During the summer months, I was able to lose body weight with little worry about plateau (seeing my weight stay the same for several weeks).  However, since the end of August, my weight has stayed constant at 185 lbs. 

I have being doing cardio on the stairmaster 3-4 days a week for 1 hour at a time.  Also, I’m doing resistance training on a different body part each of those 4 days a week.  My weight is not dropping. 

What should I do to get my weight down.  After each workout, I feel that my muscles are benefiting, as they are a little sore for a few days.

I’m going to shake things up a bit.  I’ll limit the cardio to 30 minutes a session and increase my resistance training to 4 sets of 12 repetitions from the usual 3 sets during the summer.

I know that a lot of people have experienced this problem (is it a problem?).  How have you overcome the weight plateau phenomeon?

Hi Jeff,

First, don’t panic.  Sometimes your body just needs a few days or a few weeks to settle where you’re at before it can start dropping again.  It’s just your body’s way of saying “wow, look at the view from 185!  Ain’t this great?” It’s like climbing up the CN Tower: sometimes you need to stop and get your bearings.  *grin*

The other reason your weight might not be dropping is because you’re building muscle.  Muscle weighs more than fat, so you might be getting in much better shape even if you’re not showing it on the scale.  How do you feel?  How do your clothes fit?  Have you had to take in your belt a few notches yet?  If so, don’t worry about the scale.  You’re just putting on muscle so fast the scale can’t keep up!

In terms of what to do: just keep going!  Make sure your workouts are challenging, make sure you’re getting enough food (this is *not* the time to start cutting calories if you’ve got a good caloric intact), and make sure you’re giving yourself enough time to rest.  Let your body get happy at 185, and it’ll start shrinking again, no question.

Cheers,
Julie

Jeff, I have a quick question. Congrats on the weight loss and getting to 185, is this a weight that you were once before? I ask since I’ve been plateauing myself. The weight I’m at now, I was at for several years, and it’s almost like my body is used to this weight.

Here’s to both of us getting off this plateau.

Malama Pono,
Fat Jeff

Hi Jeff:

Yes - I was once 185 lbs in 1980 something - then I started to gain after that.  I maxed at 235 lbs when I was 37 years old.  I’m 43 now.

Jeff, when was your last break? If it has been awhile, consider taking a few days to a week off from the exercise.

Where is your HR while you’re blasting away on the treadmill for 60 minutes. My wife was on a long plateau, and I finally figured out that she was running in an anaerobic state. She was just flat out running the whole time, causing her body to look for muscle to feed on. I have her working in an aerobic state now, and she is again making progress.

What is your food intake looking like? Too many or too few calories?

4 sets of 12 reps in the weight room? That’s a lot. 3 sets of 8-10 is plenty, especially if you are lifting as heavy as you can stand, which everyone should be doing anyway.

I started to workout in the morning.  I’m enjoying it so much that I have now worked out three days in a row.
This morning I walked on the stairmaster for 30 minutes.  My HR got as high as 169.  Then I did 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer at 140 (recommended for my age).
Could I have been in an anaerobic state?
What is the difference?
Perhaps I’m not eating enough.  I think I’m eating enough.  I’m afraid if I eat more calories then I’ll gain weight.  I’ll have to exercise harder to compensate.
I’m moving to 4 sets of 12 reps for chest exercise.  I’m trying to develop more muscle.  I have more time in the morning and more energy.

I like working out in the morning also. It’s a great way to start the day, and assures that you get it done.

Depending on what your resting HR is, you may be working too hard. I like this HR calculator because it takes into account your resting HR, as well as your fitness level. The aerobic fat burning range is in the 60-70% range. My resting HR is 64 BPM, with a Max HR of 186 BPM. My cardio workout range for fat burning is ~130 BPM.

FWIW, there are two recent studies that have caused me to change the way that I do my cardio. I start with thirty minutes “in the zone” on the bike or treadmill. I then do a twenty minute ab workout, followed by another 30 minutes on the bike or treadmill.

As for food intake, you have to adjust this as you go. As you lose weight, your caloric requirements lessen. On the flip side of that, as you build lean muscle, your metabolism will require more calories. Here is a good BMR calculator, and with that BMR number you can go here to calculate your caloric needs. That will provide you with the amount of calories to maintain your current weight given your activity level. To lose 1 lbs. per week, you would reduce that by 500 calories.

As for the fear of eating too much, that is common. Scott has talked about it many times though; you don’t want to let your cals dip, because it will send your body into starvation mode, and plateau because of a lack of adequate fuel. And worse yet, the muscle will atrophy (you’ll lose lean muscle).

If your goal is to add muscle, you really need to keep your calories up, as the muscle needs that fuel to rebuild after a hard workout.

What made you decide to use the 4 sets of 12 reps? I have found that I really like to do 3 sets of 8 reps, with as heavy of weights as I can complete the sets with using good form. I’ve lightend my weights up a bit, and am using slow, deliberate movements. Try this with 60 seconds of rest between sets, and your muscles will be begging for mercy.

Fawkes,

I’ll try your advise.  Maybe I’m doing too many reps.

Jeff, keep us posted. If it makes you feel any better, my wife’s plateau lasted about nine months. She stuck with it, and it is paying off now.

I’m a bit late to the party, but how many calories are you eating? And do you do the same things at the same times, in the same order? If possible, change it up a bit and see if that shakes a bit of fat loose. Keep us posted!

Bree