I have been training steadily for over six months now. I have managed to lose about 20 or pounds, most of it from a detox diet and bodypump classes, several times a week.

I have now hit a huge plateau, and cannot seem to get off of it. I do about an hour of cardio a day, between the treadmill and hiking with my dogs every morning. I do bodypump about 4-5 times a week as well. When I did my master cleanse (12 day fast), I had to stop training, but I needed the break any ways. I did lose some weight, and have kept it off. I also did a Isagenix cleanse which lasted a couple of weeks, so I did not train then either. The amount of calories you eat, are just not enought o train hard. I needed the month off from the gym any ways, and I feel fresh and rearing to go again.

Now I am stalled right out, and even returning to the gym, and eating super, super clean, is just not working. I do know my menstral cycles have a alot to do with it, so I take 2000mgs of evening primrose oil twice a day, as well as 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed a day, to try to balance things out. I am only 33 years old, but am already premenopausal, and it has been horrible for weight loss, or even just maintaining weight at times.

What do the ladies do to push through plateaus?

Plateaus are a tough one! The only thing that I can recommend is to change something in your Workout, or your Diet.
You say you do bodypump 4-5x- try to cut down a day and do extra cardio or add another form of cardio you don't do right now. Our bodies get used to the same thing and need a change up.

I used to take spinning 3x/week and ran 2x/week and it did wonders for me, but then the results stopped. A month ago I dropped one of the spin classes and now do- 2x/week and run 2x/week and added 1 day of fast paced walking for 5 miles. This has made a big difference. I'll probably drop one of the run days in a month and add back the spin class and add another walk day...

Holy crap! I can't imagine doing a 12-day fast. Why did you do that, and how? It doesn't seem like a good idea...but I'm sure you had a good reason.

I know you don't want to hear this but the way through a plateau is just plain patience. If you are working out and eating super clean with a caloric deficit, you WILL lose weight (Not just weight but fat). It's the laws of nature...

So be patient and keep up the good work and even though it's hard to - don't worry so much about it! :) :nod:

Are you doing any resistance training / weight lifting??? I would decrease the amount of cardio you are doing and increase the wt trng. The more muscle you have the more fat you burn!

:gl:

Holy crap! I can't imagine doing a 12-day fast. Why did you do that, and how? It doesn't seem like a good idea...but I'm sure you had a good reason.

Yeah, I'm with you on this. I bet that is the problem right there. The 12-day fast essentially killed your metabolism, both during the acute starvation period, and chronically by catabolizing all of your muscle. Your metabolism is probably really slow right now....so you might try gaining back some of that lost muscle without restricting your calories too much. That might stimulate some fat loss.

Yeah, I'm with you on this. I bet that is the problem right there. The 12-day fast essentially killed your metabolism, both during the acute starvation period, and chronically by catabolizing all of your muscle. Your metabolism is probably really slow right now....so you might try gaining back some of that lost muscle without restricting your calories too much. That might stimulate some fat loss.

You probably did lose some muscle. But I can't imagine you would've catobolized a huge amount in 12 days. But, yes-I would imagine the fast caused your metabolism to slow down significantly. Give it some time to get back up to speed.

I did the master cleanse about a month ago. It was hard, but I did it to clean my system out. It is not a bad thing to do, and my skin and blowels really thanked me for it. I am going to start another one today. I will probably modify it, so I can still eat restricted amounts of food. I had lots of energy and really did not suffer too much. It got difficult at times, since I had to cook for my husband. You do get calories, but only from organic maple syrup in the drinks. They consist of 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. The fast is designed to clean your entire system out. I have to drink 32 ounces of water and 2 tablespoons of sea salt to cleanse the system. even after not eating for days. You would not believe what comes out of the intestines. I know many people do not agree with this, but for me, it really helped. I was getting sick form even the cleanest food, and just was not disgesting it anymore. My joints hurt and I was always getting sick

My metabolism has always been an issue with me. They can never find thyroid problems, but I do experience many of the symptoms of under active thyroid. Weight loss does not come easy, if ever at all, no matter how clean I eat. I am constantly cold, and hardly ever sweat, no matter how intense my workouts are.

