Help!!! I’ve hit a weight loss plateau. 😩

green_eyes_99

Hello I’ve been working out for past 3 months 4x a week and I’ve lost 10 pounds and several inches everywhere. Now I’ve hit a plateau and the scale keeps going up/down 2 pounds for the past 6 weeks! It’s getting very frustrating and a little discouraging! Can anyone tell me if this has happened to you and how did you overcome it? Thanks in advance. 🤗

mgalsf12

What is your age, height, current weight and calorie counting method?

Teabythesea_

You mention you exercise but weight loss is all about a calorie deficit. Are you weighing and tracking your food?

quiksylver296

Are you using a food scale, weighing everything that passes your lips, and logging it all religiously, no skipping, cheating or forgetting? If no, start there.

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

Panini911

you mention working out, but you say nothing about food tracking. the biggest part of weight loss happens in the kitchen not the gym.. are you using a food scale to weigh all foods and tracking carefully ensuring to eat at a small deficit constantly over time?
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1


ETA you asked this question yesterday - did you read the responses here:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10737377/ive-hit-a-weightloss-plateau-and-need-help-getting-past-it

cmriverside

Yeah, you got good answers yesterday.

Please open your FOOD page to "Public" so we can help.

FOOD> Settings, scroll down, click public/save changes

cmriverside

Here: what to do:

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

http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

sarahbrown231

This plateau and weight flux you speak of happens to me. So aggravating! Especially when I think I’m having “perfect days” and the scale reflects no change the next day. I just read an article that the ups could be from inflammation the day after a workout. That possible explanation made me feel a little better about the instability of my scale 2+/-.

The last stall I had was a five week period. I cried a little bit and then I got past it with water. Lots of it. Day 1 I drank 1.25 gallons throughout the day and tried to finish it 4-5 hours before bed so I wasn’t up peeing all night. It was a total chore for me.
Day 2 I drank 1 gallon. Day 3 I cut it to 100oz. Day 4 I was down a pound and said good bye to that weight for the last time. This is something my trainer told me to try. It kept me full and under my calorie goal, gave me an all day challenge to focus on and I got extra steps in making all those extra trips to the bathroom. 😒 if you try it make sure you start on a day you can get up and pee whenever you please.

During the three days I ate lots of cauliflower rice, tomatoes, boring green veggies, fish and chicken breast. Not delicious or exciting at all. I didn’t add any fats to make it better. I had to put in my mind it was temporary to move on towards my goal.

During prior stalls I’ve tried to add a 45 minute walk in the evening to my day. That worked but in my mind to took over a week to show a result, it was winter and dark and not enjoyable. Maybe now that the weather is changing that’s an option again.

I’m interested to see what other tactics people use to get past long stalls. Good luck to you and good job on the weight you have lost. It’s awesome!

diannethegeek

Yes, it happened to me when my weight loss stalled out for eight weeks. These are the things I wish someone had told me at the time when I was floundering to get out of it. For me, it was largely a logging and motivation issue.

1. 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.

2. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one and weigh everything solid. Everything. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like Libra or Happy Scale to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs. You might also be sure your scale is working and doesn't need new batteries or anything.

8. 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.