Stalled out!

As with every other "diet" I have been on for the past 30 years, I come to the place where I stall. I get complacent having experienced whatever success I have by that time. I become 'tired' from working soooo hard and having so little to show for it (I know, poor me ). I stall out, hit that god-awful plateau that we professionals commisserate about.

Well I have been there for the better part of a month. While there I have discoved somethings about myself:
1) I am not on a 'diet'; I know in the deepest recesses of my mind, that I am experiencing a lifestyle change. 2) I have not become complacent. I think I have tried to be complacent but again, somewhere in the deepest recesses of my mind, I know I can see this through; get over the hump; bring myself back into positive, healthy thinking.
3) I know from past experience compared to what I am trying to do now, I have never, ever, worked that "hard" to achieve so little. How arrogant am I! Sure, it is hard work. But I have achieved much!!! I have lost almost 20 lbs in just over 2 months. I am going to undertake a 5K run 13 days. And I am still wanting to go back to the gym and kick it into high gear!
4) I didn't 'hit a plateau' I quit trying as hard as I was trying on day 1. If I am not where I wanted to be at this time, it is my own fault. I got me here, I will help myself back out.

As the Dr. says, you didn't gain this weight overnight; don't expect to lose it overnight.

I am on my way: back to the gym, back to healthy eating, back to the scale regardless of the number it shows!

Happy May!

Maybe your body and metabolism just needs a little stall time to readjust to all the changes lately. The less we weigh, the less calories we can consume and keep losing weight. Maybe you have lost 20 lbs. but are still eating the same amount of calories that you were when you first started. In that case, your calories will need adjusted to coincide with your lower weight now. Or you could increase your exercise, or both and get out of that plateau.

Great thoughts Enjoy the gym! Maybe download some new songs to your iPod (if you have one and use it when you work out) - it usually helps me reenergize.

20 lbs in two months is AWESOME progress. Just keep doing what you're doing. There will be times where you see no change, but just keep going. Don't change anything just yet.

Just remember that NO change is better than a GAIN- console yourself with this thought, not with food! I think we sometimes look for excuses to "throw in the towel". Don't do it. This is a way of life, not a diet. Stay strong!

Hi,

I'm not familiar with posting replies but after reading your post on the dreaded Plateau I thought I might share my plateau busting tips. I've lost 54 pounds this year so far and 64 since Christmas. I had never successfully lost weight before. I'm doing what you are doing, "Lifestyle Change". Several times I've hit the plateau and have spent a lot of time reading and trying out different techniques to fix it. I feel like I've finally hit what is needed and my loss has been pretty consistent since. I even lost 2 pounds while on vacation recently.

I think your body just becomes adjusted to our new way of exercise, eating and calorie amounts and tries to hang on to what we have thinking we are starving ourselves.

First we have to make sure the plateau isn't because we start getting complacent. Not counting the calories as well as we did before, or stop measuring and going by eye what we think is the right measures. Also, slowing down on the exercising and not getting as much in as we did when we first started our diet. This is something to look at first. Now if those are all the same and on par here is what I do:

I change up my exercise. I try something different or swap around the order of my exercises. Kind of shaking the body up and getting it out of our predictable pattern. To be honest I think this helps but doesn't always fix it just by doing this.

My main trick has to do with my calorie count. I'm not sure what your daily calories are but for me I like to have mine at 1400. I don't want to bring it too low or too high. Problem is if I do this everyday my body gets used to it. To trick your body I mix up the calories. I want to keep the calories averaged to 1400 but each day I mix up the calorie amounts. For example, take your daily calorie 1400 multiply it by 7 which equals 9800 calories. This is the amount I wish to hit for the week but I change it up so that each day is different with some low days and some high days. I always take one day for a high calorie day. It is good for tricking your body as well as giving you a chance to have something you like without feeling like your cheating and making the rest of the week easier to deal with.

Here is my example week:

day 1 1400
day 2 1600
day 3 1200
day 4 1500
day 5 1300
day 6 1600
day 7 1200

By doing this your body can't adapt to a lower calorie diet and the weight loss remains consistent. Feel free to look at my weight history and diet calendar. Thou while I was on vacation I didn't post my daily calories.

Now I've lost 15 pounds in the last 6 weeks by doing it this way. For me this is very good as I'm disabled and the amount of exercise I can do isn't as much as someone else. I'm also pretty sedentary due to my health issues. I sometimes have to break up my work outs into small increments until I get to what I want for the day. I do at least 1 hour a day on a recumbent bike with pool exercises at the YMCA about 3 times a week. When I need to switch up the exercise I'll swap to walking and doing Richard Simmons Sweatin' video as his are easier and I can manage to get through 1 play through. I wish I could exercise more but I've had 3 back surgeries and my pain level is pretty high.