Plateau help!

MrsFarrow

Since starting this in May, I've lost over 50 pounds. I still need to lose 50 more. I absolutely understand things will slow down. I won't consistently lose 2+ a week, and I'm ok with that.

But I've been fighting with the same 2 pounds for a few weeks now. I hit 220 and stopped. My weigh in day is Sunday, and I typically check mid week just to make sure I'm on track. Just stepped on the scale, 223.

I just dont know what to do. I'm devastated because I have no answers. I've tried upping calories for a day or two, thinking it would jump start my metabolism, but that clearly backfired. I'm set for 1300 a day, which is what my nutritionist recommended.

Help!?

DetroitDarin

You must religiously track and count your calories. How long have you been the same weight? Remember weight doesn't mean fat gain or loss. If you aren't losing weight one or more of a few things may be going on...

water retention - maybe you've increased sodium intake?
Muscle building - are you working out?
Scales-be-trippin - happens a lot, because they are evil.

Focus on getting EXACT calories numbers - over-estimate what you take in by a few percent - maybe 10. Just hang on; trust the process.

lemonychild

U cannot make assessments in 2 day increments ..... Any change to the body will usually result in water retention. Are you hungry at 1300? If so, slow down and switch to weight loss at 1lbs a week. If not, continue. Stay off the scale if it sends u in berserk mode and tighten up on your logging. Most of all, stop freaking out and stressing yourself out.

cee134

This may help:

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.

MrsFarrow

Sound advice from everyone! Thank you!

I've been struggling for about two weeks, so I'm not quite at the three week mark yet. There's that.

I'm cracking down on logging. I did miss a few condiments this morning. When I added them, it was eye opening how many additional calories they added!

I just ordered a food scale. Should be available for pickup in a few days

stylistchicky

If you are awesome about keeping your diary, you could look through and see if there are changes you can make. Swap out something processed for something fresh. Change up your workout routine if you tend to do the same workout.
I was stuck and I started fasting after breakfast until I get home from the gym...around 2. The theory is, you burn more fat during your cardio. At first I noticed inches coming off...then a big loss of like 2 lbs in one week...I was only losing .5 or 1 lb if I was lucky. Now its 1 + pr week
Women have to worry about Aunt Flow coming to town once a month...so its helpful for sanity to track where your cycle is....ovulation, to pms, cravings, water retention (Helps you understand where your cravings are too so your less likely to give in to that b!tch Aunt. There are Apps for it.

amyepdx

MrsFarrow wrote: »

Sound advice from everyone! Thank you!

I've been struggling for about two weeks, so I'm not quite at the three week mark yet. There's that.

I'm cracking down on logging. I did miss a few condiments this morning. When I added them, it was eye opening how many additional calories they added!

I just ordered a food scale. Should be available for pickup in a few days

Great time to get a scale and start weighing your food. I also didn't start using a food scale until I had lost 50 lbs. I do agree you might want to now switch to 1 lb a week. Just for perspective, I lost the first 50 in about 8 months but it's taken another year to lose 35 more. Keep up the good work!!

cgvet37

http://www.builtlean.com/2012/05/22/weight-loss-plateau/

Francl27

Is your period due soon? After a few months, I basically stopped losing every month for 2-3 weeks before my period - then I lost a lot the week after.

meritage4

Change your exercise. Now you are lighter you burn less calories doing the things you did before so do something different. Walk further, add some stairs, etc.

SueInAz

MrsFarrow wrote: »

Sound advice from everyone! Thank you!

I've been struggling for about two weeks, so I'm not quite at the three week mark yet. There's that.

I'm cracking down on logging. I did miss a few condiments this morning. When I added them, it was eye opening how many additional calories they added!

I just ordered a food scale. Should be available for pickup in a few days

A food scale is eye opening. Also make sure that you've adjusted your weight loss goals with your new weight. As you lose weight you'll burn less calories doing the things you do so you have to eat less, or exercise more, to maintain the same deficit. You'll want to reset your goals and your expectations, too. With 50 pounds to go, 2 pounds per week isn't going to be sustainable. Here's a good set of guidelines and the deficit you need to create daily to reach that goal:

Pound per week goals
75+ lbs set to lose 2 lb range (-1000 calories per day)
Between 40 - 75 lbs set to lose 1.5 lb range (-750 calories per day)
Between 25-40 lbs set to lose 1 lb range (-500 calories per day)
Between 15-25 lbs set to lose 1 -.50 lb range (-500 to -250 calories per day)
Less than 15 lbs set to lose 0.5 lbs range (-250 calories per day)