Help! Plateau

I'm really at a loss for what to do next. I started a "lifestyle change" in mid September and limited myself to 1200 calories. I then integrated yoga into my routine along with walking the dog for 15-30 minutes each day. I added Pilates and weight training after that. I've lost 10 lbs (which I believe to be water weight) and nothing else in almost a month! I thought I might be in "starvation mode" so I upped my calories to 1500 and have been doing that for a little over a week but still nothing!

I'm doing 30 minutes of light to moderate exercise in the morning and an hour of moderate exercise in the evenings. This website says I'm burning 500 cal/ day and I have a deficit of 1000 cal but I'm not seeing any change on the scale.

Ideas?!?

I'd say that if you've lost 10 pounds since mid September, you're in a perfectly normal weight loss range. That's about 2 pounds a week and the recommendation for weight loss (generally, at least).

I don't believe you've hit plateau, just give your body some time and you definitley needed to up your calories to at least 1500 with the amount of exercise you were doing. That could eventually have put you into a starvation mode.

I wouldn't sweat a week or so of not losing like you were. It happens. There are people here who have been on a plateau for months.

I'm definitely trying to just wait it out...I lost the first 10 lbs in the first two weeks...and nothing since then. So I haven't lost anything in almost a month. I feel like I should have at least lost a pound or two in the last 4 weeks. We'll see. I guess I'll keep plugging away

How I have busted through plateaus, and am trying it this time too.  Take a day or two, and "blow it out".  Shake up your metabolism..and then get back at it.  Each time in the past, ( now down 63 pounds) it has worked...

I'll try it. I'll try anything at this point LOL

ejwasson:

Could you elaborate what you mean by "blow it out"?

Your information, please:

Height, age, weight, goal weight, activity level, calorie intake.

Whipple

27 yr old female

5'5" currently 188lbs

Goal weight 140-150

I vary my routine but do 30 minutes of either yoga, pilates or weights in the morning and 60 minutes of either yoga or pilates at night. I also walk the dog for 15-30 minutes each day.

I'm consuming approximately 1400-1500 cal/day

 Thanks in advance

Isn't that frustrating?  I know how you must feel- I've been sitting on a plateau myself for three weeks now.  I went from 185 to 159 from the beginning of July to the end of Sep, and then just kind of stuck there.

To break thru this, I am going back to logging everything I eat, and aiming for 1200 calories per day, with less than 30% fat.  And since the weather here is turning bad so I can't ride my bicycle for an hour or two three to four times a week, I am hitting the gym three times a week for strength training on the nautilus equip and three times a week for an hour of cardio on the elliptical machine.  I've already come down 3 pounds- hopefully, this will continue! My only fear is that I'll get bored at the gym- it's just not the same as rolling thru the countryside on my bike!

Good luck, and don't give up!  We're rooting for you!

Try switching up WHAT you're eating and see if it helps.  I hit a plateau even though I was counting cals religiously, so I started loading up on veggies, and high protein stuff like cheese, PB etc.  Even though these things are high cal I factored them in just to switch it up.  If you're already doing that, maybe try adding some more whole grains, fruit, switch it up!

 

I found that it really helps me to kind-of cycle eating patterns.  for a couple weeks I'll be eating more grains, for a ouple weeks I'll be eating more protein  dairies, then veggies etc. 

Good idea. Thanks!!

SO, I SEE I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE OUT THERE THAT HAS HIT AND REMAINED AT A PLATEAU EVERYTIME I REACH A DIFFERENT WEIGHT.. LET ME TELL YOU IT IS SO FRUSTRATING AT TIMES I JUST WANT TO GIVE UP AND BINGE!!!  SO SINCE MARCH I'VE LOST ABOUT 27 LBS, HOWEVER  IT JUST SEEMS LIKE ITS SO LITTLE, I RECENTLY(LAST MONTH) JOINED CURVES AND I'VE BEEN ON WEIGHT WATCHERS AS OPPOSED TO MY NORMAL "LOW CARB" LIFESTYLE FOR ALMOST 2 WEEKS, AND STILL I CANT GET BELOW OR CLOSE TO 160 ,I EITHER SEE 165, 163 BUT NEVER 160, ITS SO FRUSTRATING!!! AGGGH, I MEAN I'M 32 NOT 52, WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG, I REMEMBER IN MY 20'S I WOULD DIET A MONTH AND DROP 20LBS QUICK BUT THEN I WAS NOT EVEN HEAVY, OR CLOSE TO IT, IF I HAD A WEDDING OR GATHERING AND I WANTED TO DROP FROM A SIZE 5 TO A 2 OR 3 I WOULD EAT ONCE A DAY FOR A MONTH AND DROP IT WITHIN WEEKS AND NOW IT TAKES MONTHS TO DROP 20LBS!!!

I'm seriously trying to figure out what I need to change. I started this process in January weighing 181, got a trainer (don't think he helped much) started watching what I eat, counting calories, working out religiously, yada yada yada. $1500 and 4months later had only lost 8 stinking lbs! Got rid of the trainer, started listening to my body and lost 27lbs this year so far yeah!!!  But now I'm at a plateau, I haven't lost any real weight in about 3 months. I'm so frustrated I don't know what to do. I've tried changing my workout but I still can lose this last 20lbs...what is it going to take to break through this plateau???