Define plateau

What is the generally accepted definition of a weight plateau? At what point in a typical weight loss diet does a plateau occur?

What would be some other reasons for a stall in weight loss?

Replies

  • Teabythesea_
    Teabythesea_ Posts: 559 Member
    edited May 2019
    Depends on how much the person has to lose. If someone has very little to lose and should be aiming for .5 lbs a week their loss can easily be masked by water weight fluctuations for weeks. In this case I wouldn't consider anything shorter than a couple of months to be a true plateau. If someone has a lot more to lose and has been losing at a steady pace of 1.5 to 2 lbs a week then anything longer than 3 weeks to a month can be considered a plateau.

    Most of the time when someone plateaus (or thinks they have) it's because they have become lax in their logging or have gotten to the point where their deficit is becoming smaller and there is not as much room for error. In other cases it is because someone has lost a substantial amount of weight but has not updated their calorie goal to reflect their new, lower NEAT that comes as a result of lower BMR. Sometimes people take up various forms of exercise towards the end of their weight loss journey and that can cause water retention. There can be many reasons, but these are the most common ones I see.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    What our dictator, @tinkerbellang83 said.

  • texasredreb
    texasredreb Posts: 541 Member
    Thank you for your explanations. I'm not asking because I think I've plateaued; I haven't. I just see a lot of posts where people claim to have hit a plateau and the group says it's not necessarily so.

    Right now I'm steadily losing. I weigh and measure everything except for prepackaged/pre-portioned foods. If I hit a "plateau" the first thing I will do is start weighing those items to see if it is making a difference.
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
    Where’s the chart? I love the chart.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,730 Member
    Where’s the chart? I love the chart.

    Do we have a sticky that's all charts yet? Because that would be awesome.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    Where’s the chart? I love the chart.

    Do we have a sticky that's all charts yet? Because that would be awesome.

    The flowchart has been stickied for a while. I think the infographics thread has been nominated but hasn't reached sticky status yet. You'd have to check the nominations thread to be sure.