Just Another Plateau and Weigh-In Thread

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  • pinksparklefairy
    pinksparklefairy Posts: 97 Member
    edited January 2017
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    MeredithDeVoe1 wrote: »
    Thank you, jprewitt. I also lowered my calorie goal to 1200/day to see if I can get over that cliff (lol) and lose something. But it may not be realistic for me. Yesterday was fine, today is ok, tomorrow at work... we'll see how it goes!

    Btw, anything under 130 and I begin to look skeletal, which is not the look I am going for! :)

    I lost a lot at the beginning and then it slowed down, like for you. The second week I weighed the same until the last day, when I suddenly lost .6 kg overnight. Who knows what's going on!?

    I would NOT trust MFP for exercise calories - it may be over-estimating. I know that I need to put a lot of effort in to burn 300 calories in half an hour, but MFP thinks I can burn 450 calorie doing 30 mins of kick boxing. This is way too much - I change it to 200.
  • MeredithDeVoe1
    MeredithDeVoe1 Posts: 67 Member
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    Suddenly I lost 2 lbs. Yayyyyyy!! Although I am doing my best with logging, it will never be a perfect science, I'm sure. Right now my plan is to stay at 1200 cal/day for a few more days,then go back to the pound per week target (which was in the neighborhood of 1400). I really want my loss to be sustainable.

    Amazon does deliver here but it costs an arm and a leg.
  • MNFitnessGal
    MNFitnessGal Posts: 36 Member
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    For those who don't believe in a plateau, do some research. It happens. Just because you don't plateau doesn't mean the rest of the world doesn't. I've had doctors say it's normal. I've had weight stuck for weeks. I did learn to switch up my routine. Some bodies get stuck eating the same foods or doing the same workout routines week after week. I fasted for a blood test and it was 12 hours and I hadn't done that in ages and the scale went down 3 lbs the next day. No two bodies are the same. The oddest things can move a scale where other things don't. I've learned to mix up workouts with short, medium and long exercise. Don't let your body get used to the same old, same old. Change menu if you eat the same stuff for days on end. She also said I didn't eat enough calories even though MFP said 1200 for me, she thought that was pretty low. I went to a health and wellness clinic and they said 1200 was too low for dieting. Increased and lost some weight. Switch it up and see what happens. May work for you. :smiley:
  • fedrizziwilliams
    fedrizziwilliams Posts: 1 Member
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    This is an excellent post. I'm not going to lie, I'm one of those people whose entire mood is dictated by my daily weigh ins. Looking at the weight loss journey in a big picture, over time, is really helpful. I'm going to send it to a few people I know who feel the same frustrations I do when the scale goes up .5 lbs one day over the next. Good God, I feel foolish. Your post really helped. THANK YOU!
  • rcrough
    rcrough Posts: 23 Member
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    I love all the graphs! All this time I thought I was the only geek who tracked my weight daily with trendlines and averages. I also compare to calorie goal and exercise calories burned. It helps me to understand cause and effect and keep me motivated. It's a good point, it can get very discouraging if you don't weigh enough and it looks like you are not making progress.
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 935 Member
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    MNFitnessGal wrote: »
    For those who don't believe in a plateau, do some research. It happens. Just because you don't plateau doesn't mean the rest of the world doesn't. I've had doctors say it's normal. I've had weight stuck for weeks. I did learn to switch up my routine. Some bodies get stuck eating the same foods or doing the same workout routines week after week. I fasted for a blood test and it was 12 hours and I hadn't done that in ages and the scale went down 3 lbs the next day. No two bodies are the same. The oddest things can move a scale where other things don't. I've learned to mix up workouts with short, medium and long exercise. Don't let your body get used to the same old, same old. Change menu if you eat the same stuff for days on end. She also said I didn't eat enough calories even though MFP said 1200 for me, she thought that was pretty low. I went to a health and wellness clinic and they said 1200 was too low for dieting. Increased and lost some weight. Switch it up and see what happens. May work for you. :smiley:

    Thank you!
    Best post!
  • MissyCHF
    MissyCHF Posts: 337 Member
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    Just one question, the OP mentioned detoxing, why? The human body does this miraculously well without any help.

