come and talk to me about plateaus

[schoolholidaymeanshotcrossmum]

hello

well, as the title suggests really. My usual weight loss pattern is decide I'm fat, work at it for a little while, lose a couple of pound a week for a month or so, plateau and then lose interest until the weight creeps up.

but this time I have decided I'm fat, worked my arse of, lost half a stone in 10 days and then nothing for TWO WEEKS, come, please talk to me and tell me not to give up! I'm eating a balanced diet, around 1200/1300 calories, getting out and about, shredding and breastfeeding a 5 month old.

TIA

Normally I'd say for plateaus is that need to change things round a bit, eg change way you do exercise, change mix of protein and carbs, etc etc.

However, I am worried that you are not eating enough, BFing a 5 month old baby would be around 500 cals a day (assuming around 5 feeds), and also I think the body tries to hold fat when feeding (mine does anyway) so plateau might be because of that - how much do you weigh and how tall are you?

I have recently lost 3.5 stone and when I reached plateau (BTW at least 2-3 weeks with no movement on either weight OR bodyfat) then I changed things - eg cut down on carbs, changed workouts to interval training, did shred on each non gym day.....

Thanks foreveronadiet I am 5 2 and 10 7. I wondered about upping the calories (however counterintuitive it may be!) but to be honest I am not actually that hungry so would be eating for the sake of it. (Though to be fair this is also a bit out of character). Was thinking about increasing exercise to change things up a bit but am also going on holiday tomorrow so diet will be a bit different then (prob increase in general activity but decrease in properly getting hear rate going as no way am i packing my running kit!)

*heart rate

ALso I think you need to look at weight loss average - half a stone in first 2 weeks was good, but a lot of it was water, and still 10 days later still an average of more than 2lbs a week, which is really all you can loose in terms of fat stores.

Personally I think continue with what you are doing for another couple of weeks, if no more loss then you need to change things - presumably you have already cut out refined carbs from diet?

Thanks very much, will keep at it for a bit longer and see how I go. I don't generally eat many refined carbs in dietland or real life, but haven't consciously cut them out so will keep an eye on it if you think it makes a difference - being naturally healthy and needing to feed the family I have been counting calories and going for balance rather than looking too carefully at the protein/fat/carb mix. But I may apply myself a bit more and experiment if nothing changes.