only in my third week should i plateau already?
jensothermail
Posts: 5 Member
So frustrated, the last two days I have felt like I hit a wall. My workouts don't feel productive and I gained two pounds! What the heck? Should I really be hitting a plateau this soon into my weight loss? It just makes me feel like all my hard work is for nothing.
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It is not a plateau. It is only one week. Weight loss is not always linear, and the scale may not be dropping due to added exercise, nearing ovulation or your period, and general water retention due to a high sodium day. Make sure you're logging accurately and see what happens next week.0
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Stopping concerning yourself with day to day weigh ins. They are meaningless. A million and one things affect day to day weigh ins (sodium, hydration, food in stomach, timing of last bowel movement, etc). A good technique is to weigh daily at the same time each day and record the result. At the end of the week, average the results. At the end of the month, compare the averages. There should be a downward trend (not necessarily a linear drop). If after 4 weeks or more you are consistently maintaining or gaining, consider reducing calories.0
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Most people lose a fair amount of water weight in the first couple of weeks, then either stop losing or even gain a little as their body takes back the extra water they lost but the body actually needs. After a week or two of this, they start losing at a normal rate. Give it 4-6 weeks before you start thinking you are plateauing or stalling or whatever. If you are in a deficit, you are losing fat.
It always is a good thing to double check your weighing, measuring, and logging for accuracy. If you are good with that, just let your body do what it needs to in order to run optimally.0 -
Weight loss is not linear, especially day to day. You have to consider sodium intake, increase in activity, hormones (especially if you're nearing TOM), and other factors that can mask loss.0
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I have stayed the same weight fir past 2 weeks. Frustrated bcuz I am not going over calories. What's up?0
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2 weeks isn't a ton of time to make any definitive statement about whether you are eating too many calories or not. I'd give it a month. In the meantime it never hurts to examine how accurate you are counting. Are you weighing your food on a scale, using measuring cups/spoons (these are meant for liquid only), or just estimating portion sizes? Do you take regular cheat days/meals? If so how much over on calories are you going?I have stayed the same weight fir past 2 weeks. Frustrated bcuz I am not going over calories. What's up?
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2 weeks is not enough time. Give it another week, or 2. If it was me I would even lock that scale up for the next few weeks. Don't even step on it. Let your body adapt to the new you who is working out. You might be pleased after a few weeks what you find. Weight loss IS NOT linear. you will have gains and losses. The overall trend should be downward. Don't rush it.0
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Don't weight yourself daily, it will become an obsession. Weigh yourself on a morning after using the toilet and before eating/drinking anything and stick to that same day and time each week. You will see more weight loss this way and it will make you feel better. A plateu is many weeks of staying at the same weight, not day to day. I have been doing this for 3 years and I'm now in my final 10 pounds. The last 3 weeks has been tough with only losing 0.8 or 1 pound each week but this week I upped my game exercise wise and lost 3.2 on my weigh in today so don't be disheartened, keep it up
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Stopping concerning yourself with day to day weigh ins. They are meaningless. A million and one things affect day to day weigh ins (sodium, hydration, food in stomach, timing of last bowel movement, etc). A good technique is to weigh daily at the same time each day and record the result. At the end of the week, average the results. At the end of the month, compare the averages. There should be a downward trend (not necessarily a linear drop). If after 4 weeks or more you are consistently maintaining or gaining, consider reducing calories.
Thank you, I needed to reevaluate at my past month's stats and realize that I have lost 5 pounds and not to be concerned with the last 2 weeks of little/no loss.0 -
Two days? If this only took two days, or two weeks, everyone would be thin. Just keep doing what you're doing, weigh and measure everything and it will come.0
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Don't weight yourself daily, it will become an obsession. Weigh yourself on a morning after using the toilet and before eating/drinking anything and stick to that same day and time each week. You will see more weight loss this way and it will make you feel better. A plateu is many weeks of staying at the same weight, not day to day. I have been doing this for 3 years and I'm now in my final 10 pounds. The last 3 weeks has been tough with only losing 0.8 or 1 pound each week but this week I upped my game exercise wise and lost 3.2 on my weigh in today so don't be disheartened, keep it up
Actually, for me it's worked to do the exact opposite. (But with the same end result of giving fewer fs about the numbers on my scale) I weigh myself last thing at night, right before bed, and then in the morning after visiting the bathroom. That alone has shown me overnight losses of up to FOUR POUNDS, clearly all water and digestion related. (Nobody loses a measurable amount of fat in an 8 hour period, LOL!) After a week or so, you get pretty good and determining the midpoint of all those fluctuations, that's what I use for my "official" MFP weigh-in number. But, really, the numbers on the scale are an imperfect indicator. Just keep on keeping on and notice how much better you feel, how your clothes fit, etc.
