I Need a Plateau Buster!

Stuck again. You work hard, count and measure, behave and walk away from that cookie jar and nothing. Rats!


LOGIC tells you that your body is adjusting and you will eventually lose. Weight loss isn't overnight.

LOGIC tells you that the water in your body is adjusting and you will eventually lose. We are not machines but living organisms.

LOGIC tells you that scales spiral up and down and its not one weigh in -- but the pattern over time. Be patient.

BUT I WANT TO SEE SOME RESULTS! Because I am not a logical person. I'm an emotional Sicilian/Hungarian spaz. Basically an impatient big baby.

Why can't I lose this month?

So I looked at my food log and looked again. I checked for all those sneaky calories and carbs. And I'm here to tell you I had a Mary Poppins month (practically perfect in every way). I thought about my walking log and how I really wish I had bigger numbers there. OK, need to push that a bit. But with the neuropathy I top out at 6,500 steps a day and then start swelling so I'll need to hit the exercise bike or do something else.

Plateau. It sucks.

Who has this week's best PLATEAU BUSTER

How about a different exercise vs the same one? I got one of those pedal machines. I can go fast or slow, add in more or less resistance, etc. It was relatively cheap (around $100) and way cheaper than a full exercise bike.

Our exercise needs change and variety just like our food intake. Do you see a dietitian? Maybe she can suggest a different exercise. Friend of mine did walking for a long time then hit a plateau. Her dietitian suggest roller blading. The weight loss increased although, to her, it was less strenuous than walking. Of course, there’s no way I’d try it! Can’t lose weight with a cast on my leg or a brace on my neck! LOL

I had a 3 week plateau going on, and then I figured out I wasn’t eating enough calories. I’ve learned that the body needs a gradual caloric decrease in order to more optimally meet it’s caloric needs for a.) moving the amount of weight we currently have, and are carrying around, b.) perform our daily functions – especially when we are older, AND c.) vigorous exercise… So I was not keeping in mind that I have a LOT of weight on myself that my body needs energy to carry around… a big, big thing… I was trying to consume calories for someone who weighs my ideal weight, not counting that I still NEED energy to move my excess weight around. I found a good calculator that takes this into account, at this site: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm.

The other things, well, you already know… the body needs time to adjust to exercise, and build muscle… and muscle weighs more than fat… all that kind of stuff. I dunno if this helps, but it did for me. :slight_smile:

Liz

Thank you! Everything helps. Even when someone cares enough to through out a thoughtful idea. Somedays I am afraid to eat and don’t eat enough - underestimate. That might be a part of it. I’ll check out the website. Thanks!

Thanks for feedback! I have an exercise bike I use. I only use it for 15 minute ‘trips’ because of the neuropathy – my feet get numb and slide off the pedals easily. I’m a teacher so we do after school ‘walk the halls’ – up and down the halls and up and down the stairs. I’m on the third floor so a full turn around the building and down to the gym and back up is about 1 mile. I like the idea of mixing up the exercise but this old lady aint going roller blading although my 7th graders would probably pay to see that. I am really lucky and there is a dietician program through my endo’s office. They have regular monthly classes you can stop in or make appointments whenever you want and the local hospital has a hotline and a stop-in-and-chat kinda thing. I really should use that resource and call in – good idea.