I've hit a plateau

KimberInArizona

Hello ! As a mother of 5, I've always been busy. Now that my littlest is 12, I've decided to start taking better care of myself. I am down 43 lbs but have 20 more to go. I love meeting ppl who are in the same boat as me. I've hit a plateau for about a month and I need some extra motivation and maybe some tips. I would love to meet more friends that help me focus forward and not fall back onto my old habits. If you've been in the same predicament I would love to know how you got out of your rut!

diannethegeek

I hate stalls. These are the things I wish someone had told me when I stalled out for 8 weeks:

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.

KimberInArizona

Thank you!!

abcdcm143

I was just there. For a month the scale did not move. I got lots of advice here. This is what worked for me. I reduced my calorie goal by 100. I changed my exercise routine, adding three sessions of strength training and made an effort to get more protein. The scale is moving again. Hopefully this helps. Stay strong. You got this!

KimberInArizona

Thanks!! I think I might change my diet where I'm getting more protein!

JessicaChicago70

I’m at a plateau right now. I exercise a lot, but I think the issue is that I eat too many carbs. I’m working on eating more proteins and vegetables.

malibu927

cosmiclemon wrote: »

I’m at a plateau right now. I exercise a lot, but I think the issue is that I eat too many carbs. I’m working on eating more proteins and vegetables.

If you’re in a true plateau (4+ weeks without movement on the scale) then you’re eating too many calories, not carbs

rindamease

Hang in there and you’ll get past it. I hovered within 5 pounds of meeting my short term goal of getting under 200 pounds for a few weeks. I kept going to the gym and sticking to my calorie goal and last week I finally made it to 199. Now I’m working towards 185.