Plateau Advice

I thought this was worthy of sharing: Usually when you hit a plateau, it means you need to crank up the intensity and frequency of your training and you also need to "tighten up" your diet. If you're doing 20 minutes of cardio per session, you can increase it to 30 minutes. If you're doing 30 minutes, you can increase it to 40 minutes. If your heart rate is 130 you can pu**** up to 145. If you're training short of failure, you can take sets to complete failure, or even beyond with the help of a training partner. If you're cheating 2 or 3 times a week you can drop back to only one cheat meal a week. Get the picture? In a nutshell, reaching top condition means that you train harder! If you've been on the same training program for a long time, adaptation syndrome may be the cause of your plateau. Adaptation occurs because once your body becomes accustomed to any repeated training stimulus, continuing with the same stimulus will no longer will cause a growth response. The only way to bypass the adaptation syndrome is to change your workouts frequently. The recommendation is that you change your weight training programs every month, or as soon as you stop making progress. Any change will work: new exercises, different set/rep scheme, change in tempo, change in grip or stance width, etc. The training variations are literally endless. Another common cause of a plateau in fat loss is not training-related. The most common reason for hitting a wall in fat loss is that your calories are too low and your body has entered starvation mode or too high and you are not expanding enough activity during the day to burn. Once you start to go into starvation mode, no amount of increased training will help. The only thing that can get you out of starvation mode is eating more. If your calories have been very low and you suspect the starvation response is the culprit, the best thing you can do is keep your food quality "clean" (don't eat a lot of junk), but raise your calories. Once you're back on track, you can prevent this type of plateau from occurring again by using the "zig-zag" method of dieting: eat a few days of higher calories and higher carbs followed by a few days of lower calories and lower carbs. On the low calorie/low carb days, you lose body fat rapidly, but before your body can adapt, you raise the calories back up, whi*****reases your metabolic rate and keeps you out of starvation mode. Mary 415/185/-230

I am 11 weeks post-op; I have already hit a plateau, is that normal? I do not think I am getting enough calories; I can only eat like once maybe twice a day. If it is not too much to ask do you have any advice for me, I really want to be successful in my weight loss, I want to use this tool to change my life, but lately I keep getting depressed because the scale is not moving. Thanking you in advance Miss

Hi I have not had the surgery yet. I am in my first week of the third month of dieting. I know that once you have had your surgery that food intake is limited but have you tired increasing your protien and liquids????? Do you exercise or walk on a regular basis????? You might want to increase both of them. Call your surgeons office and see if they have any ideas on what to do. I have read tons about this surgery and have friends who have already had it ( yr. or more ago ) so I do know some of what they did when they hit a plateau. Hang in there and don't let depression get the best of you......there is nothing to be depressed about....Look at where you have come from and where you are going. I will pray that God will direct you to a source that will answer all your questions. Vivian

The RD/Nut recommends eating 3 meals a day of protein. You should have breakfast within 90 minutes of rising. In the beginning I ate yogurt almost every day, even if I could only finish 1/2 of the container. You're body needs fuel, even though you may not be hungry. Try a protein shake in place of a meal. Your body maybe in stavation mode, in addition try excercising by walking, swimming, recumbant bike, even if it is for 10 minutes at a time 3 times a day. It will help move the scale and eliviate some of the depression. hugs, Mary