View Full Version : Weight loss Plateau's.
Sometimes my questions don't get answered in the buffed thread so i'll start my own.
Grr. X( so i'm dieting and exercising, but I've hit this damned plateau and haven't been able to lose anymore for the last two weeks!!
It's so damned frustrating because I do so much cardio and weights now, but nothing has changed!
I just feel like i'm doing it all for nothing, but i want the results sooo badly.
Can anyone help me?
Any advice for shedding fat?
loopi :(
you will always go through plateaus, the first bit is always the easiest to lose.
You may even be overtraining. you say you are doing heaps of cardio and weights........do too much cardio and your metabolism can actually slow down.
take a deep breath, look at your diet and exercise and make some tweaks. Look at what works and doesn't and experiment.
Living a healthy lifestyle and being fit should be a lifelong goal.......not something you wat done in 2 or 3 weeks. Have some patience
djsimonmann
24-Nov-05, 10:29am
If you reduce your food intake and excercise more, you will decrease your metabolism and not lose weight.. The idea is to eat more but healthy food and excercise, your metabolism increases and you burn calories and fat easier...
If you are excercising more, then eat more too...
Hmmm - I had no idea that metabolism could be slowed down by doing too much...
Is 1-2 hrs of cardio a day and 2 weights sessions a week overtraining?
Yeah - it's a lifelong goal now, but after losing some weight, you kind of just want to see more come off, you know?
Oh ok - Eat more healthier food. But sometimes, especially after doing cardio, i'm not hungry at all.
should i just force myself?
tell us what you eat...post your diet from the last few days
Another good idea is to change the kind of cardio you're doing. I find intense interval type work is the best results....Simply plodding along on the treadmill for hours and hours isn't as effective
lillyfields
24-Nov-05, 11:59am
How many times a day are you eating?
Try and eat 5-6 smaller portions a day than 3 large meals.
Up your weights sessions to 3 times a week.
Do your cardio in the morning on am empty stomach, and make sure you have a good breakfast.
East your carbs earlier than later.
Make sure you are doing your cardio with high intensity intervals rather than just along steady pace for an hour.
East something within half an hour of finishing a workout.
Write down what you eat, how we look is hugely decided by our diet, sometimes we forget the little things here and there that we nibble on.
If you're doing too much cardio, your energy may be starting to take from the muscle instead of the fat, when you take away the muscle, your metabolism slows down. The more muscle you have the easier it is to burn fat. Thats why lifting weights is essential for fat loss.
how are you sleeping patterns?
make sure you drink lots of water throughout the day.
I'm just thinking of these off the top of my head..
Don't stress, you are doing more than most people and keeping active which is important!
yeah exactly
just vary the type of cardio you normally do
if you run why not try an aerobics class instead? usually do yoga? try pilates for a bit.... just mix it up for a while and see what happens
good luck
Oh ok - Eat more healthier food. But sometimes, especially after doing cardio, i'm not hungry at all.
should i just force myself?
that's a pretty good sign that you are overtraining and that your metabolism has slowed.
cut your cardio back and increase your weights. keep your protein intake up, cut carbs a bit, but make sure you take enough carbs to fuel your workouts.
muscle aids in helping the body fight fat.
there is heaps of good info in the buffed thread, take some time to have a look through it
Also dont forget that muscle weighs more than fat. So it is also possible that you are turning fat into muscle and but your weight might take a long time to get down, even though you are losing all the fat off your body.
I think what buffed means by your metabolism slowing down by overtraining is that your thyroid has decreased its normal output. Low thyroid levels = slower metabolic rate. Which can be quite a serious problem. Do you feel heaps tired? cold sometimes? You may want to go get a blood test.
Do less cardio and weights, but do them with more intensity. Eg. you need to be going as fast as you can when you do cardio. If you can do it for longer than 30 mins then you aren't going fast enough.
2x a week is enough for weights, and 2-3 cardio sessions is plenty. You need to be having a minimum of 2 days rest.
