I started calorie counting yesterday. Primarily because I've hit a plateau and I wanted to know why. What I found shocked me a little bit. You can have a quick look on my blog for numbers etc if you want the detail!

Basically I thought I was doing everything right. I didn't want to count calories I wanted to make a conscious lifestyle change which wouldn't revert back once I stopped relying on certain techniques. I eat well (i thought), I go to the gym, I'm active etc etc.

But I'm not losing weight anymore. So I counted calories. I found I had a 1500 calorie deficit a day. Great! Going on 9 calories per gram of fat I should be losing about 1kg a week or so. But I'm not. I feel good so what the hell is going on.

Turns out that I may not be eating enough. I only consumed 1300 calories or so yesterday. But even so I should be losing weight right?

What's everyone elses experience with this type of stuff? I know you can eat too little and your body goes into "Starvation Mode" but really you should still lose weight if you have a calorie deficiency shouldn't you?

Believe me, I sympathize with you!! Take a look at my journal and you can see my frustration first hand.

Plateaus are one of the most frustrating things about losing weight. I hit a plateau in January, and it lasted 31 days. The plateau I'm on now has lasted 26 days so far.

You may want to drop Steve a message -- he's pretty good at looking at your situation and recommending something that may work.

Good luck!

What are your stats?

Hopefully I'm telling you what you want to know because I could do with the help.

Over the last 2-3 years my weight has come down from 315lbs (143kgs) to around 260lbs(118kg) This wasn't through any type of diet or conscious decision it was gradual process of improving my lifestyle. About 6 months ago I plateaued at 260lbs and was quite happy with it. At the beginning of the year I started to get serious about weight loss but I don't seem to be able to shift off of this plateau. I'm currently 250lbs(114kg) but can't seem to drop anymore.

So...
Weight = 250lbs
Height = 5 feet 9 inches
Food = generally healthy but have unconsciously crept down to only consuming 1300 calories a day. Probably part of the problem.
Exercise = two upper body resistance sessions a week, 8-10 reps, 3 sets, biceps, triceps, shoulders, lower back, chest, upper back and abs. 4 cardio sessions a week, mixture of interval and stamina. Usually lasting 1 - 1.5hours and a mixture of spinning, body pump, stairs, ellipse, rower, swim. Sometimes drop a CV session for a core stability session. Every month I drop most classes for a rest week of gentle swim, light yoga etc. No leg resistance training because they're big enough hulking my body around.

Hopefully that's all you need.

Cheers for the help everyone and the words of encouragment.

I have never experienced it. I'm lucky, I just cut to under 2,300 calories and I lose weight. I do have an active lifestyle - I'm a manual worker, have a family, go to the gym, exercise the hound etc. I'm presently a little over ten stone (143 pounds) in weight and at 5 ft 8" in height, but I couldn't survive on 1,300 calories per day - that would leave me hungry, and I've never had to experience hunger in order to lose weight - but as I said, maybe I'm one of the lucky ones.

As I see it, you have two choices:

• Continue as you are for a few more weeks or so, see if the plateau breaks.
• Try a shake-up. Increase calories by eating more clean nutritious foods - put some good fats in that diet, maybe try some good nuts and seeds if you can? At the same time, try varying your exercise and rest programme (yes, rest days are important) - try a new activity.

Cutting further isn't a choice. By the way, I recently tried calorie counting - didn't like it. For one thing, it made me obsess more about food - I was getting a real bore. Secondly, calorie counting sometimes discriminates unfairly against some healthy foods. Good luck, and I hope that the storm breaks for you soon!

cheers ferret.

I've already picked up the calories to around 2000. I'm going to shift the gym stuff around to. I'm not getting too down about it yet though as I'm seeing changes in fitness, waist measurements etc.

I've definitely got some reading todo about plateaus.

Good luck mate. As I said, I can't really help you out of any similar experience. What I can say is that your New Year Resolution really was the right thing. Stick with it, the journey might take some time, but it will be worth it. Its like a repayment mortgage. At first, most of your efforts are interest - an investment for the future - you can't see much return. Later, the payments are for brick and mortar - or rather, fitness! You start to enjoy the new levels of activity, and your extended limitations. It becomes easier.

nice mortgage analogy. Good luck with your aims whatever they are.