You're only 3 weeks in. Patience. Rushing only makes it more likely that you'll gain it all back as soon as you hit your "goal."0 -
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This is the most frustrating nonsense advice people give to people who are stalled. I've been stalled for months. All people say is give it time. OK. Like how much time? Forever? "Are you weighing your food." Yes. "Are you sure?" Um, yes. I have a scale. I set things on it. It gives a weight. "Maybe you should eat more for a while. Or less. But not too much less because you don't have to starve yourself and you'll lose muscle. Or maybe your body composition is changing. But you're not gaining muscle because you can't in a deficit. Or it's water. That's been there for months. Yeah" Blah blah blah. No one ever has any real practical advice for people who are stalled. They just throw out feel-good-pseudo advice. "Be patient." Lame. New rule. Stop telling people who have been trying hard for months and even years in some cases to wait longer. Start ponying up with some actual decent practical useful advice.I'd give it a month.
Actually for someone who is complaining of a plateau that's less than 6-8 weeks it is the only advice because a stall is a result of weight loss not being linear
and if you have been 'stalled for months' there is something wrong with your CICO equation, so either you're not logging properly, which is easily done even if you are weighing your food, or you're over-estimating calorie burn or you have an underlying medical issues which is affecting your personal CICO equation
and anybody advising someone who isn't losing weight for months to eat more is clearly ignoring the laws of physics
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This is the most frustrating nonsense advice people give to people who are stalled. I've been stalled for months. All people say is give it time. OK. Like how much time? Forever? "Are you weighing your food." Yes. "Are you sure?" Um, yes. I have a scale. I set things on it. It gives a weight. "Maybe you should eat more for a while. Or less. But not too much less because you don't have to starve yourself and you'll lose muscle. Or maybe your body composition is changing. But you're not gaining muscle because you can't in a deficit. Or it's water. That's been there for months. Yeah" Blah blah blah. No one ever has any real practical advice for people who are stalled. They just throw out feel-good-pseudo advice. "Be patient." Lame. New rule. Stop telling people who have been trying hard for months and even years in some cases to wait longer. Start ponying up with some actual decent practical useful advice.I'd give it a month.
Don't project your anger you have towards yourself at other people.
I'm not angry with myself. I'm angry people's main goto weight loss advice is "be patient." Huh? I don't want to wait to make progress. I'd like to actually make progress. Advice on how to make progress is what people need. Not, "umm, wait a month and evaluate."
So, you want advice even if it is bad advice? OK: "get off a plateau by doing a juice cleanse for 30 days." How's that?
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This is the most frustrating nonsense advice people give to people who are stalled. I've been stalled for months. All people say is give it time. OK. Like how much time? Forever? "Are you weighing your food." Yes. "Are you sure?" Um, yes. I have a scale. I set things on it. It gives a weight. "Maybe you should eat more for a while. Or less. But not too much less because you don't have to starve yourself and you'll lose muscle. Or maybe your body composition is changing. But you're not gaining muscle because you can't in a deficit. Or it's water. That's been there for months. Yeah" Blah blah blah. No one ever has any real practical advice for people who are stalled. They just throw out feel-good-pseudo advice. "Be patient." Lame. New rule. Stop telling people who have been trying hard for months and even years in some cases to wait longer. Start ponying up with some actual decent practical useful advice.I'd give it a month.
Then go see a doctor/nutritionist. Work with someone on a personal level who can have more meaningful interactions. There are zillions of things that can influence weight loss and you expect us to be able to diagnose them all over the internet based on whatever you choose or not choose to tell us???
