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I have lost 35 lbs since having a baby in January. I am within the last 10 pounds, and of course I've encountered a plateau. I have so far tried changing up my foods, having a cheat day, and doing totally different exercises. I do weight training in addition to cardio 7x a week. I've been at the weight for 3 weeks already. How else can you bust through a plateau? I've been researching the meat/egg fast but I'm nursing and not sure if that's a good idea for me.
The last 10lbs is the hardest to lose by far. One question you should ask yourself is do you really need to lose another 10lbs? It may your body is telling you it likes the weight it is now. If you really are determined to do it amp up your exercise routine. Change everything and challenge yourself. Watch your food intake and make sure you are getting enough calories and get rid of the cheat day.
The last 10lbs is the hardest to lose by far. One question you should ask yourself is do you really need to lose another 10lbs? It may your body is telling you it likes the weight it is now. If you really are determined to do it amp up your exercise routine. Change everything and challenge yourself. Watch your food intake and make sure you are getting enough calories and get rid of the cheat day.
I don't do cheat days, I am on a 1200 cal diet every day. I read that adding a cheat day or meal may boost your mtabolism annd start loss again- didnt work for me.
I weighed 10 lbs less before my pregnancy so I know it is a good weight for me. I exercise every day and push myself to my limit every day. I'm thinking of buying Insanity to bump up the workouts.
Steph, First of all, congratulations on doing such a great job with getting back into shape! That is amazing
Your body is going to hang onto a bit more fat-store wise for nursing. But once you wean, you will drop that pretty much overnight (that has been my experience, and I nursed 3 for varying periods of time). Try not to pay attention to the number on the scale and just work at getting strong and powerful.
1200 calories is extremely low for a nursing mom. Between the very low calories and the "work" of lactation, plus all that cardio, I really feel that you are going to tax your adrenal glands and create a situation where you work very hard but your body holds onto the fat and just won't budge this plateau right now.
When is the last time you took a complete rest week from exercise? My brother was an elite-level athlete for years and always had those written into his program by his coach. They were vital to gaining strength and helping his body recover from all the work of training. I do a program similar to Crossfit now and my trainer insists on at least one day per week of rest/no cardio. If you are antsy and need to get out with your little one, then go for a easy-paced walk or something. Just try a week off from training and see how your body reacts. Then, when you get back to it, especially if you try Insanity, maybe try a dietary regime similar to the meat/fat fast but get enough carbs from veggies (test with Ketostix) so that you don't go into ketosis while nursing.
If nothing still works, then instead of cardio every single day, you could dry double sessions on certain days and incorporate a couple of rest days into each week, and maybe your body would respond better to that change. What I recommend right now is keeping a log book or a file on your computer/smartphone every day with what you are doing: Your eating/diet, exercise - cardio/lifting, your baby's nursing habits (times a day eating, whether or not he/she is satisfied/growth spurts etc., your sleep habits). It sounds like a lot, but doing that has helped me in the past when I had plateaus, as I was able to analyze what I was doing over a longer period of time and tweak things the way I wanted them.
Sorry so wordy, just wanted to give a lot of suggestions to you hoping that some could help/work for you too. My kids are now 18/10/6 yrs old and I'm 40 & in the best shape of my life thus far... still working at it, onward and upward for us strong moms
StephM...maybe you've gained muscle from all the exercises...that weighs more than fat....plateaus happen, but even on the same regiman, they only last for a short while...don't let it trick you, sounds like you're doing great.
Steph, First of all, congratulations on doing such a great job with getting back into shape! That is amazing
Your body is going to hang onto a bit more fat-store wise for nursing. But once you wean, you will drop that pretty much overnight (that has been my experience, and I nursed 3 for varying periods of time). Try not to pay attention to the number on the scale and just work at getting strong and powerful.
1200 calories is extremely low for a nursing mom. Between the very low calories and the "work" of lactation, plus all that cardio, I really feel that you are going to tax your adrenal glands and create a situation where you work very hard but your body holds onto the fat and just won't budge this plateau right now.
When is the last time you took a complete rest week from exercise? My brother was an elite-level athlete for years and always had those written into his program by his coach. They were vital to gaining strength and helping his body recover from all the work of training. I do a program similar to Crossfit now and my trainer insists on at least one day per week of rest/no cardio. If you are antsy and need to get out with your little one, then go for a easy-paced walk or something. Just try a week off from training and see how your body reacts. Then, when you get back to it, especially if you try Insanity, maybe try a dietary regime similar to the meat/fat fast but get enough carbs from veggies (test with Ketostix) so that you don't go into ketosis while nursing.
If nothing still works, then instead of cardio every single day, you could dry double sessions on certain days and incorporate a couple of rest days into each week, and maybe your body would respond better to that change. What I recommend right now is keeping a log book or a file on your computer/smartphone every day with what you are doing: Your eating/diet, exercise - cardio/lifting, your baby's nursing habits (times a day eating, whether or not he/she is satisfied/growth spurts etc., your sleep habits). It sounds like a lot, but doing that has helped me in the past when I had plateaus, as I was able to analyze what I was doing over a longer period of time and tweak things the way I wanted them.
Sorry so wordy, just wanted to give a lot of suggestions to you hoping that some could help/work for you too. My kids are now 18/10/6 yrs old and I'm 40 & in the best shape of my life thus far... still working at it, onward and upward for us strong moms
Thank you so so much! Very informative post, I will try some of your suggestions! I already keep a detailed food/exercise log, but I will try the meat fast with veggies that you suggested. I'm so close to pre-regnancy weight I just want to get there already.
Instead of worrying about 3 weeks, wait until you hit 3 months. Don't give up. Just continue and let your body do its thing.
I can't agree more with this. It took you 9 months to get to whatever weight you were, on the day you had your baby. So don't sweat it if it takes you 9 months to get back to the weight you were, on the day you conceived your child.
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