Plateau's

micand1980

Good Afternoon,

I just started a workout regimen and diet 2.5 weeks ago. I dropped 8 lbs so easily and quickly that I was easily motivated to keep my workouts going and avoid tempting foods. However after the first week I hit a plateau that I am struggling to get past. My lack of results is making the temping foods even that much more tempting and the option to skip a work out more appealing. I do my very best not to cave to either of those but when you aren't getting any results it just that much more of a struggle.
Please share things that you do to overcome the obstacles of plateauing.

Thank you in advance for your help and motivation!

queenliz99

It is soon to tell, 6 weeks or more is usually the timeline.

diannethegeek

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

Afura

The problem with switching up your exercise and diet is that it can cause you to stall on weight loss. Definitely 1 week is not a plateau.
This is the graphic that we often pass around -

hko718

If it's longer than 3 weeks I would suggest doing a refeed one day. Add something like 75-100g of carbs on top of your daily intake. In addition drop your normal protein by 10g and fats by 5-10g

Asher_Ethan

If it's only been a week, then you're fine. I can see no movement being discouraging. Do you weigh yourself every day? If so, switch to a weekly weigh in.
I personally can't stand the normal daily fluctuations in my body and I find weekly weigh ins easier for my mentally.

senecarr

hko718 wrote: »

If it's longer than 3 weeks I would suggest doing a refeed one day. Add something like 75-100g of carbs on top of your daily intake. In addition drop your normal protein by 10g and fats by 5-10g

Adding 200 calories or more away from what might not be a deficit is going to cause weight loss?
How about making sure a deficit is truly established first.

kk_inprogress

hko718 wrote: »

If it's longer than 3 weeks I would suggest doing a refeed one day. Add something like 75-100g of carbs on top of your daily intake. In addition drop your normal protein by 10g and fats by 5-10g

If OP is truly experiencing a plateau, they need deficit, not a surplus.

OP, congrats on your initial losses! Weight loss is tricky and you'll hear often here that it's not linear - there will be weeks you see loss and weeks you may not - but the overall trend will be downward as long as you are maintaining a deficit.

Follow the advice above and log VERY accurately. Maintain your deficit and you will see results. In the scheme of things, it's been a short time and you just need a longer window to evaluate.