First time here, but loving the suggestions and support! I'm 7 months in and lost quickly the first 6 months, but this last month have gone up and down one freakin' pound and am STUCK! Has this happened to anyone else? I am trying to shock my body with a new workout routine, as I'm at the gym 6/7 days, and am going to try the calorie cycling. I am sooooo frustrated, but refuse to give up! Suggestions?

Sounds like u know what to do so just do it .. u might want to try some extra strength training, but everyone gets plateaus so donmt be too hard on yourself, just be patient and as long as u are burning more than u eat u will start to lose again , but small shocks are good for the body .. lets it know u are in control

If you read this forum you will probably see 1-4 topics every day regarding bandsters who have plateaued or believe they have plateaued. I personally don't consider it a plateau until it's about 2 weeks or more old and if you've been busting your butt in the exercise department as well as keeping that calorie count low. Some folks think if they go 3 days without losing a lb they're in a plateau. No way.

But to answer your question. I've busted two plateaus lately. Here is how I did it.

I averaged about an hour a day with two types of exercising. I did 5 days of intense 20 minute drills where I got my heartrate up to 140+ for a solid 15-20 minutes. I mostly did strength type exercising like lunges, squats, pullups, pushups, crunches etc. Then later in the day I'd go for a 30-60 minute bike ride or I'd play racquetball. The point is, I mixed it up. Don't do the same exercise day in and day out.

I went on a no carb/high protein(and veggie) diet for 3 days. Then I went right back to 1200-1400 calories a day. I dropped 3 lbs both times. Like so many others have said, mix it up. Don't let your body get into a rhythym where it's comfortable with the norm. If you're on a very low calorie diet your body will slow it's metabolism way down. Feed it 1200-1400 calories a day for a week and then hit it with 800 a day for 3 or 4 days. That's what works for me. And I know that we all are so different so find something that works for you. But one thing that most of us all share is that we have to mix it up.

tmf

I had been doing intense circuit training and running from Jan - May and they hit a plateau. I had an opportunity to have a trainer for a month and he told me NOT to do the same type of exercise for more than 6 weeks, to shake it up. So he had me do standard slow weight lifting with 1-2 mins inbetween sets and he put my cardio target heart rate much slower then I had been doing. I lost 17 lbs in the month I had with him!!! Who would have thought!!! So now my plan it to do something different (swimming, biking, yoga, etc) for only 6 weeks then switch it up. I'm looking forward to it.