Plateau

mari5466
mari5466 Posts: 137 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I am not exaggerating about it, I have hit a plateau. In 7 weeks I have lost at my lowest a pound and half and on average pretty much staying around the same numbers. I have tried changing things here and there and nothing works. I hit this plateau just as I reached my original weight loss goal. I wanted to lose another 5 pounds but it just seems like its impossible, the trend has move slightly down but for 1200 calories and working out 5 days a week it seems hard. I will add though that I took my body fat read out at my gym the week I started my plateau and took it this week and I have lost close to 1% body fat so I am happy about that.

I am starting to wonder if I should just move to maintenance slowly(Which I have a little, I went from 1100 to 1200 and started to eat some exercise back) and hope that maybe 6 months from now I can try again to lose 5 pounds or start to gain more muscle and maybe the last 5 vanity pounds wont matter. I am not unhappy with the way I look so I think that helps with the mentally of moving to maintenance. I have been on here for 6 months on a deficit and I am getting tired of it and would enjoy a little more flexibility.

Did anyone else hit a plateau that moved you into maintenance?

Replies

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    Do you use a food scale?

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  • mari5466
    mari5466 Posts: 137 Member
    Yeah I even upgraded mine to digital to be more accurate. I went to my doctor and I am waiting for my blood work to come back. I was under a lot of stress for my graduate school exam and now that its been over for two weeks the scale did budge a little more.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    You are close to goal so that usually means a need to tighten up logging foods, be as accurate as you can as a few hundred extra unaccounted for calories a day would mean you would maintain rather than lose.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    mari5466 wrote: »
    Yeah I even upgraded mine to digital to be more accurate. I went to my doctor and I am waiting for my blood work to come back. I was under a lot of stress for my graduate school exam and now that its been over for two weeks the scale did budge a little more.

    Last 10 pounds are SLOOOOOW! If you're doing every thing right, just be patient. There's no room for inaccuracies.

    I understand the graduate school stress. If you're done, CONGRATS! If it's your entrance exam, GOOD LUCK!
  • mari5466
    mari5466 Posts: 137 Member
    Last 10 pounds are SLOOOOOW! If you're doing every thing right, just be patient. There's no room for inaccuracies.

    I understand the graduate school stress. If you're done, CONGRATS! If it's your entrance exam, GOOD LUCK![/quote]

    Thanks! It's over now but for a couple weeks it was a lot of stress between my new job and studying for the exam every day after work and on weekends. I am trying to be patient. Ill wait a few more weeks to see if the trend keeps going down more. I was worried it was my hormones going crazy from the stress.

  • sbrandt37
    sbrandt37 Posts: 403 Member
    After six months of steady losses, I hit a plateau for three months. I'm not sure what happened, because I thought I was doing everything the same. Presumably, I was eating a little more than I thought, but my resting heart rate did drop significantly during that time. I decided that any day I didn't gain weight and continued getting some exercise was a success and I didn't worry about it. After a while, I realized that I hadn't adjusted my targets, despite losing quite a bit of weight. Once I did that, my weight started falling again.

    Whether you should continue or not really depends upon how satisfied you are with your current weight. You could always go to maintenance for a while, see how you feel, and decide later whether you want to lose five more. That is much better than continuing, getting discouraged, and stopping altogether. Either way, just be mindful of what you are doing, choose what what you want, and go for it.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 33,792 Member
    Stress is one of the factors that can cause water weight retention. I think waiting a bit longer is a good plan. While waiting, think about stress reduction tactics: Get a massage, splurge on an evening out with drinks if you go in for that sort of thing, hot bubble bath now & then if you like them, meditation, generally fit in doing things you find stress-reducing/relaxing.

    Can't hurt, might help. Besides, with the new job, grad school, etc., you deserve a little self-indulgence, right?

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