Getting past a weight loss plateau

sheen467

Guys, I am really in need of some advise. I've lost 8 Kgs since the beginning of the year and seem to have hit a plateau since past 4 weeks. Although, I feel stronger and fitter than before there is no progress on the weight loss front. My gym instructor asked me to start eating 500 cal/day more (jump from 1500 cal/day to 2000 cal/day) and I am kind of dreading that . Have any of you experienced this as well? If yes, how did you get past it? Looking for suggestions..

jjpptt2

First, make sure your logging is tight and consistent. If you feel good about your numbers, then it might be time for a diet break. There is a good but long thread going about refeeds and diet breaks... I'll see if I can find it quick...

kommodevaran

I think you should tighten up your logging before you increase your calorie intake - as weightloss happens when you're in a calorie deficit, and the less you eat, the faster you lose! There is no such thing as a "plateau", you're simply eating at maintenance, and as your TDEE is going to be more than 1500, and you're not losing weight = you're not in a deficit = you're not eating 1500 calories.

Seffell

Forget about calories for a while and think the old fashioned way. You're trying to eat less in order to lose weight. You're not losing. Do you start eating even more?

How do you measure your food?

jjpptt2

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

quiksylver296

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

cheryldumais

I got stuck after a year of dieting for 3 months. Finally did a diet break at maintenance level for a week and I started losing again. If you feel your calorie counts in your logging are correct then try the diet break it might just be what you need.

sheen467

Thanks for your comments and some nice links guys. I use a weighing scale to measure everything I put into my mouth. Although I login my meals religiously most days, there were only a few days when I did give it a miss (especially when travelling as I ate out and didn’t know how to account for those calories). The diet break idea sounds good. I might just try it out and see how it works! Cheers..

Leannep2201

This happened to me too. I weigh and log everything, right down to the 185g apple I just ate, and the 35ml salad dressing I put on my salad. I was definitely at a deficit, and was not losing. This lasted 4 weeks.
The only things that had changed were I started running once or twice a week, and I came off some progesterone medication I was taking to control my hormones (nearly 30kg weight loss meant I no longer needed it, yay!!!!)

I felt like my clothes were getting looser though, even though the scale didn’t budge, and I loved the fact that I was able to learn to run- no way I could have done that at my heaviest! So I persevered, and kept doing what I was doing.

The scale finally moved again last week... finally! It was a frustrating time, but I kept reminding myself to trust the process.

sheen467

Leannep2201 wrote: »

This happened to me too. I weigh and log everything, right down to the 185g apple I just ate, and the 35ml salad dressing I put on my salad. I was definitely at a deficit, and was not losing. This lasted 4 weeks.
The only things that had changed were I started running once or twice a week, and I came off some progesterone medication I was taking to control my hormones (nearly 30kg weight loss meant I no longer needed it, yay!!!!)

I felt like my clothes were getting looser though, even though the scale didn’t budge, and I loved the fact that I was able to learn to run- no way I could have done that at my heaviest! So I persevered, and kept doing what I was doing.

The scale finally moved again last week... finally! It was a frustrating time, but I kept reminding myself to trust the process.

So happy to hear your story! I’m glad that the scale finally moved for you❤️

countcurt

Time for a new trainer? Seriously, on what planet does increasing caloric intake promote weight loss.


OTOH, if you reread your own posts you may come upon the [potential] roadblock. When you stop losing weight AND you have stopped tracking religiously the correlation between these two should not be dismissed so readily. It really doesn’t take that many untracked meals in restaurants to stall weight loss.

JulesBooth

Same with me. I'm logging everything I eat. I've dropped my calorie intake to 1500 from 1600. The scales are not budging. It's so disheartening. I don't really want to take break as I just want to lose the last few kgs before November.

saggyandbaggy

The main thing I have learned in my loss of over 100lbs is that plateaus happen, they are a right pain, but if you keep weighing and logging the loss DOES begin again. It will then be speedy for a bit... so just keep on track and CICA will work