I used to weigh almost 90 kg a few years back. With family support ( mom, sis, daughter ) I shed most of the excess fat and was down to 66 kg. My goal was 65 kg. Then things went wrong. First, I hit a plateau. Second, I decided to take my new body out and the parties, holidays, breaks all took their toll. Now I stand at 72.5 kg.
Am doing my HONEST best. But the measurements and weight are really stubborn. I get disheartened and again begin to eat not so good.
You know what the greatest motivator for weight loss is? WEIGHT LOSS. When the scales show a smaller number one is motivated to keep it up. Plateaus suck!
Anyone who can tell me how to keep going when the going gets tough? There is a cupboardful of smaller size clothes waiting for me in the loft. Do I keep them or give them away?

No, do not give your clothes away. The mistake I make is keeping the bigger size clothing. Use the smaller clothing as incentive. You did it once, you can do it again. Please do not get discouraged. I am sure you know the answers, just try your best (foodwise), try some longer cardio sessions and definitely strength train.

And congrats.. coming down to 65 and even staying at 72.5 kgs is a big accomplishment., esp. given your insulin resistance. So, I am sure you can do it. And even when the scales do not move, you know your blood chemistry changes positively when you exercise and eat right. I betcha your lipid profiles and sugar levels change in the right direction even when the scale does not fluctuate much. I get a huge thrill when my HDL levels increase each year. OF course, you plateau out eventually even with HDL levels and other numbers

Oops, Renuka.. I saw your other thread. I see that you do enough in terms of exercise. So, my answer does not solve your problem. Hmm..

As King of Plateauville, I support your view: Plateaus suck, no doubt about it. But the only real thing you can do is wait them out. If you are exercising, eating appropriate things in appropriate amounts, and getting enough rest, eventually, the plateau will end and you will experience rapid weight loss for a while thereafter.

The one thing you should not do is eat more. Because as discouraging as a plateau is--and that's awfully discouraging--eating in response to stress is not healthy self-medication. Go out and buy yourself something nice, treat yourself to an evening out with friends, redecorate your home or do anything else to get through the doldrums, but don't eat your way through them. That will break the plateau all right, but in the wrong direction.

Keep the thin clothes. In fact, take some of them out and put them where you can see them as motivation. And burn the bigger clothes that no longer fit you. The road behind you is filled with potholes, and you aren't going back.

Hi Renuka

Just a thought, but have you considered that perhaps you are not consuming enough calories for your activity level? From your description in the forums, it sounds like you are extremely active. I've found that when I exercise a lot, I actually have to increase my calorie consumption a bit (that whole starvation mode thing).

Also, you might want to consider cycling your calories. I was getting frustrated a bit back because I had plateaued for three weeks, even though I'd been exercising regularly and keeping my total weekly calories around 1350. But then someone told me about cycling my calories (also known as Wendie dieting). You can read a description of it here (from the perspective of someone who's on Weight Watchers) and also here. I up my calories by about 200-300 on both Saturday and Sunday (which works out nicely, since I'm more inclined to eat more on the weekend in any case). Ever since I started cycling my calories (about 3 months ago), I haven't plateaued. You might want to give it a try, if you haven't already.

Ron, Ooty nice, Nat,
Thanks for the words of comfort.
Nat, I will definitely look up your idea of calorie cycling.
I'll take out my skinny clothes when my weight goes below 70kg. Then I will try them on every week and will let you all know the minute I no longer look like an overstuffed cushion in them!
Ron , what you wrote really helped. The mistake I make, like you say is use food in stressful situations. I will do like you say and use my hobbies to relieve stress.
Nat, with great difficulty, I try to limit myself to an 1800 cal diet. Is that too little? Like you say maybe I wil eat about 200 extra calories twice a week. Maybe a couple of raw walnuts or almonds should do it? Or an extra egg?
Ooty, nice to meet you here too. I too am a cardiocoach fan and if ever I am on a treadmill or elliptical, you can be sure that Sean is talking in my ear. I try to fit in cardio coach at least twice a week.
Ooty, because of my metabolic disorder, even at my thinnest, my lipid profile was marginally high. My doc says that my body manufactures its own triglycerides and LDL and dumps it in my blood. He says that since the values are still not too high, I do not yet need medication.
I am hoping that my workouts will keep medication at bay.

