Weight loss plateau

JaydedMiss

Im kind of just curious if anyone has been like me and not had a plateau? Im down 65 pounds still plenty to lose so thats probably why im 6 months in still losing 1.5-2 pounds a week, It seemed slow for a while but the numbers say i was still losing 1.8 pounds a week.

People talk about it like its a guarenteed going to happen thing and most people say it happens like a few weeks/months in or like 20-30 pounds down. Do you think they just get off track? get to comfortable and stop tracking everything? Is there an actual reason people stop losing weight and others don't besides just hard work?

Thoughts on how the "diet break fix" mentality go into this? I feel like it might work because they end up back in the diet weighing and everything properly as they did at the beggining of the diet. Maybe only that?

I know personally I havent strayed off my diet at all iv actually kind of amazed myself at my restraint. So i guess im on the team that think people just get off track to cause plateaus

Im just curious.

malibu927

A plateau isn't guaranteed. It's basically eating at maintenance for at least 4-6 weeks, either through inaccurate logging or stopping logging altogether.

JaydedMiss

Yeah I feel like its impossible to stall without self sabotage I just want to hear other peoples thoughts XD Since self sabotage could be as simple as just not weighing condiments or lowering your calories in as you lose wight

Christine_72

Every single time I've stalled or gained it has come down to sloppy logging. If I'm on point and log meticulously then no, I don't experience any of the above.

seska422

JaydedMiss wrote: »

Yeah I feel like its impossible to stall without self sabotage I just want to hear other peoples thoughts XD Since self sabotage could be as simple as just not weighing condiments or lowering your calories in as you lose wight

"Impossible" is a strong word.

I have months that would look like stalls if I didn't look at the overall loss trend over several months. I just keep doing what I'm doing and wait for the whoosh. I trust in the process because I know I'm logging properly so the weight on the scale will eventually catch up.

ummijaaz560

I stalled for 6 weeks after losing 20 pounds.

I came to mfp asking for help because I was doing everything the same. I weighed my food religiously, logged every bite, increased exercise and nothing for 6 weeks.

Many would have given up and said screw this mess!
Being as I have my daddys stubborn will I kept plodding along. I continued to do what science says to lose "create a calorie deficit".

One morning I woke up 5lbs lighter. I couldnt believe it. I cried because I thought I was broken and never going to reach my goal.

I dont know why plateaus happen, but they do.

I believe if you know you are logging accurately and you plateau dont give up.

Because science.

seska422

ummijaaz560 wrote: »

I stalled for 6 weeks after losing 20 pounds.

I came to mfp asking for help because I was doing everything the same. I weighed my food religiously, logged every bite, increased exercise and nothing for 6 weeks.

Many would have given up and said screw this mess!
Being as I have my daddys stubborn will I kept plodding along. I continued to do what science says to lose "create a calorie deficit".

One morning I woke up 5lbs lighter. I couldnt believe it. I cried because I thought I was broken and never going to reach my goal.

I dont know why plateaus happen, but they do.

I believe if you know you are logging accurately and you plateau dont give up.

Because science.

This.

So many people who plateau (or think they plateau) will give up and eat more calories so that the weight that would have dropped off if they'd stuck to the process doesn't drop off and an actual plateau is created.

SCoil123

Every time Ive lost weight Ive stalled around 180lb and then again right before I get into my healthy range (145-165). I reduce intake a little more and add a few workouts then break through. This time I used those weights as my guide for when I needed to recalculate my intake goals.

If you are stuck look at cutting your intake a little more and increasing activity where you can.

CattOfTheGarage

Don't forget plateaus can be caused by water retention - that is definitely a real thing. The fat loss continues but can't be seen because of water gain for whatever reason. Of course it resolves itself but it can take as much as a few weeks to do so.

I've had a couple of stalls, both were the combined result of water retention and higher average intake than usual. I have to also say that in neither case did weight loss truly flatten out, just slowed enough that it became hard to perceive without looking at a graph. As my weight fluctuates a lot from day to day, if loss slows to around half a pound a week it becomes incredibly difficult to see the trend without a graph, it just feels like you keep losing the same weight over and over.

ElvenToad

Never plateaued a single time during my 141 pound weight loss. I was in a calorie deficit for 2.5 years and never took a diet break along the way. I ate at maintenance at least one day per week though throughout the process. I attribute it all to my food scale, I was accurate with my calories in.