I have been eating regularily, but I am again, not metabolizing the food. I gained 4 pounds over the weekend, and I was not eating poorly at all. I am going to get my thyroids checked once again, but they always test on the low side of normal, so no meds are prescribed.

I do weights several times a week through bodypump class. It is very intense, and I have adjusted my weights according to how much I work out. Bodypump is also a cardio workout from hell, and I enjoy it very much. I have great muscle tone, and endurance from it. I also hike an hour a day or more with my dogs, and do treadmill a few times a week.

The only way I lose weight these days is to fast. I resent it, but it is the only thing that works. Even when I do this, I do not lose very much weight at all. I never lose muscle tone, nand just pretty much stay the same. Even when I eat 800 calories a day, my body can sustain itself on that amount. I have no idea of why my body does this, and I have done every type of eating regimen you can think of. I gain weight on five small meals a day, no matter how clean they are. For me, it seems that starvation are my only options. I have been fighting to lose this weight for almost three years, and have been under instruction of personla trainers and dieticians, to no avail.

For the past two weeks, my meals consisted of low calorie meal replacements twice a day, a soup and salad, and fat free yogurt for lunch. I maintained my weight on that all by itself. This was still with my hiking activities, and bodypump.

This past weekend, I decided to ramp up my caloric intake to see if that would help. I trained like crazy all weekend, and ate about 1500 calories on Saturday and the same on Sunday. I am up four pounds this morning. I know some it is water, but it will take me week to lose it, if I do at all. This morning, I decided to start my master cleanse yet again, and resigned myself to the lemon drinks. I might have a salad and soup for munch, but I will determine that later on in the day. I really have no choice, but to do this. I would rather be in hell then gain anymore weight.

I think you are doing a lot of things wrong in your frustration.

First, stop assuming that you have some sort of thyroid problem or something else. You've had it checked, and it won't be changing any time soon. Only an extremely low percentage of people have them.

Second, stop doing the detox and starvation diets. In fact, stop even thinking about starvation diets. Detox diets are very dangerous for your system. Now, your metabolism has been shot to hell. That is the sole reason you gained four pounds. Those four pounds are probably water weight anyway.

Third, stop overtraining. You are doing 10 or more cardio sessions per week. Body pump does not count as real weight training. It will not add a lot of muscle due to artifical limitations on how much you can lift. Not to mention you can end up doing over 100 reps per body part. It will build your endurance up, but not the amount of muscle. Combined with as much other cardio as you do, you are overtraining.

With the overtraining and the starvation and severly restricted-calorie diets you have caused the catabolization of a large amount of muscle and slowed your metabolism down. This has stalled your fat loss efforts.

What you need to do is cut way down on the cardio, and do some real weight work. I would suggest trying 4 days of cardio, and 2 days of weight training with one day rest. You also need to eat properly.

Your posts scare me because you have never posted any information about your weight besides going up or down and you sound slightly obsessive about it. How much do you weigh? I am worried that from all the starvation and overtraining you could be anorexic. Also, why are you trying to lose weight when you are pregnant? (accept my apology and sorrows in advance if there was a miscarriage)

I think you are doing a lot of things wrong in your frustration.

First, stop assuming that you have some sort of thyroid problem or something else. You've had it checked, and it won't be changing any time soon. Only an extremely low percentage of people have them.

Second, stop doing the detox and starvation diets. In fact, stop even thinking about starvation diets. Detox diets are very dangerous for your system. Now, your metabolism has been shot to hell. That is the sole reason you gained four pounds. Those four pounds are probably water weight anyway.

Third, stop overtraining. You are doing 10 or more cardio sessions per week. Body pump does not count as real weight training. It will not add a lot of muscle due to artifical limitations on how much you can lift. Not to mention you can end up doing over 100 reps per body part. It will build your endurance up, but not the amount of muscle. Combined with as much other cardio as you do, you are overtraining.

With the overtraining and the starvation and severly restricted-calorie diets you have caused the catabolization of a large amount of muscle and slowed your metabolism down. This has stalled your fat loss efforts.

