Hello everyone,

I have been on this plateau for the last month or so. At first I thought I was not pushing my body too much, so I combined dance, with running. Then for various reasons I had to stop dance and now I am combining yoga (not too intense) with running. I am on Wk4 or C25k and I feel like I am getting better and stronger with each week.

I read the sticky on starvation and calorie allowance. I am 28, 5ft4inches and currently weight 134 lbs. When i started my journey (late July 2009) I was 140 lbs. I started gaining weight earlier this year (after March 2009) and for about 4 years I was at 132. I want to go down to 125 (mini goal) and then eventually maintain at 120 lbs.

I am wondering can someone hit a plateau so early in the weight loss journey? So as I mentioned, I thought I was not pushing my body too much, so did various kinds of workouts to no avail.

When I read Steve's sticky I realised the problem, in fact, is probably with the way I eat. My calculations tell me my calorie allowance is 1700 plus (if i want to lose about 2lbs every week), but I NEVER reach that. I am looking at my ftday.com average for the last month or so, and it tells me I am 1200 plus. I think the only time I have been over 1700 cal was one day when I was eating high-calorie food.

I am trying to up my protein intake. I read somewhere that women must have 50g (at least), per day of protein. I eat close to 100g. When I eat chicken or fish, it is obviously higher. I always have yogurt (once or twice a day). I have admit say that my food is Carbs heavy. But I eat enough veggies and fruits also. In the last month i have NEVER been below 1200 cal, but not over 1700cal either.

I have also read of people who are my height and weight and eat 1400 cal one week and 1700 cal the next. Is this what they mean by not letting your body get used to a routine?

Also I vary my exercises a lot. I walk (A LOT), bike (whenever I can), doing c25k and yoga.

Please help!! Thanks.

I think you might be overthinking this.

It's pretty simple. A good average for figuring maintenance calories is to take your current bodyweight and multiply it by 14. (Assuming you're moderately active.)

At 134 lbs that means your estimated maintenance calories would be 1876.

If you wanted to lose weight at a reasonable and safe rate, you'd drop that by about 30%, which would leave you around 1314 calories.

So as long as you're getting somewhere between 1200-1400 calories, you're going to lose weight.

The thing you have ot remember is that the smaller you are, the harder it is to lose weight. It's just simple math.

For you a 30% reduction means you're eating 562 fewer calories per day.
For me, a 30% reduction means I'm eating 701 fewer calories per day.

If a pound of fat is 3500 calories, then it will take you 6.2 days to lose 1 lbs, and it will take me 4.9 days to lose a pound. That's just mathematical fact and there's no much you can do about it. The closer I get to my goal, the harder it will be for me to lose as well.

Eating more protein is good - it means you have a better chance of maintaining lean muscle. I try to get 1g of protein for every pound of my goal weight, which means I eat around 130g of protein per day. Don't cut back on that.

Keep in mind also that a month isn't really a plateau. It's just a pause. There are a ton of things that can influence your weight over a month - your period, water weight, changes in exercise, etc.

Just keep doing what you're doing and you'll see loss again. With what you're eating, starvation adaptation simply doesn't apply.

Thank you so much for this, Kara. You are a rockstar! What you are saying makes sense. And yes, I think I am over thinking. I hate this feeling of not seeing results ( i guess everyone does). Also it seems like everyone is losing weight 'cept me. I MUST learn to be patient and stop acting like a spoiled brat.

Will maintain 1200-1300cal and up my protein. Chicken, milk, yogurt, fish- here I come!

There will be a little tweak on my exercise routine this week. Going trekking for a couple of days- its going to be pretty hardcore- up to the gateway of Everest and back. So that may help in some small ways. Fingers crossed.

Thank you thank you.

If it helps any, I've been at 167 for ... oh 3 weeks now?

Yeah. I know part of it is that I'm not being as careful as I could be with my calories - but it's still frustrating. I just keep plugging along.

You have had an amazing journey, Kara. And you are such a voice of reason here in the forums. Really appreciate your inputs- learn so much from them.

Good luck with breaking 167lbs.

Have a good week!