Reaching a Plateau

danslevent

Hello everyone,

In the last six months I have completely changed my exercise habits. I always ate pretty healthily so that wasn't a problem. I have, however, reached a bit of a plateau. I am about 5,3 in height and weigh 50kg (8stone) down from 55kg. In the last few weeks I have failed to lose anymore weight. I have quite a lot of weight in my bum/thighs whilst my waist would be super slim.

I exercise about three times a week. I spend about an hour and a half in the gym where I run (recently ran 5k for the first time!) do the rowing machine, a bit of bike and also some weights.

My diet is generally:

Breakfast: Herbal tea and porridge made with water and fruit.

Lunch is usually one of these things:
Soup with added quinoa.
Homemade salad with lemon juice dressing.

Dinner usually something like one of these:
Mushroom, tomato and cheese omelette.
Vegetable stir fry.
Potato and cauliflower curry

Snacks:
Carrots and cucumber with reduced fat hummus
Fruit and fat free yoghurt

I really do eat quite healthily, and once a week I usually have a bit of a cheat evening where we make homemade pizza and I have some wine. I do generally eat A LOT of pizza at this, could this be my downfall?

Any tips or tricks?

danslevent

Also, sometimes I go to the gym first thing in the morning without having eaten anything. If I do eat something, I have to wait about two hours because I get cramps. I have heard and read mixed reviews about working out on an empty stomach...

bee06

Do you think you need to lose more weight? Because your BMI is 19.5 which is the low end of healthy.

kiaronh

Congratulations on the weight loss so far. As others have said, dropping 10% is a big deal. (Also you don't have much fat anywhere at that height and weight).

How long have you been training for and how long have you been on this plateau?

Weight loss will not continue at the same rate forever. Initially you will have lost weight faster, but as you lose fat and develop muscle the amount of water you carry around will change too. So weight loss can slow or even stop for a while, even though you are still making steady progress.

For this reason I would advise you to focus on your training numbers. The mirror and the scales can mess with your head, but if you are running longer/faster and lifting more weight (either heavier weights or the same weight more times) then you are making progress and getting healthier. Do you record and track your progress in the gym? This makes it much easier to see progress, which is essential for patches like this when weight loss seems to stall.

I wouldn't bother messing with your diet as this is clearly working for you. If you lost 5kg while having a pizza every now and then this it clearly isn't holding you back.

Eating before training is a personal thing, if it gives you cramps then avoid it. Others may not get cramps, but you know what works for you.

j@utis

I would recommend adding some fat to your diet. Also take some vitamins & supplements because I don't think you get your daily RDA's with so little food. And as kiaronh says, train harder.
Number on the scales isn't everything eg, look here how different people with the same body fat look like: