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TexasGal07 · 03-08-2009, 06:57 PM

I just had a few questions...

First, a little bit about me.

I'm a girl, 24 years old, 5'11 and 186 pounds. I've been trying really hard and sticking to a diet pretty well but I've kind of hit a plateau. I started out about a month and a half ago at 198 (GASP) but am down to 186.

However, for the past 2 weeks or so, I haven't been able to lose ANY weight. I bought a treadmill a while back and run on it every day, excluding Sundays, at a speed of 5.0 MPH for about 3.5-4 miles.

I've been eating healthy, for breakfast I have a whole wheat English muffin and a half a cup of low cal cottage cheese, for lunch I usually have a turkey wrap, and for dinner, usually something healthy at around 300-400 calories. For snacks, usually apples or peaches or a low calorie yogurt. I usually eat about 1,200-1,500 calories a day.

What am I doing wrong? My goal weight is around 160, but it's really frustrating to be working out so hard and the scale seems to be STUCK!!

Anyone have any ideas??

polkaadot · 03-08-2009, 09:48 PM

oh, this is actually quite common. it's because you've lost weight and now you've reached a 'weight loss plateau'. because see, when you lose weight and decrease your calorie intake, your metabiolism also slows down and adjusts to the energy deficiency. after a while on approx same calories / day, your body has lowered your energy expenditure to a certain point to suit the calories your eating, hence, you aren't really losing any weight or losing very little.

the trick to this is to actually up your calorie intake a bit and then bring it down again, and over again. its called the 'zig-zag' weight loss method. for example: you eat 1200 cal today, then up it to 1600 the next, then go down to 1300, then go up to 1800, and then around 1300 again and then 1500 etcetc and gradually decrease that number (but still DONT go below 1200 cal, thats basically crash dieting and will for sure cause deficiencies), and it tricks your body into losing weight

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