Athlete- STUCK and frustrated!!!

I've lost 50 pounds over this last year and with 10 left to go , I'm completely stuck! I decided to up my exercise so for the first 2 weeks of May, I burned 500 calories a day in an effort to break this plateau (3,500/week). It actually had an opposite effect. My body began retaining water and the scale moved up.

I'm at a COMPLETE LOSS! How on earth do I rest my metabolism to get going?!

FYI:I exercise 5days/week because I'm training for races. As a runner, I do cardio 4 days a week and lift 2.

Obviously increasing exercise is NOT the way to go for me....any other athletes ever get stuck? What did you do?

Starting weight:185

Current weight:147 (was 140 before I started my extra exercise in May)

Goal Weight: 135

If you find somethin let me know I have the same problem.. I lift a lot more being a competative cheerleader so I understand my weight gain from exercise but I'm trying to get down 10-15 more lbs and it won't go :( and I used to be 20lbs lighter so I don't get it..

I've heard of this happening to alot of people, and alot of the answers were to increase your calorie intake by 300 calories a day for one week, and drop it back to what you have now. After that first week the body will be used to energy it gets from  the 300 calories, and when you take them away it will begin to burn fat to get the energy it was used to getting from the food. (sorry i know this is a very confusing explanation, but trust me, it works) And that 2100 extra calories from the week isn't enough to make you gain wait, don't worry.

 

hope this helped!! :D

From experience I would personally up the lean protein intake( egg whites, chicken breast, turkey breast, white fish), lower the carbs. Carbs can assist in fluid retention as well as sodium. Lower your sodium and drink more water. You're probably thinking ' If I cut my carbs I won't have enough energy to run'. You will feel lethargic first day or two but its manageable. If your carb intake is under 50g a day, your body will start burning fat for energy as the carbohydrates aren't readily available. This should help kick you out of your plateau, but be weary when you go off it. Your body will be longing for carbohydrates. If you eat a lot of it as soon as you go off the high protein your body will latch onto it as stores have been depleted previously. My suggestion: slowly increase carbohydrates by 10g a day. Hope this helps.

I drink at least 3 cups of green tea a day. Trust me, it REALLY gets your metabolism going!!

Im a runner too. How long is the race youre training for?

You might want to try strength training. More muscle= burn more calories = lose fat

Original Post by christineanng:

I drink at least 3 cups of green tea a day. Trust me, it REALLY gets your metabolism going!!

no it doesn't

I would suggest giving your body a break from the calorie restriction and eat maintenance for a week or two, and then go back to a deficit. This has worked wonders for me in the past.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/23345-green -tea-benefits-metabolism/

 

http://www.livestrong.com/article/469145-does -green-tea-really-speed-up-your-metabolism/

Have you actually read the articles? 10 subjects? That is statistically insignificant for any study whatsoever. The results also make no mention of weight-loss. All they mention are changes in EE, RQ, and norepinephrine excretion.

 

Green tea may speed up your metabolism.. by like 20 calories a day. That's 2 lbs worth a year. Hardly life changing. Even if it were more. 

^ And didn't they use green tea extract in pill form? It wasn't even people drinking green tea.

Edit: Don't get me wrong, I love green tea. I have a cup or two a day. I just don't expect it to get me over a plateau or help increase my metabolism. I have weight lifting to thank for that.

Triathlete (training for Ironman) here with cardio 6 days a week for at least one hour a day, lifting two and yoga one plus riding my show horses 4 days a week.

I, too, am stuck and have been for about 6 months. I finally decided not to worry about it. Runners notoriously get stuck because their bodies get really efficient at running. Can you add in some spinning or swimming? This will still help your running since it adds to overall endurance and cardio-vascular strength.

What distance are you training for? You may actually be overtraining on the running.

 

Training for a full marathon. Just running 5 & 10 K distance races at the moment. Marathon training starts mid June!

That's a problem with endurance training - it's difficult to lose body fat because of the calories required to train. A few things might help though: 

1) in your workout drink include some protein powder on your long runs, this will help curb the body's catabolic tendency during long workouts. During short workouts use a BCAA drink. 

2) eat the majority of your day's carbohydrates (50%+) within 2 - 3 hours of training - the sooner the better. 

3) eat lots of lean protein and lots of vegetables. Lots. The concept that runners / endurance athletes need more carbs is wrong. More protein and more vegetables. 

4) working out does not mean you get to eat crap. A post workout high carb meal might be a banana and hard boiled egg immediately and then chicken, broccoli and sweet potato within 2 or 3 hours - not pizza and pasta frenzy.