Getting through the plateaus

I thought it might be helpful to post a personal story and figured we could all benefit from learning from others. I wanted to post about how I have overcome my most recent plateau. I was stuck at 320 for a week. It simply made no sense to me that I would not be dropping. I wa****ting all my liquid goals and hitting all the protein I needed. It was staggering to me that more would not be peeling off. I realized that I was simply beating my body into submission and it was resisting me. So I did two things: 1. I changed my workouts: I remember as a lasped athlete the value of cross training. I had been running every day on the treadmill. I think what was happening is that I was so focused on pushing myself to run faster that I was forgetting that my main goal now should be the burning of calories. So, I moved to the elliptical machine and found that while I wasn't breathing as heavily, I was working out longer and thus burning more calories. 2. I upped my calories: Now, I know this sounds insane and, not being a doctor, I recommend that you take everything with a grain of salt and consult someone other than yours truly (although I do have a degree in Philosophy, so if anyone wants to talk about Descartes I am game). I didn't up it by much. Just added some Progresso soup (which is about 60 calories for a serving). I usually have a little at night. I think that my body was just not wanting to play anymore giving the fact that I was working out so much and starving it. Even if this isn't the case the case, the placebo effect seems to be carrying so please don't burst my bubble. This morning I weighed in at 309. As with all things, YMMV, but this has worked for me.

These are sure things that work . Changing up exercise Routines .. and upping calories .  Just keep in mind though .,. that plateaus last for 6 to  8 weeks , and occur when a person is a year or more out .  What you have experienced is a stall .The body stepping back to access what is going on . It happens, and just the very things you have done will restart the WL .  Your body has a way of putting on the breaks early out . Especially when it thinks you are starving it l...  I applaud your efforts to get the weight loss restarted !  TINK

It was good that you realised what your body was doing and this will happen every few weeks while you are losing because your body also needs time to adjust - many times when you are not losing weight, you are losing inches, so take this time to measure yourself.  Another thing you can do to help yourself is to eat more protein too. I am not sure soup is a good benefit to have because it is a slider food - you may do better to eat some solid protein like a shake or piece of chicken etc....that way you will also stay fuller.....  If you are exercising fairly hard, upping your calories is a GOOD thing! If you starve your body it will rebel, so fuelling it - especially with protein  - is just what it needs. Have you ever conidered having your metabolism tested? - that woud tell you how many calories you CAN eat safely.... You are doing great!  Keep up the good work! Jackie

The Progresso Soup I have is 8g of protein, so I look at that as upping my protein. But, thanks for the advice on the extra meal. I'll bring that up with my doctor and see. Also thanks for the advice on metabolism testing. I'll see where it takes me.