plateau? Help me out please.

jsa_mason
jsa_mason Posts: 17 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Male
Age:27 Height: 5' 10"
Starting weight: 238 Current weight: 228

My goal is 2lbs a week at a sedentary setting which puts my daily caloric intake at 1540 calories. I have have met this goal or 10-20 calories under it for 20 days now. I lost 10 lbs fairly quickly, but I have not lost any weight in 7 of those last 20 days; I actually gained 1lb. I have been accurately weighting my food,and I know that weight loss is not always linear. Is one week two short of a time frame to call it a plateau? Additionally I do not work out, I go on walks like 3 times a week 30-60mins.

Thanks for any and all responses!

Replies

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  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
    Are you weighing your food on a food scale so you know that your calorie count is accurate? 7 days is a short amount of time and it's entirely possible that you're just holding some water and it will come off next week, but it's a good idea to make sure you're being accurate with your food, as well.
    Exercise, by the way, is for fitness, and can increase your calorie deficit if you want more room to eat more food, but is not necessary for weight loss.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    weight loss is not linear. some weeks you lose, some you gain, some stay steady. as long as you are in a deficit, you will lose weight (barring medical conditions which the vast majority of people do not have)
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    7 days is normal, not a plateau. You lost a lot of water weight starting out and now your body is starting to burn fat. Read the sticky threads at the top of each forum for lots of tips on losing weight and managing this process.
  • jsa_mason
    jsa_mason Posts: 17 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    7 days is normal, not a plateau. You lost a lot of water weight starting out and now your body is starting to burn fat. Read the sticky threads at the top of each forum for lots of tips on losing weight and managing this process.

    I'll check the sticky threads out thanks.
  • jsa_mason
    jsa_mason Posts: 17 Member
    edited September 2015
    So I read them, very informative on the "plateau myth" issue. I didn't know it was a myth, thought it was a thing. Still have one unanswered question though: is there any data on how far people usually stray from the trend line of loss?

    In other words is there a complied graph of average rate of loss for similar body types on similar diets?
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    edited September 2015
    jsa_mason wrote: »
    So I read them, very informative on the "plateau myth" issue. I didn't know it was a myth, thought it was a thing. Still have one unanswered question though: is there any data on how far people usually stray from the trend line of loss?

    In other words is there a complied graph of average rate of loss for similar body types on similar diets?

    If you mean what are normal fluctuations, the average is 3-5 pounds. I don't think there are any scientific studies about this, but some people here on MFP keep track daily and have posted their trend lines. If you dig around a little bit, you can probably find one, or you could even start a new thread titled something like "what is your weight loss trend line" and explain what you're interested in. I'm sure you'd get some responses.

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