make sure you are using your measuring cups and spoons all the time. Make sure you are journalling EVERYTHING. And if you don't have one, I'd highly recommend a digital food scale.
Thanks for the reply. I am still measuring and weighing my foods all the time and as for the journal, I carry it around with me everywhere I go, every BLT goes in it!!!
The exercise and AP points has to be a factor here. It is the only thing I can think of. Like I said,I have stopped just eating my min of 18 points per day b/c I do exercise so much, but I am still not going over my 23 pts. The activity points slide is so hard to judge, that I don't actually ADD points. I have just been putting a check mark down that says " yes, I exercised" and then I eat more to the high end of my points that day. But still never over 23 pts and if truth be told not over 21.
So, you think that is my problem, huh?
Yeah, I think too few points, but I thought of one more thing. It happened to me. I did manage to almost totally eliminate fat in the first few months and my losses slowed down. I started losing closer to 1 pound a week instead of two. I had to add real fat back into my eating and I immediately started losing again. I added three points of real fat. Real mayo, real butter or real olive oil. Not the reduced fat kind.
BTW -- Is your plateau exactly the same weight week-to-week?
No. It really started about weeks ago...one week up .5 lb(that was TOM), next week down 4 lbs, last week up 1 lb, this week it looks like I have stayed the same no loss or gain, although I haven't gone to WI yet, I weighed myself this afternoon on bathroom scale, which I have set to the WW scale(I know this is not completely accurate). About the fat, the thing is that I am pretty much eating the same foods that I have been eating. You can look at my journal and it has the same foods over and over again. So if I am not getting enough fat now then I have never been getting it, you see what I am saying? Do you think all of a sudden my body is missing the fat? Should I add some back in? I eat lots of veggies, drink lots of water, eat mostly chicken(dark meat) and fish. Also eat smart ones meals 3-4 times a week.
I guess I am just baffled, because I haven't changed anything other than the exercise thing. Which was 2-3 x's a week and then about 3 weeks ago I upped it to exactly 5 x's a week.
Anyway, thanks for all your input....if you think of anything else let me know. I am leaving for WI now, maybe it isn't as bad as I think it is.
Well I think Kathy has probably hit it on the head. I think your body - between eating really low in points, and exercising 5 x a week is in the starvation mode and storing fat and weight. It would be helpful for you to figure out how many activity points your "earning per day", perhaps your WW leader or someone in the meeting could assist? For if you're eating - let's say 18 on a day you're exercising and then earning 3-5 points from that activity you're really only eating 12-15 points for that day when you subtract the activity.
I had to lose about 30 pounds (from 160 to 130) and ate at the top of my range (18-25) the whole time. Yes we used to be able to eat up to 25 pts. and not 23! During that time I was training for a marathon (about 3 days a week- only one of them major miles) and had days when I won't even tell ya how many points I was consuming.
I also agree with Kathy about the fat. During the whole time losing and now maintaining on WW I never cut out fat. I certainly limited it, but I love butter, oil, and steak too much to nix them. I think the body needs these especially when your metabolism is upped through activity.
I'm not sure how much weight you've lost in the past 11 weeks, or on a week to week basis, but by varying your eating, perhaps you might end up losing more on a weekly basis.
Also, you mentioned one week you gained .4 and then the next wek lost 4 lbs. That happens quite often on the program, it's like the body doesn't want to give up the weight and then wham! drops a bunch all at once. Maybe next week you'll have lost a couple to make up for the 1 lb gain. Remember each of our bodies is different. And in general your weight loss is going in the right direction.
Thanks to both of you for your help. To answer your question, Patch, I started at 160.5 lbs and as of last weeks weigh in I had lost 23.5 lbs. I just came from weigh in and I lost 3.7 lbs this week, so in all now lost 27.2 lbs. I guess I was panicking for nothing. I have learned a couple of very valuable things through this....1) I am going to STOP weighing myself here at home, will only weigh at WW once a week 2) I am going to start counting my activity points and exchanging them for food points and ACTUALLY EATING THEM. I talked to my leader about it and told her what I had been doing and after talking to her and reading what you both had to say I realize I need to use those activity points.
Thanks also for explaining to me that a small gain one week and a big loss the next is normal. The 1st 6 weeks I pretty much lost 1.5 to 2 lbs every week(well, except weeks 1 & 2 where I lost 11.5 lbs of water) and now I am up a little and down a lot and couldn't understand why, now I do--Thanks again to both of you for being so patient and informative!!!!!!
Hey you lifetimers, need your advice!!!