Still use my food scale everyday, still exercise everyday, and currently maintaining at my goal weight

jennifer_417

There are lot of people that think that just because they've never experienced it, that the plateau isn't a real thing. There are any number of things that can cause a plateau, and a diet break may nor may not be helpful, depending on what's causing it. It can certainly cause the person to come back to dieting with more vigor.

JaydedMiss

ElvenToad wrote: »

Never plateaued a single time during my 141 pound weight loss. I was in a calorie deficit for 2.5 years and never took a diet break along the way. I ate at maintenance at least one day per week though throughout the process. I attribute it all to my food scale, I was accurate with my calories in.

Still use my food scale everyday, still exercise everyday, and currently maintaining at my goal weight

Thats incredible holy!! I hope to be like you one day in the next year or so My goal weight is 120-130 so 35 pounds to go Will only be 100 pounds lost though! Tell me you atleast cheated for a day when you hit your goal weight. 140 pound gone meal ;D?

GottaBurnEmAll

I stalled for three weeks... I want to say at about 50 pounds down. And no, I wasn't off on my logging at all. Hadn't strayed a bit. I stayed consistent and then one day ... whoosh.

Little did I know then... that was a preview of things to come. 20 pounds later, I entered a pattern of regular stall/whoosh loss and have been that way ever since. The stall part has lengthened the leaner I get.

It IS a thing, and it's a common pattern of weight loss for some people.

Granted, at this point in time, I'm not as consistent with logging every morsel, but I also leave a lot of my exercise calories on the table where in the past I was tighter about eating them back. I also take longer maintenance breaks and more maintenance days because half the time I think about just maintaining where I am and recomping.

The frustrating thing for me is that my stall/whoosh pattern seems to confound the trending apps because it's so spread out. I do better tracking it myself.

JaydedMiss

Im familliar with whooshes iv learned my body so well. I only drop in batches of 5. Its like i sway between say 180-185 then about 2 weeks later suddenly im 175-180 and theres never much in between xD Human bodies are cool.

CattOfTheGarage

Try Excel, it gives you more control over your trend line.

GottaBurnEmAll

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

Try Excel, it gives you more control over your trend line.

I'm a former bookkeeper. I have my own hard copy trend line! Old school FTW!

everher

I am always hesitant to say something isn't a thing and I'm not going to here either.

In my personal experience, I've never experienced a plateau I didn't cause myself and this is counting the 10+ years of yo-yo dieting I unfortunately have under my belt.

Either I got sloppy with my logging, began cheating too much, wasn't working out as often, or my work outs became too easy so I wasn't burning the same amount or calories.

I have never been doing everything I should and experienced a plateau. I am curious to see if this time around I do plateau for no reason of my own. I am 10 lbs down with about 50 lbs to go until goal so I'm wondering if I won't plateau when I get closer to my goal.

I wouldn't do a diet break though even if I did. I think it would put me in the wrong mindset.

JaydedMiss

everher wrote: »

I am always hesitant to say something isn't a thing and I'm not going to here either.

In my personal experience, I've never experienced a plateau I didn't cause myself and this is counting the 10+ years of yo-yo dieting I unfortunately have under my belt.

Either I got sloppy with my logging, began cheating too much, wasn't working out as often, or my work outs became too easy so I wasn't burning the same amount or calories.

I have never been doing everything I should and experienced a plateau. I am curious to see if this time around I do plateau for no reason of my own. I am 10 lbs down with about 50 lbs to go until goal so I'm wondering if I won't plateau when I get closer to my goal.

I wouldn't do a diet break though even if I did. I think it would put me in the wrong mindset.

Im around 50 to go to im curious if once im smaller i might plateau to

ElvenToad

[/quote]Thats incredible holy!! I hope to be like you one day in the next year or so My goal weight is 120-130 so 35 pounds to go Will only be 100 pounds lost though! Tell me you atleast cheated for a day when you hit your goal weight. 140 pound gone meal ;D? [/quote]

Aw thank you. The last 17lbs took 11 months to lose, 4 of those took a month each. Nope no cheating when I reached goal, no reason to. I make whatever I want fit into my daily calories so I am quite content with my way of eating