Weight Loss Plateau

LocQueen87

During one's weight loss journey, does there ever come a point when losing weight comes to a halt? Typically, when does this happens? How can one keep the momentum and continue to lose weight? Is it a matter of changing one's calorie goal or adding a exercise regimen? Thanks in advance.

macgurlnet

Weight loss isn't linear.

It's very common to not lose weight for a week or more, even up to a whole month or longer.

6-8 weeks without losing is cause for concern. Anything less than that could be called a "stall" I believe, and is often related to water retention masking fat loss.

I'm currently trying to lose 0.5 lb/week. However, I'm also strength training, and my weight range in general is +/- 2-3 lbs. I may not see a new low on the scale at all this month, and it could be end of February before I see that number change. I'm not worried because I know my food intake is on point

~Lyssa

grace42d

I too am in a plateau. I am also going for 0.5 lb/week and have only 4ish stubborn pounds to go. I am thinking maybe if I add a different exercise it will help. Any ideas? Currently I walk, snowshoe, ride my bike on the trainer in alternating intervals, and do yoga.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

PAV8888

Use a trending weight app.
Libra android
Happy Scale Iphone
www.trendweight.com <-- requires supported scale or free (and available without a band) fitbit.com account to enter your weight.
www.weightgrapher.com <-- as trendweight but also allows manual input

A LOT of the plateaus out there... aren't, once you really look into them.

middlehaitch

It is just very, very slow when you get to those last few pounds. Don't give up, stay tracking and get it as tight as you can it will come off eventually. My last 5 was way slower than my first 10.

A plateau and stall can be quite often come down to logging errors we can get over confident and lax in our logging after we have logged a few months, I do.
We can also forget to re assess our calories. This needs doing every 5-10 lbs. MFP will remind you but it isn't automatic.
The lighter we get the fewer calories we need.
Exercise estimates can also be way off. These don't matter at the beginning, but at some point if you are over estimating exercise calories and eating them back your loss will grind to a halt.
The lighter you are the less energy you expend exercising, so this too needs reviewing every 10 lbs or so.
You can work out your own calorie burn through extrapolating the data from MFP.

Cheers, h.

Cheers h.

LocQueen87

middlehaitch wrote: »

It is just very, very slow when you get to those last few pounds. Don't give up, stay tracking and get it as tight as you can it will come off eventually. My last 5 was way slower than my first 10.

A plateau and stall can be quite often come down to logging errors we can get over confident and lax in our logging after we have logged a few months, I do. We can also forget to re assess our calories. This needs doing every 5-10 lbs. MFP will remind you but it isn't automatic.
The lighter we get the fewer calories we need.
Exercise estimates can also be way off. These don't matter at the beginning, but at some point if you are over estimating exercise calories and eating them back your loss will grind to a halt.
The lighter you are the less energy you expend exercising, so this too needs reviewing every 10 lbs or so.
You can work out your own calorie burn through extrapolating the data from MFP.

Cheers, h.

Cheers h.

I never considered doing that. Thanks.

LocQueen87

Recalculated my calorie goal and it was reduced by 70 calories. I will start adding workouts to my weight loss regimen as well. Thanks again.

middlehaitch

Your welcome @LocQueen87
Cheers, h.