So, I've hit yet another plateau and I'm looking for some guidance. I am an exercise junky (i love it, but that does cause me to get stuck in a routine b/c i'm not bored w/ it, i dont change it and then it stops doing all the positives it was at the beginning..

anyways, i have plateau-ed at 143 lbs for 3 months now. I've had longer. Yeah, not fun. Anyways, i obviously need to CHANGE something but that is where my question lies...

small background is that i lost 15 lbs, eating about 1200 cals/day and exercising 4x long cardio, 2 x weight training (full body), 2 x pilates, 1 rest day and occasionally yoga...then i stalled (again) and it was apparently that i wasnt eating enough calories w/the amount of exercise expenditure....upped to 1500 cals, lost a few pounds and am stuck again...a nutritionist said to up again to 1700-1800 cals/day which i am at now (as i did it slowly and it has been 3 weeks at this nutrition intake).

Questions
I want to lose another 10-15 lbs...and i want to SEE the muscles that I feel under this last layer of fat....however, i'm not sure what to do to get there (that is where yall come in). I've read so many conflicting things and I know if i change too much at once, it will end up being counterproductive b/c I wont know what started losing again whenever i do..

DO I?

1) continue w/ my exercise program, change it up in terms of duration, intensity, add more HIIT and intervals than before and continue with the same type full body strength training routine, aiming to lose fat, but not lose muscle? this will probably lead to some muscle loss and then i work to tone and rebuild AFTER the lbs are gone??

2) change up my whole program - do 4x circuit training, 2x pilates, 1x yoga but focus more on weights, with shorter cardio cycles and build muscle which supposedly will eventually 'burn the fat' away?

3) drop my calories back down lower again? I'm hesitant to do this as maintenance right now is at 2100 so eating 1700 causes 400 cal deficit w/o my exercising included..

4) any other ideas?????????????

thanks so much for your advice/thoughts and sharing!

This one is tough - you sound really dedicated.

i'm not sure what you should try. The best advice I can think of is to just do trial and error.

The one thing I would question is your calorie intake. You said your maintenance is 2100, but how did you find that? If you are eating less than that and not losing or gaining for three months, I'd say that would put your maintenance lower.

it says based on this calculator ExRx.net: Estimated Calorie Requirements that my BMR is 1450ish and exercise burned is 700+ so daily maintenance calories are 2150ish...

why would you think lower for maintenance? or are you saying maybe i should go lower in calories again? i dont want to hit 'starvation mode' again..not fun getting out of that one.

and yes, i am very dedicated to this and thats partly why it is so frustrating to not know what to try. thanks so much for responding.


and here: Calorie Calculator - Daily Caloric Needs

it says: Maintenance: 2125 Calories/day
Fat Loss: 1700 Calories/day

Calories burned through exercise is an estimate at best. You certainly cant count on the cardio machines for that-a lot depends on amount of lean mass etc. Not to mention you can only count those calories MINUS the calories you would have burned had you not done anything at all (your BMR X time spent exercising). Of course your BMR is inexact as well as that tales into account body fat percentage, amount of lean tissue, etc.
I think your best bet is not calorie restriction. I would add some HIIT and increase your weight training to increase the amount of lean tissue you have and decrease your body fat.

i have 3 words for you my friend!

intensity, intensity and intensity!

you have a great system going by the sounds of it, keep your disciplin and keep working hard but make sure your workouts are intense!

be sure to push yourself hard!

you can spend time counting calories, worrying about heart rate targets and all other areas of interest but if you dont actually push yourself then ull be stuck on your plataeu forever, d'oh!

also keep this in mind as you are still burning fat you are increasing your muscle mass so dont always get trapped into the "losing weight" trap, don chase figures on the scales because that only works when you are starting off so dont get suckered into it

keep enjoying yourself and add sprint work into your routines, some hard fast anaerobic workouts will do wonders for you in no time

I'm sorry I wasn't very clear. I meant that if you're eating a certain amount of calories and not losing or gaining for several months, then that is your maintenance number of calories. I should have said that you can't count on the calculators to see how many calories your body responds to.

Not terribly helpful advice :-)

oh, i hear ya - well, you would think that is my maintenance calories but i wasnt gaining or losing while eating 700 less or 300 less either so who knows which number is truly my maintenance number? i know the calculators aren't the best but when i went too low....even 1500, i was still stagnant?

Comments:

I understand exactly how you feel. You do all the right things and you don't seem to get the results you are supposed to get. Even as a trainer, I had the same problem. I could get everyone else to lose bodyfat but I could not do it myself.

I actually went to a dietitian. She switched me over to a predominantly plant-based diet (not vegetarian but a lot of vegetables). My protein is lean (chicken, fish, beans, egg whites, etc.) - 1 gram of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. She also cut my sodium by a lot (down to 200mg per day). Sodium has a tendency to make you retain water. Exercise consisted of cardio and weights with 15 reps or higher to create the deficit I needed. I am into my 5th week and I have lost 12 pounds.


