Is this a plateau?

[yarmiah]

I'm looking for some help in determining if what I am experiencing is a plateau, and if so any suggestions on busting thru it.

I have been undertaken this mission to become healthly and lose weight PERMANENTLY. It began in mid august with a starting weight of 182 lbs.
Over the last 4 weeks, the scale has barely budged. I am losing a lb or less each week, and have had weeks where it didnt move at all.
For the Halloween challenge I started at 177.6 and currently am at 173.0,
for a 4.6 loss over 6 weeks. I had expected more!

I am currently using the Selfdietclub (thru self magazine, works like FITDAY) to monitor my food intake and exercise.
-I have been exercising 5-6 days a week, doing 30-45 min on a ski machine
-I have been drinking @ 34oz of water almost everyday
-I have been journaling my food intake and stay within the range of 1600, usually eating less.

The program based the amount of calories based on age, weight and activity level. I have also calculated my calories thru anotehr program using my BMR and activity level which = @ 2100 calories and said to lose weight, reduce that by 500 cal a day- which is right in the 1600 range.

I will confess, that when journaling, I rarely count my cup of decaf coffee with spenda and sugar free cream(@30 cal a cup) and that some foods had to be estimated, but cant imagine that totalling @300 calories a day, the amount of calories I usually have left over.

So, if this is a plateau, any ideas or suggestions to get past and start getting these pounds off quicker? I think I'm realistic in expecting 1-2 lbs a week as reasonable.

Thanks!

 

[theleip]

Hey yarmiah,

First off you aren't in a plateau if losing, you are just losing at a pace, not bad. 5 lbs in 6 weeks is nothing to toss aside, not to mention again scale weight is just ONE method of measure. Start taking some pics or measuring body fat with calipers, look in the mirror (at not just at your abs).

That being said to keep from plateauing or to bump up what you are doing...

-Don't guesstimate, don't fill the tbsp more, don't KINDA of land in your calories. STICK IT!
-Bump up your training with some solid resistance work and aerobic work. No two workouts should ever be the same, if you do the same workout all the time you are going to get the same results.
-Rest and stretch-recovery is just as important as everything else so make it just as important.

So no your calories, do the work, maker it harder and harder and rest just as hard=never plateau.

Good Luck and remember took years to put it on, have some patience for your body.

 

[allyphoe]

I am losing a lb or less each week

to lose weight, reduce that by 500 cal a day

500 calories a day is a pound a week. If you want to be losing faster, you need a larger deficit.

I'm a fan of the Hacker's Diet weight loss tracker - it uses a weighting algorithm to smooth out day-to-day fluctuations, and comes up with an estimate of what your real daily deficit is. So, for instance, from 9/24 to 10/1, the scale said I gained a net half pound, but the smoothed line showed a 2 pound weight loss. (And yes, there are plenty of weeks when the scale says I lost more and the graph says I lost less.)

If it's any consolation, when I first started, I lost absolutely nothing for a month. I'd been looking forward to some encouraging water weight loss, at least.

 

[ExercisePhysio]

I would enjoy seeing a log of one week to see where there might be a few mistakes. Also a 500 calorie deficit is one pound a week...you seem to be on track.

Your water intake will not impact your weight-loss. It is healthy, but it is a secondary issue for weight-loss.

30-45 minutes on a ski machine is not going to burn a significant amount of calories. It helps obviously and is most beneficial to being in shape...but as for weight loss? Not so much.

And remember people have different metabolic bases. 2100 calorie a day expenditure might not be you. You could be 1900...you could be 2300! You have to adjust your caloric intake specifically for you. Perhaps you need to exercise more or lower your caloric intake to achieve the results you want.

Michael