Stuck on a plateau

alisonwoodrow12

I have been stuck for months. Haven't lost. I feel very frustrated. Any thoughts?

TavistockToad

Eat less

ninerbuff

alisonwoodrow12 wrote: »

I have been stuck for months. Haven't lost. I feel very frustrated. Any thoughts?

Have you been ABSOLUTELY consistent every week for 6 weeks? That means always in deficit, consistent with physical activity and not strayed off course? Because if so, then it's not a plateau, but inconsistency.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

livingleanlivingclean

Have you recalculated your calorie goal for your current weight? Perhaps reducing your rate of loss if you're closer to your goal?

How are you determining your intake? Perhaps tighten up your logging if it has become a bit relaxed?

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

If you haven't lost weight for months then you are eating at maintenance.

You will need to cut your calories further.

moonstroller

Reduce your calories and/or increase your workouts.

diannethegeek

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.