Also dont forget that muscle weighs more than fat. So it is also possible that you are turning fat into muscle and but your weight might take a long time to get down, even though you are losing all the fat off your body.
:lol: see this is why people shouldn't start threads outside the getting buffed encyclopedia. Too many of those old myths that everyone believes start popping up.
Muscle and fat are 2 different types of tissue, they can not magically turn into each other.
:lol: see this is why people shouldn't start threads outside the getting buffed encyclopedia. Too many of those old myths that everyone believes start popping up.
Muscle and fat are 2 different types of tissue, they can not magically turn into each other.
But the point still stands....you could be losing fat and building muscle, which means you're not losing any weight...but your BMI could still be going down.
stargazer
24-Nov-05, 12:27pm
hey,
I am having the same problem...
thanks for starting the thread :thumb: that getting buffed thread is just too huge to go through.
But the point still stands....you could be losing fat and building muscle, which means you're not losing any weight...but your BMI could still be going down.
According to the BMI I am extremely obese. The BMI is ridiculous.
Loopi, forget the scale, you should be using the mirror as your guide, the scale will do your head in. Bodyfat is what you're concerned with, not total weight.
silvaside
24-Nov-05, 01:02pm
Smoke a lil meth.
According to the BMI I am extremely obese. The BMI is ridiculous.
Loopi, forget the scale, you should be using the mirror as your guide, the scale will do your head in. Bodyfat is what you're concerned with, not total weight.
The normal height/weight number is ridiculous...But I was under the impression that the proper BMI involved a calculation of body fat %....Anyways thats what I was getting at
The normal height/weight number is ridiculous...But I was under the impression that the proper BMI involved a calculation of body fat %....Anyways thats what I was getting at
Nah fair enough.
But also what you must remember is that guys have a hard enough time putting on muscle. So it's nearly impossible for women to gain muscle, given that they lack the right hormones. Which is why it's always comical when girls say "i'm not doing weights because my legs will get too big", like it's that easy.
Alter what cardio you do, as Ansl said - instead of just jogging on the treadmill, try using a cross trainer.
Also, check how much sugar you consume. I lost weight a while ago and then hit a plateau and after examining fat intake, low, carb intake, low, I realised that maybe my sugar intake was WAY too high. Stopped drinking cordial/gatorate etc and the weight loss began again.
Nah fair enough.
But also what you must remember is that guys have a hard enough time putting on muscle. So it's nearly impossible for women to gain muscle, given that they lack the right hormones. Which is why it's always comical when girls say "i'm not doing weights because my legs will get too big", like it's that easy.
It's like you're channeling my gf dude. "I'm not doing squats because it make my ass too big and muscly" Then I have to listen to her complain about how the stepper doesn't work properly.
Wow, there are some excellent respones here! Thank you all so much
My daily eating goes along the lines of:
breakky: all bran or weet bix with milk
morning tea if im hungry enough: fruit or rice/corn crackers
lunch: sandwich with usually vegies and a meat like ham or chicken
dinner: meat or fish & veg usually. sometimes pasta.
also include a weekly splurge like a bit of chocky or a meal out. (i should try to stop doing that...)
my cardio workouts are mainly fat burning ones, and at the moment, i warm up on a treadmill just walking, then do 20 mins fast walk/jog on that, then do 15 mins on each of the other machines (bike, that stair one, and that one where you're kind of gliding along). Then i also cycle, because its my main form of transport.
I don't think i'm going to up the ante on my weights training right now, because i get soooooo sore and it takes me days (and much streching) for the soreness to go away :(
Marzy re bodyfat: are there things that can calculate body fat?
I'll probably cut down on cardio sessions then. I've never done Yoga - what kind of benefits will i get from something like that?
A personal trainer might help you with plateaus, especially with the motivation part and with changing your routine.
Basically you need to burn more energy than you take in without harming your body so looking at what and how much you eat is important. Again consultation with a dietitian might help. They can taylor an individual plan for you and help you stick to it.
