I've hit a plateau

For the last month or so, I can't seem to lose any weight. I've kept on my diet, and I workout at least 5-6 days a week. I was wondering if I should decrease my calories. I consume 1250 now, and sometimes it's hard to get that much. I'm running out of ideas.....does anybody have any??????

if you are consuming 1250 and working out 5-6 days...I am thinking you need to up your calories...at least by the number of calories you burn working out...if you burn 300 calories a day...you are only giving your body 950 to live on...you need to NET at least 1200 cals a day...after working out.

keyermann I had the same problem.

When I started losing weight I wasn't on calorie count but exercising a lot and eating about 1200-1300. I lost 10lbs but then stopped :(

I came here found I wasn't eating enough and upped my cals to about 1500-1900 on vigorous exercise days...

Well I'm down 9 more pounds so somethings gotta be working!! :)

Don't get discourged if you gain some weight for the first couple of weeks when you add calories in.  In the long run you'll lose more once you're getting enough.

Thanks for the comments, any little bit of advice helps.

Just to make sure, you are a girl right?   Girls need to eat 1200 MINIMUM + what they burn exercising + if you work a job standing up a lot then some more for that.

Guys need 1500 + what they burn exercising + more depending on their work/daily activity.

So there you go.

Some people here will tell you to cut and eat less and so on but that's the path to annorexia and I don't think you want the mental problems that go along with that nor the muscle and organ damage and possible death.

So eat more... eat the MINIMUM your body needs ATLEAST.  Any less and you'll find yourself stalling out again.

I think I may have broken a 2.5 week plateau by having a cheat day and then going right back to a 1000 cal deficeit.  (I didn't mean to have a cheat day, it just sort of happened.)

Anyway, I'm now a pound lower than I have been, despite a small gain yesterday.

Yes nightc1, I am a girl. I had asked my trainer about this and he said that I should eat 1250 calories a day, and exercise. But I should burn more calories off than what I intake. So for example, if I eat 1250 calories, then I should burn off 1300. Does that sound right to anyone??

 I don't want to lose too much more weight. Right now I'm more comfortable with my size than what I've ever been. But I do want to shed a few extra pounds. I obviously can maintain my weight, but losing now, is a struggle.

Thanks again everyone.

Congrats on  you overcoming your plateau Pompey!!

Your trainer is wrong.  If you are aiming to lose weight you need atleast 1200 for basic bodily functions like breathing, pumping of blood, processing of food and distribution of energy to the body, and so on.   Then you need to eat additional calories for what you burn exercising.   If you only burn 50 (which is unusually low) then you'd be fine eating 1250.

But most people burn atleast 300 at the gym... last night alone I burned over 600 in an hour between the stair stepper and some very minor weightlifting.

So you need to eat more.


If your goal is to maintain your weight then you need to atleast eat what this site says you should for your expendature and make sure that when you take your expendature and subtract what you burned exercising that you don't fall below 1200.


This is the failing of so many people on this diet... but trust us... we've seen it happen so much and so many people plateau out or even gain weight when they don't eat enough.    Just read all the threads where someone broke a plateau... it every time involes that person eating more because either they were borderline on 1200 + what they burned exercise for too long... or they went below that.


We all want success.  I've had it... countless others here have as well... you can too.

Keyermann-

Your trainer is completely wrong. If you eat 1250 calories, and burn off 1300 working out you have no calories left at all (in fact negative 50) to use to live all day. That is just crazy. Not all trainers know about nutrition, so be careful.

General wisdom around here is to take the minimum calories for your gender--female=1200--then add in additional calories depending on your workout. So, if you burn 1300 calories working out, you should be eating 2500.

Maybe you should try switching up your exercize routine and changing the types of foods you eat. If you are doing the same thing all the time your body will get used to it and it was stop having the same effect that it did before.

I may be wrong, but I think the trainer was saying burn more calories including daily expenditure, not just at the gym.  I think you may have misinterprated him.  I've never heard of a trainer who would be that far off on such a simple concept. 

Are you keeping track of your caloric intake and expenditure?
Make sure that you're getting at least 1200 calories, and your deficit (calories you burn per day on average + calories burned during exercise - calories you consume) is less than 1000.

Thanks to evey one to has posted a comment or advise - have found it v helpful and motivational.