What is your somatotype? Endomorph? Ectomorph? Mesomorph? If you happen to be endomorph, you may have some insulin-resistance issues. The composition of your calories is just as important as how many calories.

Keep the fiber high. I eat Fiber One cereal with soy milk (I don't do a lot of dairy.) with fruit and 2 boiled egg whites. A cup of this cereal is 28g of fiber. It's like weight loss in a box. Remember, the bulk of your immune system and nutrient absorption is in your intestines. Keep them cleaned out.

One last thing, I didn't see any mention of measurements. I had one client who only lost 4 pounds in 30 days but she lost 2 inches on each thigh and 1.5 inches off her waist. Remember, scales are stupid. All they understand is weight. They don't understand body fat percentage and body composition.

How do your clothes fit? How do you look in the mirror? Do other people notice you are getting slimmer? These things are more important than weight alone.

My $0.02,
James

Thanks a lot, houstontrainer! Yes, it is frustrating..

However, I went and joined a gym. Even though over the past year, I have been doing great w/ my elliptical in the house in the winters, running in the summer, a variety of equipment for weight training and did lose 15 lbs and overall my whole body 12 inches :-)!! 4.5 from my stomach. Pretty cool. Anyways, I need a change. I'm stuck and could feel it and wasnt getting the same intensity (as exclamatio said as well) as prior b/c i am less and more fit, i presume...

so, i havent belonged to a gym in like 3 yrs - it was fun actually yesterday. hopefully i can keep it fun and different- i plan on changing it up as much as possible in terms of cardio equipment and make use of the weight room etc, possibly the pool and maybe even some classes. a whole new regimen, i think, will help (I HOPE!!).

the plan is : sunday off, monday/thursdays pilates (w/ machines), tuesday/wednesday/friday gym weight training and HIIT, saturday long run and yoga

as far as nutrition - i use sparkpeople.com to make sure i am within range and balanced w/in meals...i do try to limit the sodium intake (it doesnt track that, i wish it would b/c i retain water easily) and yes, i try to eat more and more fiber, so i guess i am doing that right so far..maybe a little more fiber and less sodium will help as well.

what is interesting is that my clothes fit fine. i am a strange bird i believe b/c my weight creeped up to 160 (i'm 5'5'') and i was UP a size pants but still a size 6 and lost 15 and went back to "my" size 4. I'm top heavy, I guess. But, I am still in the 4's, chucked the 6's and even bot some new stuff. Not looking to decrease the size 4 but maybe make it that i can wear ANY size 4 LOL.

i dont know what body type i am...now i am curious & off to go find out.

thanks for all your help!!!

I suggest you increase to three times a week (non-consecutive, of course) on the weight training and focus on compound exercises- Squats, Lunges, Step Ups, Deadlifts (if you know how to do them correctly), Presses, Pulldowns, etc. Forget about Leg Extensions. Don't waste time on lots of crunches. Also, too many people spend too much time isolating smaller muscles like biceps and triceps, which don't burn as many calories and are already getting worked with compound exercises. I would also pick weights heavy enough that you can only get 8 - 12 reps. In fact, some days use weights where you can't get more than 8 reps with strict form. I know the mantra is light weight/high reps but the research doesn't bear that out.

You can do your HIIT either after weight training on in between lifting days.

I also agree with Exclamatio about intensity. Way too many people spend more time than necessary exercising and get mediocre results because their intensity is mediocre. People can get a great and effective workout in 45 minutes to an hour if they push themselves.

P.S. Research also shows that if you strength train while dieting you lose very little muscle.

thanks mixxter...very helpful...i'm just trying to figure out my schedule with the strength training now b/c of pilates (some believe that it is not muscle building but it has been for me)...

so, mon/thurs is pilates
tues/wed/frid was going to be weights/HIIT - tues/frid: upper body, wed: lower body
saturday long run w/ my dogs..sundays off...

is that enough rest to let the muscles rebuild properly?

Hi skyler,

Yes, it would be enough recovery time but despite my earlier comment you may be better off just doing 2 total body workouts. Or, lower/upper/total- it's hard to say without knowing exactly what you're curently doing.

I won't be able to look at it today but if you want to e-mail me your current strength workout (exercises, the order you do them, # of sets, # of reps, etc.) I'll be happy to look at it and make recommendations. You can reach me at themixxster@yahoo.com.

Hi,

Line dance is so fun for me. I just have to make sure not to drink calories.

M

In my opinion, ur doing very good job on ur weight loss process and I think that you shouldn't speed it up by losing weight way too quick becuz you have to think about ur body to face with such a change. Better do it slowly,but surely!