Don't cut down on the cardio that's what burns the fat.
Loopi, yes you can get calipers to measure your body fat. Probably best to just ask someone at the gym to test it for you, it's usually free.
The machines you use don't make a difference. In fact the calories you burn during exercise contribute nearly nothing to fat loss. It's the increase in metabolic rate caused by exercise (namely high-intensity exercise as walking won't induce this) which will cause you to use more calories for the rest of the day.
So forget machine hopping. Just stick to the machine which enables you to go the hardest/fastest ... probably the bike or treadmill.
It's really important that you do high-intensity intervals with a 3:1 ratio.
Try 30 secs as hard and fast as you can, then 90 secs at a slow pace so you can recover for the next 30 sec burst.
Do that for 30 mins 2-3 times a week in addition to 2 weights x 30-40 min weight sessions where you are lifting as heavy as YOU can for 8-12 reps. Forget the jogging/walking crap (except for 5 mins at the start and end to warm up).
Your diet looks pretty good. You will burn fat if you follow the above regime. Give it 6-8 weeks and you'll notice a HUGE difference.
Fritz - a dietician and trainer would be awesome right now, except - i cant really afford one :(
Marzy: Oh - the different machines dont make difference? :( I guess i probably guessed they did, because some are harder than others.
Anyway - So more intensity. That 30 second burst thing sounds great! I was doing a similar thing with jogging/running outdoors (supa suggested it), but i decided to gym it instead and build up my fitness.
Argh... weights are my enemy right now.... but 40 mins!!! :-0 i'll try...
thanks again for your advice everyone!
slinky99
24-Nov-05, 02:31pm
Ive been going to the gym now for 6 months and have barely seen any difference to my body. I have tightened up a bit and lost boob :~( but apart from that there is nothing that obvious (probably because I haven't changed my diet that much).
The difference I have noticed is that im more alive - I dont get home from work/uni and want to fall into bed and I am fitter.
I think it is very important to have another goal for doing exercise and eating healthily than just losing weight. If you are constantly fixated on how much you are losing than if go through a plateau (like everyone does) it is tempting to give up and go back to your old ways.
Just keep going with the exercise and the healthy eating because it makes you feel good and try and not focus on what the scales say.
My 2c however everyone else on this thread is a lot more knowledgable than me.
im the same i mainly go to the gym for just mental fitness so i feel like im being healthy, i dont feel like it does all that much and i have been going for ages, im pretty irregular like one week i will go 4 times and the next not at all, i think that is my problem, when i stoped going i lost alot more weight which was strange but anyway its still good to go.
Ive been going to the gym now for 6 months and have barely seen any difference to my body. I have tightened up a bit and lost boob :~( but apart from that there is nothing that obvious (probably because I haven't changed my diet that much).
.
no disrespect, but either you aren't training hard enough or your diet is poor or both. You can't just wish for changes to your body, you actually have to work for them.
Fritz - a dietician and trainer would be awesome right now, except - i cant really afford one :(
Marzy: Oh - the different machines dont make difference? :( I guess i probably guessed they did, because some are harder than others.
Anyway - So more intensity. That 30 second burst thing sounds great! I was doing a similar thing with jogging/running outdoors (supa suggested it), but i decided to gym it instead and build up my fitness.
Argh... weights are my enemy right now.... but 40 mins!!! :-0 i'll try...
thanks again for your advice everyone!
3 sessions of cardio for 30-40 minutes is fine. You need to focus on building more lean muscle. I cannot stress how important it is to build muscle as a means of fighting fat.......particularly for women. Muscle burns more calories per pound than fat when you are resting. In other words, muscle increases your resting metabolic rate.