I have been eating 1200-1300 calories a day plus lots of exercise and lots a few pounds and my some dreaded middle area fat.  Seem to have hit a plateau and from reading the comments am going to increase calorie intake to compensate for exercise as recommended by Scrltbgnia9. 
My question is..am I going to put on a pound or two before I start losing again?

Plus - am I correct in thinking that I need to keep the fat content low in the food I am eating to increase the calories?

My diet has changed. I do watch every thing I eat, but I've changed it up some. Counting my calories has been the only diet that has truely worked for me.

I will start uping my calories because I do work out very hard at the gym. Last night I burned over 500 calories just doing cardio alone. I also did weights so that adds more that i burned. It just scares me to up them because I don't want to put on any weight. It's been a hard but worth it road for me to get this far. But I'm dedicated to doing it, so I'll try what needs to be done.

Thanks again everyone for your advice. And i thought what my trainer was telling me sounded a little strange but at the time it made sense. he said if your calorie intake equals what you burned off, then you'll maintain your weight. If you burn off more calories then you intake you'll lose weight. If you intake more calories then you burn, you'll lose weight. It sounded all good to me, but in theory it may not be working so well now.

Hopefully you haven't been on this too long... it may take a week or two to straighten your body out... any damage will result in a little gain as your body repairs the muscles it was using to make up some of your missing calories.

Just keep in mind the basics of the diet...

1200 + what you burn exercising + a couple hundred more if you are on your feet all day (instead of sitting around most of the time)

You should try to stay around 600 or  less calories burned at the gym unless you are aiming for some ver y physical career like dancing or a pro sport or something.   Â Plus it's a lot easier to eat an extra 600 calories than 1200.   This is just my  advice.  I try to not over do it too much.   Sure I get a great workout, but I only do high end cardio every other day, and when I weightlift I make sure to space out 2 days between working the same muscle groups so I can get some adequate healing time and overall get stronger.


IF you have a hard time getting the calories back... take some time off of working out.   Maybe a week off so you can work on upping your calories to 1200 or even 1300 on days you don't work out.   Then hit the gym but try to not burn a billion calories off.   Just 30 to 45 min on the cardio equipment you use (unless it's a stair stepper then 30 is the max you should do)... and limit your weight time to target only say your lower body, mid body & lower back, upper body & upper back, or arms.   Or get a good routine from your trainer.

But by all means make sure you eat enough.

Feel free to talk more with your trainer too.   Hopefully they just didn't explain it right but do understand the whole process of counting calories and eating back what you burn exercising as well as a base minimum for regular body functions.

I think I'm going to try what I've reading everyone saying.  I lost 8 pounds pretty steadily since starting on this site I was within a couple pounds of my goal weight for vacation (which is in less than 2 weeks).  Now suddenly I've gained about 3 pounds!  I'm still working out I do a 30 minute cardio program (Denise Austin) and started last week adding 15 minutes of elliptical machine (no resistance).  I thought I was putting on muscle but not sure (i bulk up in my legs if i do elliptical with resistance).  Now I'm thinking it could be because I haven't upped my calories to take into consideration the elliptical workout.  Things had been going good so I had stopped logging all my calories but since this week I've started again.  I feel frustrated though because my vacation is in less than 2 weeks and I was soooo close to my goal!  I've thought about buying a better scale as well.  What's everyone's thougts on those scales that give you your BMI and fat and water weight as apposed to just weight?  I don't want to invest a lot of money on a scale though.

Hon, your trainer is a) crazy or b) there was a misunderstanding.  Sure you need to burn more calories than you are taking in, but that just means that if your body needs 2000 cals per day, you should eat maybe 1500.  That deficit will have you losing weight.  That being said, I agree with everyone else here:  Your are not eating enough.  You have to much of a calorie deficit.  Your body is in "oh my god how will I survive" mode.  It sounds backwards, but you don't have to increase your food consumption by much.  Just add in a couple of snacks and I'm sure you'll see a turn around.

As for the scales, I have an expensive one that does BMI and I don't even use it for that anymore.  I just don't think that BMI is the holy grail that everyone makes it out to be.  If you attain a reasonable weight for your build WITH working out regularly, you will be in a good range.  Anyway, good luck and keep up the great work!