What you need to do is cut way down on the cardio, and do some real weight work. I would suggest trying 4 days of cardio, and 2 days of weight training with one day rest. You also need to eat properly.

Your posts scare me because you have never posted any information about your weight besides going up or down and you sound slightly obsessive about it. How much do you weigh? I am worried that from all the starvation and overtraining you could be anorexic. Also, why are you trying to lose weight when you are pregnant? (accept my apology and sorrows in advance if there was a miscarriage)

I agree whole-heartedlly. If 1500 calories is a lot for you, I think your metabolism is chronically depressed. You only lose weight when fasting because you've made fasting part of your lifestyle rather than just an occasional thing. If you stopped fasting, your metabolism would return to normal. But it will take time, and you may initially gain weight in the process. I followed too low a calorie diet when I first began cutting. I had just gotten back from a semester abroad and was chubby. I had never had a weight problem whatsoever before, so I didn't know what was an appropriate amount of calories. I was eating 1400-1500. I plateaued. I learned and bumped up the calories. Initially, I gained weight, but eventually things worked themselves out. Ultimately, I cut down to the single digits on slightly over 2000 calories a day.

I think you are doing a lot of things wrong in your frustration.

First, stop assuming that you have some sort of thyroid problem or something else. You've had it checked, and it won't be changing any time soon. Only an extremely low percentage of people have them.

Second, stop doing the detox and starvation diets. In fact, stop even thinking about starvation diets. Detox diets are very dangerous for your system. Now, your metabolism has been shot to hell. That is the sole reason you gained four pounds. Those four pounds are probably water weight anyway.

Third, stop overtraining. You are doing 10 or more cardio sessions per week. Body pump does not count as real weight training. It will not add a lot of muscle due to artifical limitations on how much you can lift. Not to mention you can end up doing over 100 reps per body part. It will build your endurance up, but not the amount of muscle. Combined with as much other cardio as you do, you are overtraining.

With the overtraining and the starvation and severly restricted-calorie diets you have caused the catabolization of a large amount of muscle and slowed your metabolism down. This has stalled your fat loss efforts.

What you need to do is cut way down on the cardio, and do some real weight work. I would suggest trying 4 days of cardio, and 2 days of weight training with one day rest. You also need to eat properly.

Your posts scare me because you have never posted any information about your weight besides going up or down and you sound slightly obsessive about it. How much do you weigh? I am worried that from all the starvation and overtraining you could be anorexic. Also, why are you trying to lose weight when you are pregnant? (accept my apology and sorrows in advance if there was a miscarriage)

I agree whole-heartedlly. If 1500 calories is a lot for you, I think your metabolism is chronically depressed. You only lose weight when fasting because you've made fasting part of your lifestyle rather than just an occasional thing. If you stopped fasting, your metabolism would return to normal. But it will take time, and you may initially gain weight in the process. I followed too low a calorie diet when I first began cutting. I had just gotten back from a semester abroad and was chubby. I had never had a weight problem whatsoever before, so I didn't know what was an appropriate amount of calories. I was eating 1400-1500. I plateaued. I learned and bumped up the calories. Initially, I gained weight, but eventually things worked themselves out. Ultimately, I cut down to the single digits on slightly over 2000 calories a day. Being stuck fasting to lose weight sounds close enough to hell to me. It's really no way to live. And I don't think it's necessary. You just need to be willing to put up with some potential weight-gain as your metabolism adjusts as you switch to a healthy lifestyle.

Also, why are you trying to lose weight when you are pregnant? (accept my apology and sorrows in advance if there was a miscarriage)

Where did she say she was pregnant?

Where did she say she was pregnant?

Back in this thread from January 25th, 2005 (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=12223)

I just found it looking for a thread double-checking if she ever mentioned how much she weighs or her body fat % or anything like that.

Back in this thread from January 25th, 2005 (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=12223)

I just found it looking for a thread double-checking if she ever mentioned how much she weighs or her body fat % or anything like that.

Ah, ok. Yes, I would hope she wouldn't be dieting while pregnant.

I lost the baby shortly after I made the post that I was pregnant. I would never do this to myself if I was carrying a baby. Sorry I did not mention that I lost the baby, but I don't really want to talk about it, if you know what I mean.