But the point still stands....you could be losing fat and building muscle, which means you're not losing any weight...but your BMI could still be going down.
yes but you will be able to notice the difference in the mirror or in your pant size even though the scales stay the same. That's why the mirror is always your best guide.......the mirror never lies
My daily eating goes along the lines of:
breakky: all bran or weet bix with milk
morning tea if im hungry enough: fruit or rice/corn crackers
lunch: sandwich with usually vegies and a meat like ham or chicken
dinner: meat or fish & veg usually. sometimes pasta.
morning tea if you are hungry enough?? another sign your metabolism isn't kicking over like it should... you should be ravenous mid morning.
i eat soooo much more food than that. but most of the extra food i eat on top of what you eat is protein.
it is good that it looks like most of the carbs you are getting are low GI and slow burning. (except for the fruit...and the bread if the bread you have chosen is white)
my general observation: if you're trying to lose weight you need to change your balance of protein and carbs. id cut out bread altogether and eat vegetables with a protein serve at lunch, and increase the portion of protein. if possible eat salad at dinner instead of the vegetables.
gotta get some protein in at breakfast time too. and snack on nuts as opposed to fruit.
/me sits back and waits for someone to jump and scream and say that nuts and meat make you fat
(come on its not so far fetched, we've already had people saying fat can be turned into muscle and girls will get big legs if they do resistance work)
Actually supa, most fruit is low gi.
Apples, oranges, peaches, mandarines, nectarines, grapes, pairs ... all low gi
all this talk of food is making me hungry.
i won't dispute anything marzy says, he is always right.
i still think nuts are a better choice than fruit though, partly cos i'm protein obsessed :lol:
Tash 1985
24-Nov-05, 05:40pm
supa you advocate some fruits (I remember you telling me about strawberries)
Anyhow, I read about something called negative calories in things like apples and strawberries. It purports to the energy required in digesting the fruits outweighing the energy (kj/cal) contained in the fruit.
Loopi - like has been said, it's the last kilos that are hardest to shift. Keep going and don't lose hope!!
The advice given so far is great though! Certainly given me a better understanding. :thumb:
Nah Supa I agree, a small amount of nuts would be better than fruit if your aim was weightloss. Although not necessarilly for the protein because they aren't complete proteins.
Anyhow, I read about something called negative calories in things like apples and strawberries. It purports to the energy required in digesting the fruits outweighing the energy (kj/cal) contained in the fruit. Another myth. I've never seen that written about apples, but it's always written about lettuce, celery etc. They don't contain many calories, but they contain more than the body requires to digest them, which is basically nothing considering they are mostly fibre and aren't even digested by the body.
:lol: that reminds me of the other classic. "Drink super cold water because your body requires heaps of calories to heat it up to your body temp so you'll lose weight" :lol: Yeh, maybe if you were drinking 3 million litres a day.
Tash 1985
24-Nov-05, 06:09pm
Is it wrong that I want your brain (and in that, its research and analysis abilities)?
:P
Is it wrong that I want your brain (and in that, its research and analysis abilities)?
:P
Not unless you're a zombie :P
Tash 1985
24-Nov-05, 06:43pm
:lol: it's all good then
(sorry for hijack loopi)
Aren't nuts really fatty?
Will still be stored as fat. Which is why the key is not to eat too many. Couple of handfuls a day is fine though. Just don't go eating the whole packet.
wow, still getting excellent responses. thanks again
the bread i have usually is helga's soy and linseed or mixed grain, or burgen rye. love em.
And thanks for the info on the fruit with the "negative" cals. That's awesome!
I'll see how i go with balancing cardio and weights sessions, and will bump to update my progress!
some great advice here!!
THEHEATH
24-Nov-05, 10:51pm
I've been getting stuck into that bread loopi.
How are those body fat scales? Do they work?
There are scales that figure it out too?? crazy.
and how good is that bread?!
slinky99
25-Nov-05, 12:21pm
no disrespect, but either you aren't training hard enough or your diet is poor or both. You can't just wish for changes to your body, you actually have to work for them.
