Plateau ????
Sigh... I posted a big, long post and then when I hit submit OH had a database crash for a few minutes. Needless to say I lost my posted material so I will try to type it again.
Here goes...
Plateus suck and I'm sorry you have to experience one but if you say you are losing inches then you may be actually losing weight and putting on muscle. That's a good thing! You could ask 10 people and get 10 different answer on plateau busting but the following has worked for me in the past...
1) Weight Training and Cardio - Lifting weights will increase your lean muscle mass which will in turn increase your metabolic rate. Both weight training and cardio are gonna burn calories and you even burn a set amount of calories a day doing nothing. (your Basic Metabolic Rate) Combine that with the calories you burned from exercising and if you total caloric expenditure for the day is more than you consumed you will have a deficit. Have a deficit of 3500 calories and you lost a pound. You also may want to consider altering your exercise routine as well. If you are doing low intensity exercises try some high intensity things like sprinting for a few days and see if that helps.
2) Alter your food intake by eating more frequently - How do you make a fire hotter? You throw some fuel (wood) on it. Think of your metabolism as that fire. The food you consume will make that fire (your metabolism) burn more efficiently. If you are eating 3 times a day up it to 6 and make sure they are all high protein foods. Go very easy on the carbs with the exception of the green, leafy veggies. As a rule of thumb stay away from the white stuff. (potatoes, rice, etc.)
3) Go easy on the carbs - As in the above go easy or eliminate the bad carbs altogether. I know it's easier said than done. At least in my case it is. You are pretty far out so I don't know if you have any problems with dumping but in my case I can (and sometimes do) eat the sugary stuff. Old habits die hard I guess. Stay away from them and that may be the key to busting the plateau by itself.
4) Trick your metabolism - Some people don't believe in this but it's worked for me. I will stay religious to a 'diet' during the week (M-F) and trick my metabolism one day on the weekend by eating whatever I want. This relaxes my metabolism and makes it think that I'm back to the old habits and when I go back to the 'diet' on Monday I shock the system again. Like I said some people disagree that this works but I've done it for awhile now and it works for me.
5) Drink water - Sometimes when you think you are hungry you are actually thirsty. Drink 16oz of water and sometimes that's gonna do the trick. Personally I shoot for 128 ounces a day. At a minimum try to get in at least 64 ounces.
Hope this helps... (and I hope the post goes through this time because I ain't typing this again!) :)
Chad.