I get that you're frustrated, I've seen some of your other posts, but ranting like this isn't going to help anyone, including yourself.0 -
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This is the most frustrating nonsense advice people give to people who are stalled. I've been stalled for months. All people say is give it time. OK. Like how much time? Forever? "Are you weighing your food." Yes. "Are you sure?" Um, yes. I have a scale. I set things on it. It gives a weight. "Maybe you should eat more for a while. Or less. But not too much less because you don't have to starve yourself and you'll lose muscle. Or maybe your body composition is changing. But you're not gaining muscle because you can't in a deficit. Or it's water. That's been there for months. Yeah" Blah blah blah. No one ever has any real practical advice for people who are stalled. They just throw out feel-good-pseudo advice. "Be patient." Lame. New rule. Stop telling people who have been trying hard for months and even years in some cases to wait longer. Start ponying up with some actual decent practical useful advice.I'd give it a month.
Don't project your anger you have towards yourself at other people.
I'm not angry with myself. I'm angry people's main goto weight loss advice is "be patient." Huh? I don't want to wait to make progress. I'd like to actually make progress. Advice on how to make progress is what people need. Not, "umm, wait a month and evaluate."
No one wants to wait. No one wants to pay taxes or clean the garage, but people still do it. Grow up. Even if progress was faster, say you could lose 5lbs per week... even then would it be as fast as you wanted it to be? No. Nothing meaningful happens overnight.
Not to mention that, for the vast majority of people complaining about progress - being more patient IS the best advice. Just because people don't want to hear it doesn't make it not right. #triplenegative0 -
This is the most frustrating nonsense advice people give to people who are stalled. I've been stalled for months. All people say is give it time. OK. Like how much time? Forever? "Are you weighing your food." Yes. "Are you sure?" Um, yes. I have a scale. I set things on it. It gives a weight. "Maybe you should eat more for a while. Or less. But not too much less because you don't have to starve yourself and you'll lose muscle. Or maybe your body composition is changing. But you're not gaining muscle because you can't in a deficit. Or it's water. That's been there for months. Yeah" Blah blah blah. No one ever has any real practical advice for people who are stalled. They just throw out feel-good-pseudo advice. "Be patient." Lame. New rule. Stop telling people who have been trying hard for months and even years in some cases to wait longer. Start ponying up with some actual decent practical useful advice.I'd give it a month.
Don't project your anger you have towards yourself at other people.
I'm not angry with myself. I'm angry people's main goto weight loss advice is "be patient." Huh? I don't want to wait to make progress. I'd like to actually make progress. Advice on how to make progress is what people need. Not, "umm, wait a month and evaluate."
then eat at a calorie defecit
because quite simply - You're not
maybe consciously or unconsciously but something you are doing is not acheiving the defecit you need to lose weight
and trust me, you aren't a special snowflake until you get tests back from the doctor that say you are a special snowflake and even then it just means that your calorie limit will need resetting because all weight loss is based on calories in vs calories out0 -
This is the most frustrating nonsense advice people give to people who are stalled. I've been stalled for months. All people say is give it time. OK. Like how much time? Forever? "Are you weighing your food." Yes. "Are you sure?" Um, yes. I have a scale. I set things on it. It gives a weight. "Maybe you should eat more for a while. Or less. But not too much less because you don't have to starve yourself and you'll lose muscle. Or maybe your body composition is changing. But you're not gaining muscle because you can't in a deficit. Or it's water. That's been there for months. Yeah" Blah blah blah. No one ever has any real practical advice for people who are stalled. They just throw out feel-good-pseudo advice. "Be patient." Lame. New rule. Stop telling people who have been trying hard for months and even years in some cases to wait longer. Start ponying up with some actual decent practical useful advice.I'd give it a month.
Seriously? OP is THREE WEEKS in to changing her eating and exercise patterns. Patience is the only sane answer.
If you seriously feel stuck for MONTHS after months to a year of loss? Go to a doctor. Bring your food log and show him or her what you've been eating. If you are 100% honestly weighing and logging your intake but not losingsee a doctor to determine if you have a medical condition that has caused your TDEE to fall. Change your workout routine, perhaps you have cardio-ed yourself into a state where you aren't getting the calorie burn you used to when it was a struggle. Get your thyroid checked. Start logging measurements as well as weight for progress charts. Be Patient.
Yes, be patient. WTF do you think, a bunch of strangers on the internet will do a magic dance and fix it for you?0 -
This is the most frustrating nonsense advice people give to people who are stalled. I've been stalled for months. All people say is give it time. OK. Like how much time? Forever? "Are you weighing your food." Yes. "Are you sure?" Um, yes. I have a scale. I set things on it. It gives a weight. "Maybe you should eat more for a while. Or less. But not too much less because you don't have to starve yourself and you'll lose muscle. Or maybe your body composition is changing. But you're not gaining muscle because you can't in a deficit. Or it's water. That's been there for months. Yeah" Blah blah blah. No one ever has any real practical advice for people who are stalled. They just throw out feel-good-pseudo advice. "Be patient." Lame. New rule. Stop telling people who have been trying hard for months and even years in some cases to wait longer. Start ponying up with some actual decent practical useful advice.I'd give it a month.