Both! I dont train hard enough and I my diet isnt the greatest but I'm actually quite happy with my body atm. I eat pizza and pasta and lots of carbs but i also eat a lot of fruit and vegetables and I only drink water. Basically my thoughts are that I like food and i'm not willing to sacrifice all the things i love to loose a few extra pounds that dont cause me too much grief anyway.
The rest of my post indicates that I go to the gym for mental awareness, not to wish for changes to my body.
Aren't nuts really fatty?
I'm of the insulin regulating school of thought so I don't worry about the fat in nuts too much.
Basically: fat, protein and complex carbs leave you in a state where you never have an insulin spike in your bloodstream. Nuts are high in all 3 of those things.
People who are obese are shown to constantly have elevated insulin levels. Your body just retains fat more when you have high insulin levels (I'm told). Insulin is also the hormone which stimulates hunger... so people who have high insulin levels tend to eat more.
It's basically the whole "drink soft drink, elevated blood sugar levels followed by elevated insulin levels as the body tries to compensate" scenario. Then when there is nothing fibrous or high in protein or fat to go with it so the high insulin levels just stay high.
My overall goal every time I put something in my mouth is to avoid a blood sugar spike followed by an insulin spike. I eat heeeapps of food and quite a lot of good fat from oily fish and nuts but my weight is really stable. If you are not on a blood sugar rollercoaster you can actually let your appetite be your guide.
Hope that makes sense and no doubt Marzy will rip it to shreds shortly. It's basically my rationale for eating a high protein, complex carb and relatively high in (good) fat diet whilst avoiding simple carbs and saturated fats.
:lol: you know me too well.
Even a protein only meal causes a rise in insulin. You're right though that high gi carbs cause a large spike. Now it will come down without you eating any other food, if it stayed elevated you'd be in a lot of trouble and end up coming insulin resistant (i.e. diabetic) ... which is why we are finding so many people who have type 2 diabetes because they are essentially spiking their insulin all day long.
Now to simplify things, insulin is a storage hormone, which means if there is fat present during an insulin spike, it will be immediately stored as fat, not to mention that any fat burning process you may have going on will stop while insulin is present, unless it's post-exercise. Which is why I suggested a while ago in the buffed thread seperating meals into fat/protein and protein/carbs.
Don't get me wrong, insulin is anabolic and good for storing aminos in muscles, but if there's fat present during an insulin spike, there's going to be lots of fat storage, and if your fat cells are already saturated, the body is happy to create news ones, oh noes.
jootsiejuice
25-Nov-05, 02:43pm
If you don't do the diet, at least read the "South Beach Diet" book. Covers everything (except the exercise) talked about here.
:lol: you know me too well.
Even a protein only meal causes a rise in insulin. You're right though that high gi carbs cause a large spike. Now it will come down without you eating any other food, if it stayed elevated you'd be in a lot of trouble and end up coming insulin resistant (i.e. diabetic) ... which is why we are finding so many people who have type 2 diabetes because they are essentially spiking their insulin all day long.
Now to simplify things, insulin is a storage hormone, which means if there is fat present during an insulin spike, it will be immediately stored as fat, not to mention that any fat burning process you may have going on will stop while insulin is present, unless it's post-exercise. Which is why I suggested a while ago in the buffed thread seperating meals into fat/protein and protein/carbs.
Don't get me wrong, insulin is anabolic and good for storing aminos in muscles, but if there's fat present during an insulin spike, there's going to be lots of fat storage, and if your fat cells are already saturated, the body is happy to create news ones, oh noes.
this all makes a lot of sense and is not completely conflicting with what i said :thumb:
in practice though there is a difference in that i wouldn't have shirked from mixing carbs and fat...i would simply have used the rationale that the more fat i had with the carbs the more it would slow down the insulin response.
but given how you've explained it i like your suggestion of the protein/fat and protein/carbs meal plans...it's not something i'd considered before but it fits in with the theory.
and OH NOES for lots of girls.... what would be high in fat and sugar and therefore banned using this theory?? that's right CHOCOLATE :~(
didjeridude
25-Nov-05, 03:40pm
I think what buffed means by your metabolism slowing down by overtraining is that your thyroid has decreased its normal output. Low thyroid levels = slower metabolic rate. Which can be quite a serious problem. Do you feel heaps tired? cold sometimes? You may want to go get a blood test.
