Plateaus

[ashlee]

From WW. meeting on Wed.

Reasons why you might be on a plateau:

- "I think that I need to focus more on portion sizes."

- "I'm earning less than an average points value of 1 per day in activity."

- "I usually don't stay for meetings."

- "During the week, I usually use more than the maximum weekly points allowance."

- "I've been taking a new medication recently."

- "I always swap my activity points values for food."

Rank these points in order of importance in your situation. Pick the most pertinent one and work on it this week. If by next weigh in, the plateau is not broken, then move on to the one second in importance and work on it. Just keep moving on down the list until the plateau is broken.

As our Leader said, everything has calories, even the zero point foods. If you ate a whole head of broccoli or a huge, huge salad, well it could hold back your weight loss.

I've been struggling a lot lately. Finally, I think I realize that the first point applies to me. I've been eating these prepared salads from the A and P store. The dressing is in it's own package. Way too much salad in one for a meal. So when I buy them now, I'm going to split them and get two meals from one. They do contain one chicken breast so I'll have to come up with protein for the second salad, but that's not a problem.

These are the main highlights.

We are :strong:

Ashlee

[flakypastry]

I was just thinking about plateaus, too, Ashlee, because some of my fellow BCBs are "stuck" and I wanted to remind foks that:

weight loss = calories burned > calories consumed.

I can't say that I'm on a plateau (but I'm sure my time will come!) but I do notice that if I use ALL my flex points and ALL my activity points that there is less loss. Also, snacking all day on baby carrots won't make you fat (as my meeting leader once said) but could hold back a loss. They are 0 points, but as Ashlee said, not 0 calories.

WW doesn't like to talk about "calories" in their weight loss formulas, but that's the plain truth. When there is a famine, drought, or other calamity that limits food intake, people lose weight.

[rnmomof7]

I have been "stuck" for 3 weeks now, loosing between .2 and .8 a week.



The thing is I have not only been consistent with my water aerobics but I have added the gym to the mix doing between 45 and 60 minutes 3 times a week, and my weight lass has actually slowed since I did that.

Any ideas how to unstick?

[mrss]

Maybe you're gaining muscle. :weights: Extra muscle shows up as a heavier weight on the scale, but it'll benefit you in the long run. More muscle equals a greater resting metabolism.

Don't exercise just to lose weight, although that's a good motivation to work out. Exercise because it helps your heart, makes you feel energetic, and tones your body.

My advice is to keep doing what you're doing. It'll show up eventually. :)

[USNPO2]

I haven't hit a plateau yet but I've only been doing this for a few weeks. I did gain weight the one week but that was because I went totally off program stress eating. Justin my DB had to fly to Chicago to attend a funeral and I took the occasion to rid the the pantry of ramen noodles, by eating them. Other than that I've been fairly consistent so far. My theory is that weight loss gets stalled when you get bored. I just bought a new cookbook so that I can learn new recipes to keep myself on track

[LillieG]

I think too it's sometimes lack of variety that causes a plateau. Mixing it up, and eating fewer processed foods seems to help. Lillie

[Blondee48]

I found that drinking more water helped as well. I also found that it took a week or two but if I stayed within my points the weight came off. I did this 2 times.

[Diorella1913]

Plateaus are the bain of my existance! I've been fluctating for some time within the same 8 lbs and just recommitted last week to breeaking the glass on that weight loss ceiling last week. For me, I find that I was plateauing because on this PS, one can eat almost "anything you want" as long as its within the daily points, that often leads to more cravings for high point foods.... usually on the weekends, when the days arent as structured as the work day. For me, its important to stick to healthy, unprocessed foods that dont have too many sugars because it helps me to curb my sweet tooth. Its like when I stopped drinking regular soda altogether--now I feel icky when I drink it!

Also, I have an active social life and do happy hours and networking events for work- I usually have one or two drinks 2-3 times a week. That equals LOTS of calories! Drinks like mojitos, margheritas, and cosmopolitans are chuck full of calories. Because I would slip those in at the end of the day, I'd already eaten most of my point value and would then go over the edge with only one 780 calorie cosmo! I've decided to stick to one glass of red wine... around 200 calories (2pts), if anything.

Just something to think about- make sure to count those drink calories!

[OHStar]

Ashlee, how 'bout just splitting the chicken breast between the two salads? (I almost never thought of that until quite recently...I can have what I want, but if I only have 1/2 -- well! It's almost a no-brainer, but I don't always see that stuff...takes me a while LOL!)

Gigi, how 'bout just a mixed drink, say rum and Diet Coke? 1-1/2 pts. for the rum...the simpler the better! Those fancy mixed drinks will kill ya! (The last time DH and I went out -- and I'm not saying that this is classy, but I had a shot of Jack and water!) One was quite enough...now, would I do that with, say, my DD's in-laws?! Absolutely not!! But...yada,yada,yada! Forgive me for rambling! Just a thought!

[KellyGreen]

I too hit a plateau a few weeks ago. I researched the Wendie Plan, and went on it immedietly. That week I lost 3 lbs. after struggling for 3 weeks to lose. It has kept me in better control of what I eat....and if I crave something, I just wait until my really high day to eat it. It has worked wonders for me! The only week I maintained on the Wendie Plan was last week when TOM was around, and I have never gained on the Wendie plan. Just a thought for some of you if you're stuck! Good luck!

