Not losing for 2 weeks

Karissa_Clohan
Karissa_Clohan Posts: 126 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
What can cause a pause in weight loss 3 weeks into modifying calorie intake?

I went from not tracking (but not gaining) to a deficit with a goal of 2 lb a week. The first week went fine, now I've been at the same weight for 2 weeks.

I use a food scale, don't snack, log everything I consume, and stay hydrated. My activity level is set to sedentary basically, and I log any sincere exercise I get (as in, increased heart rate - not just basic movements). I follow a iifym lifestyle, but admittedly go over on sodium more than I should.

This isn't my first rodeo with tracking, I fell off the wagon for a bit after 2 pregnancies. This is, however, my first time ever hitting a standstill so early on.

Should I push through a couple more weeks before changing anything? Or should I start looking into modifying my current diet?

Replies

  • AustinRuadhain
    AustinRuadhain Posts: 2,595 Member
    If it helps, I experimented for quite a while before figuring out what works for me. My first thought is, where is the number of calories to eat back coming from? A heart rate monitor, the readout on a machine in the gym, or the standard value in the MFP library of exercise data? That sounds like the most suspect item in your CICO equation.

    Maybe decrease the percentage of calories you eat back to, say, 75%, and see if that nudges things along.

    I have usually given a change at least 3 weeks to see if it is working.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,213 Member
    At 3 weeks in, my best guess would be water retention based on hormonal cycles (possibly complicated by additional water weight from new exercise, extra sodium or carbs vs. your norm, increased average digestive system contents if your veggie intake has increased, etc.). Those things can hide fat loss on the scale until either they drop out of the picture, or your fat loss outpaces what's still retained.

    I'd suggest holding steady with your current routine until you get a full menstrual cycle plus a little of weight data with your new routine. That should give you the information you need to know what kind/size of adjustment you need to make. If you start changing things now, it will be much tougher to figure out what's really happening - muddies the waters.
  • Karissa_Clohan
    Karissa_Clohan Posts: 126 Member
    Thank you so much everyone!

    I weigh myself weekly, I'll start daily to see how that's going.

    As for exercise calories, I eat back about 75% already. I don't think my fitness tracker is extremely accurate (aka, it's old as dirt), so I lean on the side of caution there.

    As for my cycles, I'm right in the middle right now. I would expect bloating closer to the end, pre-menstruation, but that's just a guess. Paying attention to my weight patterns in relation to my cycles is a great idea. I never thought of that. Thank you!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Karissa_Clohan wrote: »
    Thank you so much everyone!

    I weigh myself weekly, I'll start daily to see how that's going.

    As for exercise calories, I eat back about 75% already. I don't think my fitness tracker is extremely accurate (aka, it's old as dirt), so I lean on the side of caution there.

    As for my cycles, I'm right in the middle right now. I would expect bloating closer to the end, pre-menstruation, but that's just a guess. Paying attention to my weight patterns in relation to my cycles is a great idea. I never thought of that. Thank you!

    I bloat in the middle as well, a lot of people do during ovulation.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,979 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Karissa_Clohan wrote: »
    Thank you so much everyone!

    I weigh myself weekly, I'll start daily to see how that's going.

    As for exercise calories, I eat back about 75% already. I don't think my fitness tracker is extremely accurate (aka, it's old as dirt), so I lean on the side of caution there.

    As for my cycles, I'm right in the middle right now. I would expect bloating closer to the end, pre-menstruation, but that's just a guess. Paying attention to my weight patterns in relation to my cycles is a great idea. I never thought of that. Thank you!

    I bloat in the middle as well, a lot of people do during ovulation.

    ^ yes, my highest weight is during ovulation and lowest at the start of my period.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,129 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Karissa_Clohan wrote: »
    Thank you so much everyone!

    I weigh myself weekly, I'll start daily to see how that's going.

    As for exercise calories, I eat back about 75% already. I don't think my fitness tracker is extremely accurate (aka, it's old as dirt), so I lean on the side of caution there.

    As for my cycles, I'm right in the middle right now. I would expect bloating closer to the end, pre-menstruation, but that's just a guess. Paying attention to my weight patterns in relation to my cycles is a great idea. I never thought of that. Thank you!

    I bloat in the middle as well, a lot of people do during ovulation.

    Same! Almost 2 weeks of water retention per month and that's without taking DOMs from progressive lifting/ running/ rowing; sodium; carbs and alcohol into consideration. My weight chart sometimes looks like a lie detector print out.

    Libra for Android or HappyScale for iOS are great for tracking your trends.
  • RAinWA
    RAinWA Posts: 1,980 Member
    swatson99 wrote: »
    Beginning exercise, even just walking, will help you break that plateau. You can lose *some* weight without exercise but at some point you'll have to start moving to keep losing.
    https://www.webmd.com/diet/obesity/features/plateau-no-more#1

    I lost the majority of my weight (125+ pounds) with virtually no exercise except physical therapy (which I don't suggest, seriously wish I had started exercising, especially strength training, sooner). I never hit a plateau. Water retention, logging inaccuracies, etc., are the most likely culprits as was said previously.

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