It's not too much cardio that causes the downswing in metabolism. The cascade of events which leads to slowed metabolism is triggered by long-term glycogen deficiency. If you're not getting enough carbs during recovery between exercise bouts this could be a problem.
No need to stress though loopi, two weeks is hardly a plateau and in the grand scheme of things it is nothing. It's highly unlikely you are overtrained in such a short space of time, so you just need to keep going with the discipline and consistency in your diet and exercise. Like the boys said, add a little resistance training into your program and gradually increase volume and intensity of your exercise program from week to week. Make sure you keep eating healthy and you'll get there!
DJ-MUNCHKIN
25-Nov-05, 04:05pm
On the topic of weight loss - my boss just bougght me an ice cream!!!!
I like my job
u_should_dance
25-Nov-05, 05:25pm
hehe ok...
Firstly BMI is rubbish.. its just a magical number used to compair stuff.. and has no real application to anyone who exercises as much as you guys...
in my experience in terms of wieght loss resistance training is going to be a better friend than straight out cardio. Thats not to say that cardio is usless.. but a resonable cardio week would include just 4 x 4km runs (between 15-20mins depending on experience) a week. thats it just a quick burst and rather than train til u feel totally exahusted... train better. keep the 4km distance and try to better ur time rather than just running 30 or 1hr perday..
Secondly, train with more intensity at the gym. 5 mins on the tred is enough warm up... abs first (because we're lazy and wont do them otherwise).. strech your legs out durring curls etcs. currently my work out is a two day spilt /done twice a week.... each body gets two exercises (execpt for legs - they get four , its a good place to build mass for weight loss i.e. large muscles more energy expendidure durring cardio etc..) give urself a chance.. lower the weight and start at 15 rep sets until your form is excellent and you can maintain it as you increase weight.. drop reps.. the only other tip is that super sets are your friend.. and remember to breathe :-)
Just some insight... everyones training therories are different.. these were just mine..
:)
Ninjarina
01-Dec-05, 02:19am
All i gotta say is... CHILL!!
You WILL NOT see huge results in two weeks. More like two months. Patience my friend ;)
Just keep on working...
Don't worry, Ninjarina, I am.
but to my luck, i've lost 1.5kg since last week :-D
my conclusion: eating more does help. i think/hope.
but i'll bump this in a month and post status.
echosystm
11-Dec-05, 03:24pm
Its about being able to control what you put in your mouth.
I did my summer cut to 11% from ~16-17 in a month and a bit with 2 cardio sessions a week, 20 minutes each. It's not that hard mangz
i'm meso/endomorph too :P
Jip Travolta
12-Dec-05, 01:36pm
hey loopi, thought i'd throw in my 2c here
I've found my stomach somewhat increasing in recent times so the method i now use when doing my cardio is 40-50 minutes of low intensity training. By low intensity, I mean 65% of my max heart rate, which is ideal for fat loss training. Rough gauge for max heart rate is 220 minus your age.
Also, with everyone saying here more muscle helps burn fat, maybe you could look into using some dietary supplements. I use creatine and protien and my strength and muscle gains since I've started using it have been very noticable. Also will help you with the soreness that you say you have because it aids in repairing the muscle quicker.
I'm no expert but theres a couple of things that may help :)
MiSsB29
12-Dec-05, 02:01pm
Eat a big mac meal - preferably about 5 a day and the weight will fly off
Ahhh - thanks for that advice Jip
I'm keeping up with my cardio at the moment, but once i've lost enough to start focussing on building more muscle, i'll get into more of the supplements fo' sure!
:lol: :lol: missb
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