Stagnating suddenly, why?

lusearun

Hi all,
So I'm 6'1.5 and 82kg, I've been on the diet for around 3 weeks and dropped from 86kg and hope to eventually be around 76kg as this is where I feel my best. The diet was going great at first, losing weight steadily each week, however despite meticulously weighing and logging my food I've not lost any weight for the past week and a half, instead been fluctuation 0.3kg upwards and to the lowest weight I've achieved this far. My diet is protein rich, I exercise most days in a combination of resistance and cardio training and I don't eat back all of my exercise calories. This is driving me nuts! Where and how am I going wrong?!

mitch16

You've only been dieting for 3 weeks--be patient. You may have lost a lot of water weight in the first week and now it has tapered off.

Also--you are not far from your goal and you are in the normal BMI range--your weight loss is going to be slow--you shouldn't be trying for 1 kg per week now.

Nony_Mouse

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear/p1

Also, 1kg+ with only 10kg to lose is too aggressive, you need to reset your weekly weight loss goal to 0.5kg, and you need to eat at least some (50-75%) of your exercise calories back. That's how MFP is set up to work.

If you've increased intensity or duration of exercise in the last couple of weeks, that could be causing fluid retention. Likewise, depending on where you are in your monthly cycle, that could be causing fluid retention. Any number of things could be causing fluid retention. That affects scale weight, it doesn't mean you're not still losing fat (which is the goal, right?).

If you are confident that your logging is correct, be patient (but please do eat some more, so that you are fuelling your body adequately).

Fitnessmom82

I'm in the same boat. My weight loss has slowed to a crawl the past few weeks. I am about 20 pounds from my goa. It's frustrating but reading the threads here is helpful. I'm gonna have faith in the process! I also readjusted my goals to reflect my current weight, which now gives me less calories to work with. Not an issue, but some thing to keep in mind as you're progressing. The amount you needed to fuel your heavier body won't be the same after losing weight. Most importantly, don't get discouraged! Keep at it, even when you don't want to!

sgt1372

Similar problem here.

Lost 38# from 196 to 158 starting 18 months ago and have been in maintenance at 158 +/-3 for the past 12.

Ave monthly weight increased 1# over the past 2 months to 159. Not a major problem but annoying just the same.

Dropped my daily cals to 1650 from 1900 over the past month and increased my cardio exercise but still have lost the extra pound.

No clue what the problem is. Have been logging and weighing food and exercise just as I have for the past 18 months.

Should have seen some chg by now but, if absent any, the only thing I (or you) can do is just keep at it.

aeloine

Nony_Mouse

For those who have been at a deficit for awhile: controlled diet break. Whole thread about them that pretty much lives on the first page of this forum "Of Refeeds and Diet Breaks". First ~6 pages required reading (mostly), link to article on why and how to do a diet break. Rest has many anecdotes from those who have incorporated diet breaks (and/or refeeds) into their weight loss plan, plus lots of segues into a ton of other stuff. There are also photos of cats and dogs (and of my eczema if you wanna be grossed out, but they're in spoiler tags).