what do you do when you are stuck at a certain weight? in one of my previous attempts at weight loss, i went all the way down to 160 (from 185), and just stopped losing weight, no matter how much i exercised. Then, i slowly gained back all the weight. How can i prevent this from happening, or how can i make my weight budge again?
It's probably your matabolism slowing down. Things like exercising more, eating more regularly in the day (5 or six small meals a day) and drinking plenty of water. Try changing how you exercise as well. If you do a certain exercise for a long time your body becomes more efficient for that type of exercise and you use less calories than you did before. So if you're used to running try swimming instead. You have to keep going. Reason will tell you that you have got to be losing weight for the amount of food you are eating even if the scales say differently. Another thing is to use a different sort of measuring system. try measuring yourself with a tape measure. You may be gaining muscle mass which is heavier than fat so some days it may even appear that you are putting on weight if you are using scales.
I got a diet for you. You can drop weight really quick. Dont eat anything but fruits and vegtables for 9 days. Also only drink water. If you want to throw exercise in there to - even better
Hi everyone! There are many reasons why this could have happened. First you could have simply hit a plateau. It happens to the best of us, myself included. Your body adapts to what you are doing fairly easily, that is why our bodies are great machines. If you keep doing the same thing over and over, eventually, your body is like "yeah I can do this with little effort..." When this happens, I suggest shaking up your diet, which I will explain below, and completely revamping your exercise routine which I will also explain further below. Also, your body does have a set point and depending on your age, your weight through out life and where you are now and how often you have dieted in the past, your body could very well just picked a place where it feels you should be. The human body isn't stupid, and it will fight you tooth and nail if you try to harm it by losing too much weight. It has its own natural defense system. That is why people who don't have enough body fat on them are always cold and their hair falls out and their skin gets dry. The body knows what it is doing. It will reward you when you treat it right and it will piss you off when you treat it poorly. Also, you didn't tell us your height or build or clothing size. Like someone else stated you may consider another method of measure. I'm a big fan of using a tape measure (non elastic) and keeping track of changes that way. Every time I lose weight it starts in my poor little butt (which I haven't got much of already) and the last place I lose is my stomach, but sometimes my weight shifts around so by measuring you would be able to see the difference. You can't spot reduce fat, but your fat can shift as you are losing weight. Also, your muscle mass plays a huge role in your weight. If you have more muslce than fat like I have, then what you weigh on a scale in my opinion makes no damn difference. As far as the modifications that I suggested: To change your diet, you need to figure out how many calories a day you should be consuming. There is an elaborate formula that I have at the Y that I can find for you tonight if I have time and I will post it tomorrow. Once you figure out how much you should have a day, you don't need to stay at that, you need to make a range. The range is the important part. Instead of eating 1800 calories every single day you could go anywhere between 1600-2000 a day and that keeps your body on its toes so to speak. And have some things that are not exactly "diet" foods sometimes. I go every Tuesday to nacho night. Mostly because I want to visit with my friends, but also because your body needs a break from always dieting. I mean I only use real cream in my coffee, but any other time I drink skim milk. Just different things so your body gets some variation in diet. And eat your protien, not just rabbit food. (don't know if you do or not but too many people skimp on protien, then wonder why they can't lose weight). As far as changing your exercise routine, if you are doing a lot of cardio, stop. Cardio is important. Strength training is just as if not on occasion more important. So many women are afraid to strength train and sometimes I want to slap them but I know it isn't their fault for getting all of the wrong information. If you have more specific questions about strength training please start a new thread and we will all help you out here. But for the most part, pick up those damn weights. If you are already strength training, great! Now lift more weight. 5lbs doesn't cut it here. You should be increasing weight every 2 weeks at least. even if it is in tiny increments. Then after a while, when you think you have reached your max on an exercise change it to a different exercise working the same muslce group. For example, if you have been using dumb bells to work your triceps, perhaps doing a tricep overhead extension. Maybe switch to using resistance bands doing tricep exercises or a machine or bench dips. I hope this helps. Like I said if you have more specific questions, maybe start a different thread and we'll help you out. Good Luck and take care of yourself. jen
