How long did it take to break your plateau?

jplinis

Broke my plateau on the 16th day of being on the same weight. Share your experience with your longest weight loss plateau you've broken!

kommodevaran

I didn't have any plateaus. Water weight fluctuates. If weightloss stops, you're just not in a deficit.

glassyo

I'm gonna go ahead and say 2 weeks isn't a plateau.

But my longest was a year gaining and losing the same pound. It turned out to be my replacement fitbit overestimating my exercise calories.

lorrpb

I lost every month for 2.5 years.
2 weeks is a normal fluctuation due to water retention, TOM, or other normal factors. A plateau is 4-6 weeks with no loss and keeping everything else the same, same diet, same exercise, etc.
Just keep with your plan. Be sure you weigh all food on a food scale & log accurately.

peggym4640

Mine was 4 weeks. I went up a bit during that time but only around 1 lb. I just kept logging food, counting my steps and exercising. It's been a steady loss since then.

inertiastrength

I never experienced one

pinggolfer96

When cutting: Eat less or move more
When bulking: eat more or move less

goldthistime

I grew anxious about plateaus when I wasn’t eating enough. My thinking was: “All that suffering, those damn scales had better reward me with a lower weight, each and every week”. I eventually increased my calories and my frustration with a “stuck scale” ended.

elsie6hickman

goldthistime wrote: »

I grew anxious about plateaus when I wasn’t eating enough. My thinking was: “All that suffering, those damn scales had better reward me with a lower weight, each and every week”. I eventually increased my calories and my frustration with a “stuck scale” ended.

I have sometimes wondered if increasing your calories doesn't kind of shock your system back into weight loss. I've had that happen too.

kami3006

elsie6hickman wrote: »

goldthistime wrote: »

I grew anxious about plateaus when I wasn’t eating enough. My thinking was: “All that suffering, those damn scales had better reward me with a lower weight, each and every week”. I eventually increased my calories and my frustration with a “stuck scale” ended.

I have sometimes wondered if increasing your calories doesn't kind of shock your system back into weight loss. I've had that happen too.

It doesn’t shock your body but can give you more energy which can result in an increase in your daily activity (NEAT) and therefore your overall calorie expenditure.

snickerscharlie

elsie6hickman wrote: »

goldthistime wrote: »

I grew anxious about plateaus when I wasn’t eating enough. My thinking was: “All that suffering, those damn scales had better reward me with a lower weight, each and every week”. I eventually increased my calories and my frustration with a “stuck scale” ended.

I have sometimes wondered if increasing your calories doesn't kind of shock your system back into weight loss. I've had that happen too.

No, unfortunately it doesn't work like that.

viajera99

I've had the same weight 11 days apart, with up and down variation in between, then woosh, down 1.5 lbs for good. Of course, Trendweight showed that I was losing steadily and consistently during the entire period.

sardelsa

My "plateaus" (which aren't really) are pretty much always caused by increasing my exercise.. either lifting volume or cardio intensity. Typically takes 2-3 weeks to re-establish my baseline and start a downward trend again. So it's about patience for me. If it goes on longer than a month.. then I start to think about adjusting my intake.

AnvilHead

sardelsa wrote: »

My "plateaus" (which aren't really) are pretty much always caused by increasing my exercise.. either lifting volume or cardio intensity. Typically takes 2-3 weeks to re-establish my baseline and start a downward trend again. So it's about patience for me. If it goes on longer than a month.. then I start to think about adjusting my intake.

Every one of my "plateaus" came when I started getting sloppy with my food tracking, so I knew exactly what the cause was. Tighten it up, break the food scale back out for a while, and the scale started moving again.

amusedmonkey

I once had water retention that lasted 24 days. I started a new resistance routine, then 10 days later I was ovulating. Once everything was sorted out I had a mega woosh of 7 pounds within a couple of days. I regained a couple after a few days which basically normalized my weight to my deficit.

If you aren't known to retain a lot of weight due to hormonal reasons, and if you haven't started a new exercise routine, I would look into your logging and make sure you're doing it accurately enough.

kommodevaran

snickerscharlie wrote: »

elsie6hickman wrote: »

goldthistime wrote: »

I grew anxious about plateaus when I wasn’t eating enough. My thinking was: “All that suffering, those damn scales had better reward me with a lower weight, each and every week”. I eventually increased my calories and my frustration with a “stuck scale” ended.

I have sometimes wondered if increasing your calories doesn't kind of shock your system back into weight loss. I've had that happen too.

No, unfortunately it doesn't work like that.

I'm actually more happy than sad it doesn't work like that. A world where cause and effect and physical laws don't apply, must be a world that is confusing and difficult to live in.

sardelsa

AnvilHead wrote: »

sardelsa wrote: »

My "plateaus" (which aren't really) are pretty much always caused by increasing my exercise.. either lifting volume or cardio intensity. Typically takes 2-3 weeks to re-establish my baseline and start a downward trend again. So it's about patience for me. If it goes on longer than a month.. then I start to think about adjusting my intake.

Every one of my "plateaus" came when I started getting sloppy with my food tracking, so I knew exactly what the cause was. Tighten it up, break the food scale back out for a while, and the scale started moving again.

Yea I don't really use one of those

CarvedTones

I lost 65 pounds without plateaus. I used the food scale at every opportunity and I purposefully guessed high on portion size if I couldn't (like getting a serving I was sure was over a half cup but under a cup and logging it as a cup, for example). If you are in a calorie deficit, you lose weight. I never went two weeks without a drop until toward the end with a very small deficit.