[rnmomof7]

I too hit a plateau a few weeks ago. I researched the Wendie Plan, and went on it immedietly. That week I lost 3 lbs. after struggling for 3 weeks to lose. It has kept me in better control of what I eat....and if I crave something, I just wait until my really high day to eat it. It has worked wonders for me! The only week I maintained on the Wendie Plan was last week when TOM was around, and I have never gained on the Wendie plan. Just a thought for some of you if you're stuck! Good luck!


What is the Wendie Plan?

[mrss]

What is the Wendie Plan?
This link (http://groups.msn.com/POINTingmywaytoanewlife/theoriginalwendieplan.msnw) will describe the plan.

[rnmomof7]

This link (http://groups.msn.com/POINTingmywaytoanewlife/theoriginalwendieplan.msnw) will describe the plan.


Thanks that makes sense, actually I have wondered if is was a good practice to eat exactly the same amt of points every day, because in "real" life no one really does, their calories vary some.

I think I will give this a try .

[melshan]

Hello everybody:wave:, I am new to this site, just joined this morning.
I have hit a plateau, but I think I know what I'm doing wrong, I exercise 6 days a week, treadmill, circuit training and also 2-3 aerobic & weight classes, but I think I am eating too many activity points and not accounting for them, I am being really consious of what I eat this week, so it will be interesting to see what the scale says on Sat. :)

[JShepard]

I am also on Wendie Plan and I think it's really important to vary your points so your body doesn't feel deprived. But I also think that sometimes our bodies need time to adjust to our new weights. Sometimes, plateaus are just a period of adjustment. If you honestly look at what you are eating and how you are working out and you know in your heart that you are doing all that you can, then maybe your body just needs a while to get used to where you are before it moves on. That has happened to me and finally the weight loss started again! We didn't gain our weight instantly and it won't come off instantly either. This journey teaches us patience.

[SoCloseYetSoFar]

I've been plateauing a lot for the past couple of months. It's nice to read through these threads and know that I'm not alone. I know what I've done wrong, I allow myself too much on the weekends when there is less structure, and I have changed that in the past couple of weeks and I've lost almost two pounds. I think the Wendy plan sounds like something that may help me as well, so I'm feeling very optimistic about my progress to come after this. Thanks everybody!

[JoytotheWorld]

I felt like i was on a plateau for a few weeks this summer. I thought that I should have been losing faster since i kicked up my activity level. I have been doing core for about a year now, and I did not necessarily go over my 35 points a week, but I figured out that I needed to cut down my daily intake of 4 - 5 non core points a day.

[Duckz98]

:confused: Hi Everyone, I just joined today, and I also believe that I'm on a plateau. I've read the posts and I've seen several references to the "Wendie Plan" Could someone please describe this plan a little further?


SW -- 268.2
1st Goal Accomplished -- 12/26/05
CW -- 226.6

[Donalee]

Hi I have been trying to loose my last 5-7lbs for forever. I think my body just needed alittle change. I have tryed the core plan for 2 weeks now and have mooved the scale. I lost 3 pds in 2 weeks, yayyyyyy!! I feel more full with this plan, cause 22 flex points don't go very far for me.
Just 2 more pounds to goal.

[busymommy]

Thanks for posting that...I think I may also be guilty of at least one of those...I think I better work on that! :)

[lovelylowery2]

The Wendie plan sounds great. I am going to start tomorrow. This is only my third week and my second week I gained 1.5 lbs, but I think that was due to too much sodium. Looking back at my journal I had popcorn everyday last week and each time I ate popcorn I used cheese flavoring salt (way too much sodium). But I think the Wendi Plan will work good. Thanks for that info. This week I cur back on the popcorn and as of yesterday I know I lost at leat one lb, so I am back on track:walking:

[crawfish]

I am going to try the wendy plan. I am a little nervous about it. I am so programed to doing ww flex plan. But my weight is not moving like it should.
How sucessful is this wendy plan?

[rnmomof7]

:confused: Hi Everyone, I just joined today, and I also believe that I'm on a plateau. I've read the posts and I've seen several references to the "Wendie Plan" Could someone please describe this plan a little further?


SW -- 268.2
1st Goal Accomplished -- 12/26/05
CW -- 226.6


Well my leader just said "there is no such thing as a TRUE Plateau" at this weeks meeting. She said it is simply not doing" the plan" that causes it.

I had to laugh to myself cause I had been on one for 6 weeks. No wt loss then a 1.6 gain and yes I did follow the plan in fact I had even joined a gym.


So I started to use Wendies plan and I lost 8 lbs in 6 weeks . The Plateau was broken.

SW 278

CW 210

[Trillian]

Plateaus are so frustrating!! I just broke a plateau after 7 weeks of hovering around the same weight. I tried the wendie plan for two weeks in a row and I actually went up both weeks (0.4 and 0.8) so it wasn't a plan that works for me. I went back down to eating about the same # of points a day and upped my water from 6 glasses a day to 10-12 glasses a day. I went down 4.2 lbs the first week and ddown 0.8 lbs the second week.