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Plateaus

Cheryle posted recently that her weight loss has slowed and she was afraid she was on a plateau, so everyone who has been there/done that (hand raised over here), could you share what has worked for you?

For me, it was patience. I had to accept that my body was resetting itself and getting used to less food and more exercise, so what I did was shake it up a bit. If you reserach the "Wendie Plan," you will get information on why this sometimes works. The bottom line is that you have to keep your body guessing about how many calories it will get in order to keep your metabolism up. If you eat the same number of calories each day, your body simply adapts to that number by slowing down your metabolism. So what you do is vary your points over a week's time within a range. I do this still and it works like a charm. I am under goal by 14 pounds and still am losing slowly.

HTH,
Uki

Re: Plateaus

This is a copy/paste from one of my older posts regarding my long plateau.


I can't stress to you enough that you need to eat your points if you are working out. I plateaued for a really long time and then someone pointed out to me that I needed those extra calories as fuel so my body could burn off calories/fat.

Also, take a look at what your eating. If you eat the same things week after week, try changing what you're eating.

Change up your workout too b/c your body gets used to what your doing.

I tried all these things and it got things moving downward again for me.

Hope this helps.

Re: Plateaus

Some other things to also consider:

- Break out the measuring cups and spoons and food scale again. I tended to get lazy about measuring my food over time. While on a plateau I forced myself to measure everything that went into my mouth that wasn't already pre-packaged and labeled with nutritional information.

_ Eat less carbs and increase protein. Trust me, it works. Carbs retain water and can make you feel bloated and sluggish which may affect the intensity of your workouts and make you hungrier.

Are you drinking enough water?

Journal if you aren't. Watch out of mindless nibbles b/c if you are nibbling here and there and not counting then after awhile those nibbles can add up into a couple points. Over the course of a week those can add up.

Add some variety to your workouts. Try new things and vary the amount of time and intensity. Change up your routine about every 6 weeks or so b/c the body will keep guessing and you'll be toning/shaping different muscles and areas as well.

Might be time to get out the measuring tape and put away the scales. You might not be losing lbs. but rather inches. The scale is not the only way to measure progress/success.

And finally this last line is from an article I found through webmd and I didn't realize this: "In the end, you should view hitting a plateau as a good thing. Why? It means your body has less fat to lose, which explains why the weight isn't coming off as readily. And remember: It's best to lose weight slowly and sensibly so you can make changes that you'll keep for life.

I hope this helps. I know reviewing it has helped me.

Plateaus

Uki and Carrie, thank you so much for this information. I really needed this about now. I am just so frustrated at the small losses, and now I am beginning to see why I might be where I am. I was thinking, "how can I not be losing when I'm walking 4 miles a day!". Now, I am thinking that might be part of the problem. Do you think I need to vary the walking? The distance? The intensity? Hmm.

The part about eating the same amount each day I guess is so true. We are told to eat a certain amount of points, and that is what we do, so that would be the same amount of calories each day. Hmm again.

Carrie, you said that you should eat the points when you exercise. Do you mean you should eat the activity points earned? I have just been marking the activity points and counting them as extra calories burned. I'm not adding them to the points I eat each day. Should I?

I apologize for this turning into a lengthy post, I'm just excited to have a new source to learn information and get help.

Cheryle

Re: Plateaus

Yes, I know this sounds crazy, but your body needs the fuel (points/food) to burn off those calories. You can eat those points. I know some people don't, but when I was on my long plateau, I started eating them along with changing up my routine and seriously, the following week the scales moved!!

Plateaus

Thanks Carrie.

Cheryle

Re: Plateaus

That eating enough was a post helping me out when I was plateaued. I started working out so much that I wasn't eating enough. I have found great success and over a 1lb loss per week switching to core because I'm listening to my body and finally eating enough food. That's the advice I would give. I used to also only loose .2 and .4 on flex.

Does that help any?

Plateaus

Thank you Lisa. Yes, it does help. I was having great success on the points plan until a couple of weeks ago. Most weeks I was losing 2 lbs. a week. However, that has stopped in the past couple of weeks. I remember reading awhile back that Pat had switched to the core plan after hitting a plateau. Now you. I very well may have to try that.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Cheryle

Re: Plateaus

Yes, eating enough is critical to keeping your metabolism up! God designed the human body so incredibly, so that it could adapt to times of famine. If you don't fuel it properly, it will lower its' metabolism to try to save itself. Give it enough fuel to burn and keep that metabolism high.

Re: Plateaus

Bulldog Mom Make sure that if you switch to core you are prepared. Have lots of yummy fruits and veggies available, popcorn, vegetarian chili, recipes for core foods, salad, and any other core snacks that you may like. I have my SF pudding almost every night. But I tried it once a few months ago and I totally failed within the first 3 days (ate all of my extra points a little too fast). BUt this time I was more learned and prepared and I've loved it and totally been successful.

Just my thoughts

Plateaus

Uki and Lisa, thank you for the tips. Lisa, if I decide to switch to the core plan, I will definitely check to see what it is all about and what I need. Thanks for the advice.

Cheryle