I have hit a Plateau....Help

Plateau breaking?

I'm new, so hello everybody!


I'll try to keep this all short n sweet.


First off I put myself on this so called "zig-zag" diet starting October 1st. This is a calorie defict diet calculated by -2 calories / pound of weight you weigh, followed by two "pig-out" days where you consume an extra ammount of calories to feed your muscles. The trick with this diet is to lose body fat and gain muscle mass at the same time. So far it's been working for me.

I consume approx 1500 calories a day, run a mile in the morning and end this with some weight-training every night. I do this mon-friday, sometimes sun-thursday.

I started off really light with the exercising, for example I could barely do 10 pushups and using the 15lbs dumbbells made me feel that wonderful burn. I moved upwards to 40 pushups at a time, along with crunches and situps, to a total of 80-100 a night. Moved on from doing 15lbs dumbbell curls and press to 25lbs - 35lbs to 40lbs

I've maintained this routine since October 1st till now, October 25th. Since the 1st of October to the 18th, I have lost 20lbs, the numbers surprised me, and made me happy to say the least. Since then i've been stuck around 228-230lbs, (I weighed in at 250lbs October 1st).

I've noticed lately i've been feeling tired and groggy, oppose to feeling highly energetic when I started. I am also getting that hunger feeling more often also, but i'm hoping that is because of my metabolism working more.


For your information: I try to consume at least 8-12 glasses of water daily, and take a packet of vitamins/minerals daily since I'm not getting enough daily on my diet. I'm not taking them (yet) but you can look up the nutritional values of One-A-Day to get nearly the same facts on the vitamin/mineral packets I'm taking. I'll be getting some One-A-Day once I finish this box of vitamins since it's easier to take one pill than 5.


I open to and could use any suggestions on fixing this problem so I can continue my training..

Thanks!
 
frogger, i always say u should drastically increase u calories for a few days...maybe a week, but still do moderate exercise so u dont gain, and then cut ur calories back again... :) Just a suggestion.
 
HEllo,

A fellow cruiser eh? DId you like it? Not sure if I would, maybe a non public contact job would work for me.

I didn't over indulge but certainly ate/drank more than I would have at home, the weight came off though and I'm working towards my goal of 199lbs...

Good chatting here, hope to see you around

David
 
Thanks for the advice, i've tried it and it's worked so far.

Unfortunately I havn't been exercising, aside from helping my grandmother nearly all day long. She's in the hospital in ICU now =*(.

I was going to ramble on about this because I love my grandma, and i'm stressed out because of it and theres not much I can do..

She's my only concern right now, but I still try to eat healthy, just don't have much to give in the exercising department right now.
 
David1965 said:
HEllo,

A fellow cruiser eh? DId you like it? Not sure if I would, maybe a non public contact job would work for me.

I didn't over indulge but certainly ate/drank more than I would have at home, the weight came off though and I'm working towards my goal of 199lbs...

Good chatting here, hope to see you around

David
Click to expand...

I did enjoy it in the sense that I was on vacation, basically permanently. I was lucky because I was working as DJ, and was what's known as a guest entertainer... which allows me to have full run of the ship... passenger and crew areas. I could go anywhere and do basically anything, which was neat. What I didn't like was it was hard to stick to a diet, and it was also very lonely... I didn't get a chance to socialize with much of the crew, as I would be working when they were all off, and most of them couldn't come up to the nightclub. I could hang out with the passengers, but they all left at the end of every week.... so I ended up drinking WAY more than I ever would have. I ended up leaving on January 8 of 2006 and took a job at a nightclub here on land. I was just drinking too much and not being nice to my body... it's taken me awhile to get back into the swing of exercising and eating well.
 
Hello flux,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, been really busy but on a good note I have gotten down to 206lbs so just a few more from my goal of 199lbs.......I have also gotten into my 34" jeans which was another goal I set for myself when I started this journey in Jan 2006.

Cruise ships can be troublesome for some folks and unfortunatley it seems people take these cruises thinking they SHOULd eat as much as possible because it's vacation afterall.......I sailed across the Atlantic this past May on RCCL Brilliance of the Seas, was my first time I decided to work out vs over eat and I met a great group of guys who were into working out too so we worked out together.....I still managed to gain 12lbs on a 13night cruise but within a week it was all gone, I attribute it to the extra salt intake from the food served on the food, water retention and slight increase in alcohol consumption.

So how are you doing with your weight loss program? Keep in touch.

David
 
Plateau

Hi all, well here is my question.....How do you know if you are stuck in a plateau or if you are just maintaining? I have been losing weight since about January, and have made a lot of changes along the way. I started off following weight watchers and exercising about 30 min a day. Then I discovered the Abs Diet, which i am now doing. For the last couple of months I have continued to eat the same and probably increased my exercise by about 20 to 30 minutes and also changed my routine. I have basically stayed the same or maybe lost 3 to 4 pounds, but that has been since september. Help!!!!!!!
 
It can be soooo frustrating to have been doing so well and then to hit a plateau. I feel for you!!!