@Renuka: Have you taken a look at WeightWatchers's onsite or online programs? Both take a sensible approach to diet and exercise and, I think, can be tailored to your particular needs.

I think I may have found a perfect plateau buster.

I'm planning to dump the weights and do this:

URL

Please dont click if you are easily offended. Ummmm, on second thoughts click only if you have an unusually high tolerance for offensive material.

Thanks to a poster at www.videofitness.com for this gem. And if you are offended, please go post your protest to her there.

Vrindaaaa..

I did not click on the link, my MIL was right behind me .

I am not sure how good ( in terms of options) Weight watchers is for vegetarians, but personally, I know a lot of people who eat meat and have done very well with Weight watchers. And I agree with nyc : it seems like a sensible meal plan..

I suspect Renuka has checked it out and in her case, she is really figthing against her genetic cards. And may I add Renuka, you are doing very well. Keep it up and don't get discouraged. You look fabulous in the picture. You want to get better, go for it, but revel in your success too.

Hey Ooty Nice,

I clicked that picture. She looks only about 46% as nice in the flesh.

Vrinda

Vrinda
Mean, Mean! I think I am FABULOUS! Better than that pic you clicked!
Nat,
I checked out the calorie cycling concept. It sounds a little scary becoz I am someone is is riding a fine edge.
But I will try and work something out. First, I have to figure out a way of reducing a few 100 cal one day of the week without getting those uncontrolable cravings. Then I have to figure where my extra few 100 cal are going to come from on the high cal day. Can it be a treat like a small scoop of ice-cream or must it be something sensible like a protein shake or a couple of extra egg-whites?
But I get the picture. You take the usual number of calories on most days but one day of the week you cut down your intake by about 400 cal and on another day you increase it by a similar amount. I suppose it keeps your metabolism from outsmarting you.
Am willing to do anything to bust the plateau.

Hi Renuka,

It sounds a little scary becoz I am someone is is riding a fine edge.

Yeah, the concept really took me a while to get used to and I still feel a bit guilty when I eat a bit more on the weekends. On the other hand, it seems to be working for me. On my low calories days, I try to eat foods that have a good high volume/low calorie ratio, like soups, steamed vegetables, or cereal. This helps me feel less deprived. On my high calorie days, I go for foods that are higher in protein, fats, and carbs - eggs, yogurt (I don't use non-fat yogurt because I don't like the taste), rice (I refuse to cut carbs out of my diet entirely as I 1.) really like them 2.) think my body needs them)). I've been avoiding refined sugar for the most part as well and found that doing so has really cut down on my carb cravings. I hope this works for you. Plateaus are just so annoying and demoralizing.

Nat,
After mulling over it, I have decided to give it a go. Will keep you posted on how it goes.
By the way, we indians make deliciuos yoghurt at home. We warm milk and add a tsp of yesterdays yoghurt and it sets into a deliocious white jelly in a few hours.
Eaten chilled, it is a perfect accomopaniment to any meal ( who needs wine when there is yoghurt? , a dressing for salads, a base to make a lowfat pudding by mixing in chopped fruit or just a great snack. We call it 'DAHI'
It contains live culture and so has several health benefits like aiding digestion and maintaining the pH balance of skin, and preventing yeast infections.
My sis Vrinda can't stand the stuff but I like most Indians love it!

Please do. I hope it works for you!

Re Yogurt, I'm also a huge fan. Unsweetened yogurt and Greek-style yogurt in particular, is my favorite kind of yogurt. Greek-style yogurt is heavily strained (almost to a sour cream-like consistency) and also uses live cultures (thisURL is the brand I like - available at Trader Joe's for U.S.-ians). I usually mix 30 grams (1/4 cup) of Grape-Nuts cereal into 200 grams (7 oz) of 2% Fage - keeps me going for hours.

If you have high insulin resistance then you might find that taking white kidney bean extract before starchy meals helps, I've been taking it before carb rich meals and managed to lose around 16 pounds (so far).

It also curbs your cravings in between meals and you have less of a sugar crash after meals.

Hope this helps.

Atiq,
I just prefer to avoid carb rich meals. Since I eat mainly whole grains, legumes, fruit and vegetables for my source of carb, I get no sugar crash.
Also I live in India and we have white kidny beans but no extract. I can understand how the extract helps....... 1 serving of kidney beans and I feel full ( of beans and of gas ) for the rest of the day!