Seriously? OP is THREE WEEKS in to changing her eating and exercise patterns. Patience is the only sane answer.
If you seriously feel stuck for MONTHS after months to a year of loss? Go to a doctor. Bring your food log and show him or her what you've been eating. If you are 100% honestly weighing and logging your intake but not losingsee a doctor to determine if you have a medical condition that has caused your TDEE to fall. Change your workout routine, perhaps you have cardio-ed yourself into a state where you aren't getting the calorie burn you used to when it was a struggle. Get your thyroid checked. Start logging measurements as well as weight for progress charts. Be Patient.
Yes, be patient. WTF do you think, a bunch of strangers on the internet will do a magic dance and fix it for you?
Can you teach me this magic dance
I like to help people
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So eat less than 2100 calories? I thought you weren't supposed to starve yourself? It's completely baffling that a 230lb man has to eat less than 2100 calories. How low? 1900? 1700? 1500? 1000?
This is the most frustrating nonsense advice people give to people who are stalled. I've been stalled for months. All people say is give it time. OK. Like how much time? Forever? "Are you weighing your food." Yes. "Are you sure?" Um, yes. I have a scale. I set things on it. It gives a weight. "Maybe you should eat more for a while. Or less. But not too much less because you don't have to starve yourself and you'll lose muscle. Or maybe your body composition is changing. But you're not gaining muscle because you can't in a deficit. Or it's water. That's been there for months. Yeah" Blah blah blah. No one ever has any real practical advice for people who are stalled. They just throw out feel-good-pseudo advice. "Be patient." Lame. New rule. Stop telling people who have been trying hard for months and even years in some cases to wait longer. Start ponying up with some actual decent practical useful advice.I'd give it a month.
Don't project your anger you have towards yourself at other people.
I'm not angry with myself. I'm angry people's main goto weight loss advice is "be patient." Huh? I don't want to wait to make progress. I'd like to actually make progress. Advice on how to make progress is what people need. Not, "umm, wait a month and evaluate."
then eat at a calorie defecit
because quite simply - You're not
maybe consciously or unconsciously but something you are doing is not acheiving the defecit you need to lose weight
and trust me, you aren't a special snowflake until you get tests back from the doctor that say you are a special snowflake and even then it just means that your calorie limit will need resetting because all weight loss is based on calories in vs calories out
you're the one not losing .. you need to work it out for yourself by dropping your calories and then building them up again until you find the sweet spot
I'd suggest starting at 1600 or so (net goal) and staying there for a couple of weeks, then adding an extra 100 and staying there again for a couple of weeks until you find the calorie amount based on the way you're logging that allows you to lose weight at the rate that is healthy
because clearly something isn't working for you with what you're doing
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That seems crazy low for a guy. Where's all this "you'll lose muscle. don't starve yourself" crap come in to play then? So some chick who's 5 feet tall 105lbs shouldn't eat 1200 calories but a guy who's 5'11" 230 should eat 1600?
I'm averaging about 1800 or so. Over the years I've found that, based on how I log and how I estimate, that works really well for me when I want to cut.
Get over the numbers and if they "seem" too high or too low and do what you need to do to hit your goals.0 -
That seems crazy low for a guy. Where's all this "you'll lose muscle. don't starve yourself" crap come in to play then? So some chick who's 5 feet tall 105lbs shouldn't eat 1200 calories but a guy who's 5'11" 230 should eat 1600?
But judging by your profile you're active - so you must be burning how much daily through workouts .. me at 5'8 and 165 I burn 350 to 400 by walking 10,000 steps, similar for a 45 minute workout ..
so if my calories were, for a couple of weeks, at 1600 net .. I would be eating 1950 to 2000 calories
alternatively tighten up your logging .. you have a lot of cup measurements rather than weights, you're weighing in ounces rather than grammes .. these things can actually impact on your calorie counts significantly particularly for calorie dense foods
I fail to see the issue, if you want to change things do .. but you don't lose weight by accepting that you won't lose weight0
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