@JohnRi wrote:
Hi Trudy, the first thing you find out is the closer you get to your goal, the harder it gets.
Since you said you changed your diet, are you logging all of the food you eat, and running a either a 500 or 250 calorie deficit? I'm guessing you are since you said you were losing around a pound a week.
80% of weight loss is your diet. So if you are not logging your food, that's my first suggestion. Then setup up a weight loss goal. For 20 lbs or less, a 500 calorie deficit is recommended. Once you get to 10 lbs or less, switch to a 250 deficit.
My second suggestion is try to find time to work out every day. And to do a different kind of work outs each day. Spin class, cardio class, walking, running, cycling, hiking, swimming are just some of the things you can do. Changing things up makes your body not prepared to burn the same calories each day. Sometimes when you do say 30 minutes on the bike every day, your body will decide ok, I need to reserver 500 calories at 5:00 PM. So it will burn 500 fewer calories doing things like breathing, keep you warm, pumping blood... So you think you burned 500 calories on the bike, but I reality, you burned nothing. By changing things up, you body doesn't know what to set a side, and you burn more calories exercising.
If you can get your exercise times to 30 to 50 minutes each day that will also help too. I exercise 90 to 120 minutes every day (when I wasn't injured and sick with strep, flu, cold, bronchitis, and now an infection). I've lost 59 lbs in the last 8 months.
But I know, 4 kids is going to make that VERY hard to do. They come first....
Have you taken your measurements lately. A lot of people gain muscle, and lose fat at the same rate. So their clothes get looser, but the scale is unchanged. But then they notice their stomach is 1/2 an inch smaller.
Your body is tough thing to control. How much you eat, and how much you exercise, sometimes cannot over come it's desire to get back the weight it was happy at. You weren't happy, but it was. And it wants to get back there. So once you get to your goal, it doesn't stop there. You have to keep monitoring your weight, and keep exercising so you don't go back. Eventually your body gets to accept your new weight as normal. But sometimes that can take YEARS.
Bottomline to break a Plateau, one must eat less, exercise more, or both. Just make sure you don't eat less than 1200 to 1300 calories a day. When you do that your body really holds onto fat as much as possible.
Good luck and keep active!
Most of this post is utter nonsense.
A 500 calorie deficit (1lb/week) is just fine right up until your goal weight. Make sure to get adequate protein and engage in resistance training to maintain the muscle you have.
Yes, the body becomes more efficient at doing exercise over time. However, 30 days is no where near soon enough for this to take place and under no circumstance would 500 calories be negated in that span of time. Where is this phantom energy coming from? Sounds like your body is a perpetual motion machine.
Exercise will increase your caloric deficit, speeding up weight loss and/or allowing you to eat more. Thats all. It is good for overall health and should be done for that reason alone.
Its very debatable if muscle can be gained in a caloric state. Most researchers dont believe its possible. Muscles may increase in size due to water uptake and strength gains are largely attributable to CNS adaptation ("noobie gains").
Under no circumstances does the body have a mind of its own with respect to weight gain. Unless you have a disease, its a simple formula of calories in vs. calories out. Set point theory, as you describe, is also very debatable. Keep in mind that progress should be tracked over time and weight loss isnt linear. Dont make any changes for 2-3 weeks.
It is recommended that women eat no less than 1200 calories a day without the advice of a doctor ONLY because it becomes difficult to recieve adequate micronutrition below that point. "Starvation mode" is a myth.
My advice is to double down on your diet by weighing everything you eat (including cooking oils, etc) to the gram on a food scale. Track your calories and ensure you are 1000>x>500 calories below your TDEE. Swings in sodium, activity level, and fiber intake can cause water retention, and water retention can mask weight loss for quite some time. Increasing water intake will help with this.
