Seven months strong, but now a plateau. Time for a break?

Ponkeen

In the past seven months, I've generally rocked the weight loss (43 lbs down so far), but I plateaued about six weeks ago (beginning of the holiday season, yeah I know).
That has been tougher to navigate than I thought it would be. I'm about 35 lbs away from my goal weight now, and for some reason looking at that second phase of weight loss is extra daunting and intimidating. I guess it seems as though it's going to be tougher and take longer than the first 40, and for some reason my resolve to keep trudging forward has faltered.
So, I think it might be a good idea to give myself a physical/mental break for a couple of weeks, but I am concerned about putting weight back on in that time. Has anyone else taken any maintenance breaks while losing weight, and what was your experience? Was it helpful in the long run, or no?

usmcmp

I have taken a break and it helped mentally. Considering you plateaued through the holidays you were probably not logging as accurately as you had been previously. You can take a break and maintain your weight to get your mind back in it or you can go back to accurately logging.

lorrpb

Congrats on you loss do far! Is this really a plateau or eating at maintenance (or more) during the holidays? A plateau is doing the same thing for eating & exercise as before with no weight loss for 6 weeks. Did you follow your same plan for the last 6 weeks or did you relax a bit for holidays? There's nothing wrong with that, but it's important to correctly identify the cause. Most "plateaus" are because of calorie creep. That said, there's nothing wrong with takings break if it will help you mentally. You know how to be successful at weight loss, so just tighten up your weighing& logging & activity levels and keep it going!

saralthrash

My first time with mfp i hit a plateau for about 5 weeks after only 25lbs. I changed my workout routine and the weight started coming off again. I switched from elliptical to stair stepper for cardio and started strength training. If you feel burned out it may be a good time to take a break. If you are worried about gaining you could shoot for maintenance calories or just use what you've learned in the past 7 months to make better choices. You've done wonderful so far! You got this!

arditarose

Yes, I have taken breaks. They helped me mentally, and they also helped me get my logging on track because you better believe I was tracking carefully in maintenance. No-you won't gain in maintenance. That's what maintenance is.....not gaining.