    Nevertheless, it was a good and helpful post.
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 935 Member
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    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    I just posted this in another thread, but I think it's worth putting here too:

    I think MFP at large has a habit of developing some blinkered views. Things get said enough times, taken out of context and abbreviated, and people parrot a single line without actually really understanding. 'If you were eating at a deficit you'd be losing weight' is a classic example. What it should be is 'if you are eating at a deficit (and you've verified logging etc is on point), you should be losing fat, however that fat loss may be masked by unholy amounts of water weight from jacked up cortisol, and if you've been at a deficit for any amount of time you'll have some adaptive thermogenesis going on that will also impact your rate of fat loss'.

    This is the nuance of plateaus/stalls that gets missed: fat loss hasn't stopped, but it can sure as hell be masked by water weight for a long-*kitten* time. In one of Lyle McDonald's recent podcasts he did a calculation that a woman could easily not see a scale loss for 10 weeks between hormonal weight fluctuations and cortisol-induced retention. So, plateau as in scale weight staying the same for weeks on end is real, plateau as in no fat loss for weeks on end (assuming actually at a deficit), not so much.

    A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing...

    Thank you for posting this.
  • H4v0c4d0
    H4v0c4d0 Posts: 1 Member
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    Thanks for the great post, it actually inspired me to start weighting myself daily and also to look for an app that would give more info about my weight loss trends and stats. And I've found a great one, it's called Libra !
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
    edited February 2018
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    EDIT: originally posted quoting/replying to someone from 2015 without realizing this was a lazarus thread. Good post.
  • MsBaz2018
    MsBaz2018 Posts: 384 Member
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    Bump
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    I missed this throughout the years. Good stuff!
  • Phirrgus
    Phirrgus Posts: 1,894 Member
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    I'm telling myself this morning "Just trust the process"

    All things being equal, just do it and trust the process.

    Translation: Hating my brand new fancy BT scale right now :/

    *bump*

    :neutral:
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    Zombie thread alert!

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    Worth a bump and a comment while I'm here, after reading this for the first time. Not sure how I missed this one.

    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    I just posted this in another thread, but I think it's worth putting here too:

    I think MFP at large has a habit of developing some blinkered views. Things get said enough times, taken out of context and abbreviated, and people parrot a single line without actually really understanding. 'If you were eating at a deficit you'd be losing weight' is a classic example. What it should be is 'if you are eating at a deficit (and you've verified logging etc is on point), you should be losing fat, however that fat loss may be masked by unholy amounts of water weight from jacked up cortisol, and if you've been at a deficit for any amount of time you'll have some adaptive thermogenesis going on that will also impact your rate of fat loss'.

    This is the nuance of plateaus/stalls that gets missed: fat loss hasn't stopped, but it can sure as hell be masked by water weight for a long-*kitten* time. In one of Lyle McDonald's recent podcasts he did a calculation that a woman could easily not see a scale loss for 10 weeks between hormonal weight fluctuations and cortisol-induced retention. So, plateau as in scale weight staying the same for weeks on end is real, plateau as in no fat loss for weeks on end (assuming actually at a deficit), not so much.

    A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing...

    Exactly, @Nony_Mouse :heart:

    That's what it looks like in this bit of the OP:


    “OMGOMGOMG it’s been three weeks and I haven’t lost a pound!! Help me! I am eating at a deficit and I have done my detoxes. I strong lift three times an day and run the equivalent of a marathon every week all the while tending to my six hyperactive kids! I know for a fact I am eating below deficit. I even waited two weeks between weigh-ins and still the same! Please oh please do help me!!”

    The OP didn't mention cortisol/stress due to overtraining, work/family, and general overactivity.


    The OP was making a different point about data points and trend weight equations, which may confuse some readers who actually should know what you're telling people.

    Also, don't detox, people!

    Also, while I'm here, a mention of the Happy Scale weight logging app that gives you lovely data and reports.

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