Have you been keeping a food/exercise diary? Maybe you have increased what you are eating in a day without noticing it? It may also be a good idea to add some higher intensity moves to your workout - try some interval training, and change things up every couple of weeks so your body doesnt get used to what you are doing.

Another suggestion is to switch back to the Weight Watchers diet for a bit and see if that jump starts your weightloss again. Did you find you lost more weight on the WW diet or the ABS diet?
 
Welcoem to the forum family please feel free to start yourself a diary!
 
Here I am trying to get fit for my cruise trip in April and now I'm thinking i might have to take time during the trip to work off what i eat. ACK!!!
 
Plateau?

This is the first week of my diet where the numbers on the scale haven't changed. :eek: I am pretty confused since I stayed true to it all week, even on Thanksgiving. I even did more exercise than I have ever done. Do you think I'm not eatting enough still or I'm I just worring over nothing. :p

Calories/day: 1350
Recomended Calories/day to stay the same: 2030 ((doesn't include exercise))
2622 (( moderate Exercise))

Exercise: Curves 3 times, Eliptical 2 45min sessions and 2 30 min sessions, I also walked a total of 6 miles last week.
 
I'm not a plateau expert, but I don't think one week can really be considered a plateau...I'd wait another week to worry.:)
 
What nutritionists, etc generally recommend is to create a healthy caloric deficit. That is, subtract either 500 calories, or 20% from your maintenance amount. If your maint. calories are 2622 a day, then a healthy amount for you would be around 2100-2200 - which could safely be lowered to around 2000, maybe even 1800-1900.

However, dropping to 1350 is pretty extreme for your individual caloric needs, that is almost cutting your maintenance level in half.

Some people spit out the recommendation of 1200 a day like it's some magic number. In reality, few people's true caloric needs are that low.

We all know by now that diets are proven ineffective. Well here's the difference...

diet - going as low as your body can stand (usually 1200 range) for a temporary amount of time, until you either go nuts or hit a major plateau

healthy lifestyle change - where you figure out your caloric needs and eat accordingly, and can manage to do so forever

1200-1300 is a DIET (temporary, proven over and over to fail in the long run), eating in the healthy range is a lifestyle change that helps to achieve life long healthy weight.
 
Appetite and what our body needs can be two very different things.

You also mentioned that you exercised more this week than before, thereby increasing your caloric needs but not your caloric intake.

You are eating less than your body needs, and you are have hit a plateau. hmmmm......why in the world could that be? :p
 
true, so I'll add to my calories for the next two weeks..I'm going on Vacation next week for 4 days..so eatting more won't be a problem there.
 
Ooh, vacations can be scary that way. On the one hand, you want to do good and stick to the plan, on the other hand, hey, it's a vacation, enjoy!

I tend to fall more on the enjoy yourself side of that one (just without overdoing it).
 
Plateau??

I could use some advice or suggestions. I've only been "dieting" for less than 2 weeks and I've seen to already hit a plateau. I'm not sure I understand it, I thought you weren't supposed to get them for a few more weeks or so. I'm wondering what I can do to break the plateau. I exercise for 45-60 minutes on the eliptical every other day and for 30 minutes the other days and also do weights for about 20-30 min. I also almost every day go for a walk around the neighborhood(about 40 min.) or do the WATP dvd(2 miles). I eat pretty healthy, I usually have cereal(special k w/berries), peanut butter toast on wheat bread, or oatmeal for breakfast. Turkey Sandwich(wheat), Salad(low-cal/fat dressing), or a healthy Lean Cusine for lunch. For Dinner it's usually grilled chicken(skinless) w/veggies, Pork Loin(lean) w/veggies or something on those lines. I don't cheat and I stay with it so I'm not sure what I can do. Could it be water weight or something and if I take in more water than I normally do it might help. Or do I just keep doing what I have been and in a couple of days I might see the scale drop a few pounds from the last few days that it hasn't moved. Should I increase my exercise even more? I also just started weight training(have done about 3 sessions) could that effect my weight loss? I know I should be doing weights but it seems every time I do when I try to lose weight it stalls me out. If I just do cardio and no weights will I be kinda flabby when I get close to my goal weight. Or will it all even itself out in a few days and just keep with the weights?? PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU ALL THINK. THANKS!! :)
 
You have been dieting less than two weeks! In that time you lost 8 pounds. I think that you are panicing - its far to early to judge what your regular rate of weightloss is going to be. You should aim to lose two pounds per week, not much more. Its common to lose more during the first few weeks as your body adjusts - but you may have simply come to the end of that starters rush. Don't panic! Your diet seems good, and the exercise should fuel your metabolism. Just hang in there for a few more weeks. Don't weigh yourself too much either, once per week should be the maximum.

If you dont progress at an average of 1 or 2 pounds per week after a few more weeks, then yes, maybe you should look to make changes - but don't lose confidence yet, hang in there!
 
Don't be too hard on yourself. Water weight and muscle weight fluctuate quite a bit as you are losing and exercising.

Be patient and things will keep coming off. Don't let a few days of no loss discourage you.
 
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