I only did a fast once, and it is not a part of my regular life style. I was told by a naturopath to do the master cleanse, since she felt my body was full of toxins, and that was why I was not losing weight. People can do the cleanse for 11 to 40 days. I found the 12 days I did to be just fine. If I lost muscle, it certainly was not enough to even raise an eyebrow. I was able to get back inot the gym, and felt better then ever.

As for bodypump, I love it and I have a whole lot of quality muscle from it. My best friend is an instructor and she looks awesome. I know some people do not agree that it is a weighted workout, but it is what you make of it. I used to bodybuild and I am very happy with the results I have obtained from bodypump. There is something that works for everybody and I am sticking with it.

I am a very active person in my regular life, and I honestly do not consder my hikes as any sort of cardio. I do it so much, my body is very accustomed to it. I love to exercise and do it purely for the enjoyment.

I know people do not agree with fasts, but sometimes a girl needs to do what she has to do I decided not to go through with another master cleanse today. I just don't want to do it. I decided to eat my salad for the day, and will resume a more reasonable diet tomorrow. My metabolism has never worked correctly, and I have to watch my weight daily.

Something seems to trigger off in my body and I will gain weight uncontrolably. I have no idea why, but I start getting really cold, especially in my fingers and feet. My nails start to break, and my skin looks like hell. Anything I eat makes me feel sick and bloated, even a salad. My body cycles thorugh this crap several times a year, and I am just sick to death of it. I know it does not sound normal and you don't believe me. However, this is my life and has been for the past three years. I did not have a weight issue until then, and suddenly things went terribly wrong. No amount of diet or training helped and I just gained weight. I am sick to death of this and will do whatever it takes to make certain it does not happen again.

Doctors are stumped and always say it is hormonal and genetics. Too bad they cannot seem to narrow things down. I eat right and exercise, and take good care of myself. I always have.

I had the bloodwork done today and get the results fairly soon. I am hoping this time they find something so I don't need to live like this anymore.

I generally am not a stupid person, and take care of myself. However, sheer desperation has brought me to this cross road. I refuse to be fat again, and need to lose my last 15 pounds. I don't want to disclose my weight, since it is a sore subject or shame and humiliation for me.

Hi all. I know this is a stupid basic question, but I really don't know anything about this subject. Is fasting like detox? Is this suppose to clean your system? Or, does fasting speed up the weight loss...and if so does the weight loss come back once your start eaiting regularly? Or both?


Thanks for the info.

Hi all. I know this is a stupid basic question, but I really don't know anything about this subject. Is fasting like detox? Is this suppose to clean your system? Or, does fasting speed up the weight loss...and if so does the weight loss come back once your start eaiting regularly? Or both?


Thanks for the info.

the only thing fasting does is clean out your bowls.. any weight you actually lose is false weight.. it's just crap that was in your intestine that your basically washing out... and by not eating much of anything if anything at all you are starving yourself and will in essence STOP your matabolism.. once you start eating again you will most likely springboard back to your previous weight.. it might take two or three day's but it will happen

and BustmyButt.. I think you honestly have a problem... if you are fasting like this and not eating nearly enough I think you have an eating disorder... you seem to base your self esteem on how much you weigh... what is your body fat? have you had it tested? do you take progress pictures? anything???? I'm 5' 2 1/2" (read --> SHORT) and I weight 140 lbs right now... I've been bouncing between 137 and 142 the past three weeks... so what... I've been gaining muslce too though... and losing fat... I LOOK better... I don't give a damn what the scale say's and only check it so that I can track my long term progress in graphs. right now I'm at 20% bodyfat.. which is awesome and means soooooo much more than that 140 lbs does... hell.. I'm kind of glad that I weigh that much... it means I gained a significant amount of muscle in the past two years... when I hit 20% in 2003 I was right around 132 lbs... at 15% bf I was at 125 lbs... this time I will weigh more at 15% because I've put on more muscle

the only other thing that I would like to tell you is that chaning your diet for two or three day's is NOT going to do ANYTHING... you might bloat a little and put on one or two water weight pounds but to truly see what a diet will do for you, you need to stay on it for 4 to 6 weeks, other wise you will NEVER know if it will help you or not... change does not happen over night... it takes times, slow down, be patient and you'll get there :tucool:

