Weight loss plateaux....

Loretta Damage

I've worked hard since 1 Jan this year to lose weight. Started at 16st lbs (ex front row rugby player), wanted to get some timber off as racing this year. Has gone pretty well, managed 3st off whilst being careful to include lots of power training sessions to ensure that I don't fall into the trap of weight loss = power loss which os something I've seen some of the guys in my club suffer from when they work towards weight loss. Thing is I've stopped losing weight and am flatlining, no weight going back on but pretty gutting when the scales haven't moved for the last 3 weeks; especially when I'm still eating carefully and training/racing well. Tbh I've never felt fitter or stronger. Typical day's food intake:

B'fast: Scoop of porridge, skimmed milk, tspoon of honey. Cup of espresso.
Mid AM: Banana & apple.
Lunch: Tin of Tuna, half tin of kidney beans or brown rice, salad, spoon low fat mayo.
Mid PM: Banana & apple.
Dinner: Varied but usually around 500 calls total - using a really good diet cook book.

Couple of glasses of wine on a Fri or Sat night.

Training is varied; a few long rides each week, a race or two and at least 3 hard interval sessions.

Sleeping well and don't feel overtrained or hungry.

Any advice on how I can get the last half stone off?

zardoz

I've gone from 16st to 11st 10lb over a longer period than you and there were times when I lost nothing for 3-4 weeks and then my weight started to drop again. I found that it did get progressively harder as I got nearer my target weight. Maybe try some fasted morning rides or some longer zone1/2 rides which are supposed to burn more fat.

danowat

Lot of sugar in 2 bananas and 2 apples a day.......

glenwatt

Don't panic, would be my advise.

A few years back I dropped 5st. I got into a plateaux with around a stone to go that lasted almost two months. I was doing nothing different it just wouldn't budge.
Then it just dropped the last bit.

buckles

Can you not add another 1hr of tempo riding a week? That would use ~1000kcal

imposter2.0

Loretta Damage wrote:

....I'm still eating carefully and training/racing well. Tbh I've never felt fitter or stronger.

Can't really fault your diet or training regime, but maybe you don't 'need' to lose any more. Based on the above, what would shifting another 7lbs actually achieve? My guess is probably not much.

phreak

Buckles wrote:

Can you not add another 1hr of tempo riding a week? That would use ~1000kcal

To do that you'd need to be doing around 290 watts for an hour. Not impossible of course, but that's the sort of level you'd need in order to burn that many calories.

@Loretta Damage. Maybe try keeping a diary so you can see clearly how much you're consuming vs burning and go from there. Could also try and figure out your body fat percentage to see how much fat there is left to shift. Guessing if you were a former prop forward that you have/had a fair bit of upper body muscle. You don't say if you still have that and if that's something you'd be prepared to lose in order to drop weight.

buckles

phreak wrote:

Buckles wrote:

Can you not add another 1hr of tempo riding a week? That would use ~1000kcal

To do that you'd need to be doing around 290 watts for an hour. Not impossible of course, but that's the sort of level you'd need in order to burn that many calories.

I have it to be ~275w...

How difficult that would be is obviously depends on your FTP.

If you find 275 watts for an hour hard then simply do less (~190 watts) for 90 minutes... or simply do whatever you can and accept you will expend less energy...

Loretta Damage

Ditched the bananas & apples and replaced with raw carrots (scraped and kept in the fridge, very tasty). Dropped 4lbs this week with no change to training routine. Last race for a month on Sunday so hopefully I'll get another couple of this week before 3 weeks enjoying quality road surfaces in France.

lef

how late do you eat? I find if I don't eat after 8pm weight drops pretty quickly.

chrisaonabike

Bananas and apples are about 100 calories each. If the only change you've made is to replace them with carrots, then even discounting the calories in the carrots, the absolute maximum calorie deficit you can have created by ditching 2 apples and 2 bananas per day is 400 cal per day, or 2800 cals in a week.

Weight loss corresponds approximately to 3500 cals per pound (of fat), so I don't think it's possible that your 4 pounds loss in a week can be fat. It probably includes a lot of water, somehow.

team47b

Loretta Damage wrote:

B'fast: Scoop of porridge, skimmed milk, tspoon of honey. Cup of espresso.
Mid AM: Banana & apple.
Lunch: Tin of Tuna, half tin of kidney beans or brown rice, salad, spoon low fat mayo.
Mid PM: Banana & apple.
Dinner: Varied but usually around 500 calls total - using a really good diet cook book.

Couple of glasses of wine on a Fri or Sat night.

Any advice on how I can get the last half stone off?

Give up the alcohol, stop eating tinned food (processed), eat fresh food, avoid apples and bananas choose lower carb fruit. Stop eating a high protein lunch, beans and rice and salad with yoghurt dressing instead of Tuna and mayo.

Avoid simple carbs/fructose, they trigger higher insulin response, one of insulin's roles is to store fat. Eat complex carbs, lower GI, producing less insulin and less fat stored.

Eat more fibre than present and drink more water.

polyx

I've lost 2.2 stones (going from 15.2 to 13) from January this year.
I'd agree with "lef", eating late, short before going to bed is not good. I eat whenever I feel even a bit of hunger during the day, however if starving before bed, drinking protein shake (unflavored one, without nasty sweeteners) with 0.1% fat milk.

Ive had plateaux too it's part of the process.
Try cheat meal once in 10 days, by having a nice few slices of pizza!! It helps your body to not get used to lower calorie intake.