How to break plateau: Success stories please?

[NoMoreFat]

I started at 192 pounds 5'3" 16 months ago. As of November 30th I was down to 125 pounds. I log all of my calories and either do power walking in my area or aerobic dancing at home for exercise at least 5 days per week usually 30 minutes to one hour per session. I do pretty well at getting my 10,000 steps per day. I shoot for a calorie deficit of 750 per day. Over the course of the holidays and two out of town trips that made it hard to manage food and exercise, I gained back 5-1/2 pounds. For the last 2-1/2 weeks, I have been down/up/down/up losing and gaining the same dang 3 pounds, but just cannot seem to get below 128 right now. I am back on my previously very successful regimen, where I was losing about 6 pounds per month. But I just don't seem to be starting progress again. I would love to hear some success stories about how you got past a plateau? In looking at the data, I don't know why I'm so freaked out about 2-1/2 weeks of bouncing up & down, but I guess it just feels like so dang long since I was at 125. I'm anxious to make progress past that point again. Help? Or just encouragement?

[Dominique]

Let’s put this into perspective: you were at BMI 34.0 in September 2015 and managed to get down to BMI 22.1 in November 2016 (i.e. in just 14 months). This is an amazing achievement, but also a huge source of stress to your body. Your "plateau" may simply be it wanting a break from that stress. 128 pounds is still about right in the middle of the normal weight range according to BMI. Why don’t you spend a few months at that level in order to let your body get used to it? You can resume your weight loss later, if you still feel like it.

[NoMoreFat]

Thanks for the perspective. I keep thinking I haven't really stressed myself all that much since it was a weight loss averaging 5 pounds per month. I never lost more than 6.5 pounds in a month. But that could be. Maybe just continuing to have patience, and continuing to eat in a fit manner and stick with the exercising will eventually get me there.

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@Dominique wrote:

Let’s put this into perspective: you were at BMI 34.0 in September 2015 and managed to get down to BMI 22.1 in November 2016 (i.e. in just 14 months). This is an amazing achievement, but also a huge source of stress to your body. Your "plateau" may simply be it wanting a break from that stress. 128 pounds is still about right in the middle of the normal weight range according to BMI. Why don’t you spend a few months at that level in order to let your body get used to it? You can resume your weight loss later, if you still feel like it.

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[Dominique]

Think it this way: how long did it take you to reach 192 pounds, from whatever your weight was previously? My guess is it took quite a bit more time than 14 months, so you've probably reversed in just over a year a process that took a lot longer to develop. Jumping from middle of obese category to middle of normal category in about one year must have been stressful for your body, even if you don't feel it's been the case. Part of the problem is probably the metabolic adaptation that took place: your metabolism is lower than that of a person the same age and size as you who has been at your current weight for a long time. It can take several years (following a major weight loss) to restore your metabolism back to where it should be for your age, height and weight.

[NoMoreFat]

Hi Dominique — Thanks for your perspective. I see what you’re saying about my metabolism needing to adjust. I would like to find a way to get some good equipment at home so that I can add weight and resistance training to build muscle. For this first push to lose weight, I focused on just getting the excess weight off. Being so much smaller now though, I find it really hard to be able to burn as many calories in a day unless I’m exercising a lot longer. So, it is definitely time to build muscle. I think that will help my metabolism.

[Dominique]

I wholeheartedly second your idea of starting resistance training. You may want to get yourself a copy of The New Rules of Lifting for Women. You don’t need fancy and expensive machines and you can build yourself a decent home gym with minimal equipment and a small budget, provided you have some spare space at home (if you live in a very small apartment, it can be more complicated). Likewise, you don’t need to do hundreds of complicated exercises that work every single little muscle you have: just focus on the half-a-dozen compound exercises that work multiple muscle groups at the same time and will give you the most bang for your buck.

[NoMoreFat]

Well, thank you! I do have spare space at home. An unused 10 foot by 10 foot bedroom. Does that book tell you how to put together the inexpensive equipment to get what you need? I had been thinking of a Universal Gym machine because I didn’t want to have to keep buying heavier and heavier things as I progressed. It seemed like that would be the most organized. I’m curious about the equipment. Sometimes these make-shift, or do-it-yourself solutions seem a bit wobbly and make it hard to be in proper form. Around 20 years ago I used to work out at a gym and had a personal trainer, so I do know that form needs to be correct. And, a new development in my old age is some arthritis in one knee. It makes it tricky to do weight bearing exercise without just inflaming and doing further damage to that knee. I’m trying to be sensible and smart about how I do this. Anyway, you definitely have my interest. Does the book address the equipment side of things?

[NoMoreFat]

Well, thank you! I do have spare space at home. An unused 10 foot by 10 foot bedroom. Does that book tell you how to put together the inexpensive equipment to get what you need? I had been thinking of a Universal Gym machine because I didn’t want to have to keep buying heavier and heavier things as I progressed. It seemed like that would be the most organized. I’m curious about the equipment. Sometimes these make-shift, or do-it-yourself solutions seem a bit wobbly and make it hard to be in proper form. Around 20 years ago I used to work out at a gym and had a personal trainer, so I do know that form needs to be correct. And, a new development in my old age is some arthritis in one knee. It makes it tricky to do weight bearing exercise without just inflaming and doing further damage to that knee. I’m trying to be sensible and smart about how I do this. Anyway, you definitely have my interest. Does the book address the equipment side of things?

[Dominique]

I haven’t read the book myself, but I’ve only seen good things said about it, including on the Fitbit community: check this, this, this, this, this and plenty of other posts you can find with the search feature. I also listened to a podcast with one of the authors (Cassandra Forsythe) and altough it was on nutrition rather than strength training, I got a very good impression of her.

My feeling is the book probably doesn’t include a section on how to build your own home gym, but I’m pretty sure I know what kind of exercises it recommends: deadlifts, squats, benchpress, overhead press, chinups/pullups etc. All these you can do with a barbell and plates. For benchpress, you do need ... a bench, and for squats, some kind of rack. For chinups/pullups, ideally a bar you can attach to your ceiling (if technically possible, this is what I did), but there are versions you can put in a door opening. I personally chose to do deadlifts with a trap bar (aka. hex bar), though you normally use a standard barbell for conventional deadlifts and most other variations.

I think bars are more versatile than a universal gym machine. For instance, they allow you to do a good mix of pulling and pushing exercices.

[A_Lurker]

New Rules of Lifting for Women favours free weights.  You can start with a bar with various weights, adjustable dumbbells, a swiss ball and a step would probably do it.  I've added a squat rack as I went up heavier it became more awkward to get the bar into place.  I'm a big believer in lifting heavier myself, but it's not for everyone.  I don't have the book in front of me at the moment but they will give home alternatives, but they still require equipment.

If you want to build a home gym, it's not a bad place to start.  However, if you want to get into some different types of exercises without investing in anything first, try:  http://greatist.com/fitness/50-bodyweight-exercises-you-can-do-anywhere

[WendyB]

Yes New rules of lifting for women is free weights. And no it does not show you how to put the equipment togther.

But free weights  there really is nothing to put together. Just change the weights on the ends as you progress.

Its an excellent book.

[NoMoreFat]

Dominique, I wanted to say a final thank you for your input. I did read the book and decided to get myself a universal gym instead of free weights. I was able to find a good used one and it just got delivered tonight. I think I may not have mentioned I have arthritis in one knee, and I was worried about all of the lunges and squats with free weights doing damage to that knee.  So with this, I can do all kind of multiple muscle moves that should keep me from putting too much stress on it. I'm looking forward to building muscle! I'm not looking forward to figuring out all over again how much I can eat to build muscle but not add any fat. I'm not too worried. As you so very kindly pointed out, I made quite an achievement over the past year, so I know I can figure in the strength training. Thanks again!

[NoMoreFat]

A_Lurker (funny username, by the way)  

These exercises look great! Thanks for the link. I did read the New Rules ... book and ended up deciding to buy a universal gym. I managed to find a good used one. It was just delivered tonight, so I'm looking forward to getting started!