the only thing fasting does is clean out your bowls.. any weight you actually lose is false weight.. it's just crap that was in your intestine that your basically washing out... and by not eating much of anything if anything at all you are starving yourself and will in essence STOP your matabolism.. once you start eating again you will most likely springboard back to your previous weight.. it might take two or three day's but it will happen

and BustmyButt.. I think you honestly have a problem... if you are fasting like this and not eating nearly enough I think you have an eating disorder... you seem to base your self esteem on how much you weigh... what is your body fat? have you had it tested? do you take progress pictures? anything???? I'm 5' 2 1/2" (read --> SHORT) and I weight 140 lbs right now... I've been bouncing between 137 and 142 the past three weeks... so what... I've been gaining muslce too though... and losing fat... I LOOK better... I don't give a damn what the scale say's and only check it so that I can track my long term progress in graphs. right now I'm at 20% bodyfat.. which is awesome and means soooooo much more than that 140 lbs does... hell.. I'm kind of glad that I weigh that much... it means I gained a significant amount of muscle in the past two years... when I hit 20% in 2003 I was right around 132 lbs... at 15% bf I was at 125 lbs... this time I will weigh more at 15% because I've put on more muscle

the only other thing that I would like to tell you is that chaning your diet for two or three day's is NOT going to do ANYTHING... you might bloat a little and put on one or two water weight pounds but to truly see what a diet will do for you, you need to stay on it for 4 to 6 weeks, other wise you will NEVER know if it will help you or not... change does not happen over night... it takes times, slow down, be patient and you'll get there :tucool:

I agree with everything Chameleon said. I'm sorry for your issues, BustmyButt. Some people really do have much slower metabolism than others, and it is their cross to bear. But from what you've posted, everything you do only makes it worse. Chameleon is right. You can't just eat and exercise normally for a week and decide that you gained weight so the only way for you to lose weight is to fast and detox regularly and religiously. As I said, I messed with my metabolism by eating too little. I initially gained weight when I bumped the calories up. But ultimately it was only doing this that allowed me to lose weight. It will take time for your body to adjust and your metabolism to return to a normal level. 4-6 weeks or maybe even longer. We could be wrong, and you really could have some undiagnosed issue. But the only way to really figure it out is to calcualte your BMR, figure out a normal healthy amount of calories for you to be eating on a healthy cutting diet that is rich and varied. Pair this with weights or your bodypump classes. Do cardio, but don't overdue cardio. Do this for weeks or better for a few months before drawing any conclusions. Good luck!

Don't worry so much about. Fitness should be a fun activity that you do to nurture your body and feel good. I'm 5'6" and when I started college I went from 130-150 in three months. I freaked and overtrained(for six months). I got shin splints and my weight never changed. It wasn't until I talked to a personal trainer that I realized I wasn't eating enough (metabolism had slowed to nothing) and I was doing too much cardio. Don't starve yourself that will only hurt your progress. I had also become way too obsessed about my weight. I just had to relax and enjoy myself. This may not be your case but a lot of people are waiting until they get to that perfect weight to feel good about their body. Don't wait, feel good right now reaching your goals will be easier that way.

I recommend this simple solution.

Post your goals and all the specifics of your workouts and diet. Dont be vague tell the forum everything you can. People have a habbit of not posting the important bits because they know they have that right :nod:
Post Everything !!
The collective IQ and knowledge of this forum is vast. I guarantee that if there is a hole it will find it.
(Yes it does sound like a borg collective)
Fasting is not an answer under any guise for fat loss. And is most certainly making losing fat in the following weeks much harder.
Widers

I agree completely with jsbrook and Chameleon. Particularly about the part where jsbrook said that you can't try to eat normally for a week and then go back to extreme weight loss techniques. Plus, I'm kind of worried that you won't post your weight after the posts you've been making. I feel like you should listen to Widerbeast....the people here could probably help. I'm sorry about how hard it probably is to deal with what you've been talking about though. Just try it though, jsbrook has offered good advice.

Hey BustMyButt,
I'm really sorry for all the frustrations you're going through. It does sound tough.

From what I can tell, you seem to be pretty intuitive with your own body. There's many a time, I'm sure all of us have experienced, where we feel like people just don't understand what we're going through. Doctors can be especially dismissive I've found, they've probably come accross more than one idiot and so think most people exaggerate their conditions---they kind of develop a jaundiced eye. If you trully feel like there is something wrong, then keep pursuing a solution to it and find out what's going on. Especially since you had two losses, that seems to be saying something (it may have also had to do with your husband as you asked about before.)

Anyhow, I dont think there's anything horrible with fasting once in a while. But maybe you should hold off on that for a few months for now.

I'm no expert on results simply b/c I kept screwing up with the junk food and not exercising, so never got a good consistent flow going. Other folks here can probably be of more help in that department. It'd help alot though if you could post your exact diet / menu. You seem to be really active, (are you getting a good sweat with the heart rate up at least a few days a week?) so perhaps it's the nutrition part that's causing troubles.

Also, do you know your bodyfat percentage? Are you measuring your inch loss? The scale can really screw with one's head. A few pounds here and there dont mean squat--it's the way your clothes fit and how you look in the mirror that matters most.

Sorry I can't help you more. Mostly just wanted to extend my sympathies.

Take Care.

My metabolism has always been an issue with me. They can never find thyroid problems, but I do experience many of the symptoms of under active thyroid. Weight loss does not come easy, if ever at all, no matter how clean I eat. I am constantly cold, and hardly ever sweat, no matter how intense my workouts are.

I am also hypothyoid, Hashimoto. It took years of struggling with many of the issues you describe to finally be diagnosed. You need to have a TSH, FREE T3, FREE T4 (not the reg T3 and T4) those only tell how your body is functioning, that there is a hormone in the body, BUT the FREE T tests tell how your body is uptaking the hormones.

THe results which many doc's call 'normal' are not for most women. TSH should be under one, FREE T's should come in Mid range OR HIGHER for women to feel best. Most docs dont know that the ranges for TSH have changed :mad: they are not .4 - 5.0 any longer, though most labs are still using the old ranges.. .3-3.0 with anything over 2.5 being suspect for hypo T.

It would also be a great idea to get a Ferritin Test. This is stored iron. Though your hemoglobin maybe just fine, they thyoid needs a range of atleast 70-100 for proper function.

THe TPO/AG test is for Testing the antibodies for Graves (hyper) which doesnt sound like you have and The TPO tests for Hashi's which is VERY common in perimenopausal women. This has a hyper swing and then goes hypo.

THere is a ton of information about thyoidism at www.about.com You have to go to heath/fitness and then look up thyoid disease to find it. THere is a GREAT forum there too, if you start reading on, you will find millions of women/men "screaming to be heard" describing all the same symptoms... your not alone or crazy. There is also a list of TOP Notch doc's that are patient recommmended. It might take a few times to find a good dr.. but those doc's h
ave a better shot than most. Even most endo's do not know how to treat thyoid disease. :whistle:

There is a list of 69 common symptoms http://www.drlowe.com/

ALso at LCF there is an awesome thread called Thyoid disease, Tests normal, are you sure: VERY LONG INFORMATIVE THRead and definitely worth the time it takes to read it!! :nod: "NonstickPam is a thyoid patient advocate who herself has had thyoid disease and many other autoimmune diseases as a result of untreated Hashi's.. http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=71576 (I am Inatic on that BB) I have posted on that thread.

There are individual state bb's that you can also get on and talk with people in your own area for doc recommendations as well.

You are not alone or crazy in your thoughts about hypothyoidism.. at 31 you should not be perimenopausal. It took me years of complaining and thinking I was crazy, before i finally found treatment. When I read that thread, I cried.. :blsuh:

Thanks to that about BB and finding a doc that doesnt worship the TSH. I am feeling awesome now. The majority of the symptoms that plagued me are gone :claphigh: I now take Synthoid and Cytomel.

If ya need any help, just "yell"

Hello? Bustmybutt, are you still around?