Plateau Hell

Swalp43

I was on weight watchers for a year and lost 70#, in August all weight loss stopped and for 4 months I have been up and down the same 2#🤦‍♀️I’ve increased cardio, didn’t do cardio, ate my recommended 1700 calories and then went back to WW 1200 calories. Not one thing has broke the plateau. I work out 6-8 hours a week with 4 of those strength since March ( I know I switched addictions). I have 70# more to lose! Why is my body doing this and how can I get off this crazy bus?

nighthawk584

barring a medical issue, it has to be something in your calorie counting..are you weighing EVERYTHING that goes in your mouth on a food scale?

ruperthumphrey

When I plateaued, I changed my routine, I found Intermittent Fasting kick started it for me.

Katmary71

My first major plateau was from not using a scale to measure. It doesn't seem like cups and "small banana " would be that far off but they added up and I had less wiggle room closer to goal. About 4 months into calorie counting I plateaued for a month. I was working out every day for at least an hour and weighing everything. I stuck with it and tried to up cardio. At the end of the month I dropped 5lbs all at once. I didn't plateau after that but it may because I added the gym to my workouts.

apullum

For the vast majority of people, a plateau is the result of inaccurate logging. A major cause of inaccurate logging is not using a food scale to weigh ALL food. Most people who do not use a food scale are eating more calories than they think they are. If you are not using a food scale, then get one and use it to weigh ALL of your food.

You're also varying your calories a lot, which may mean you aren't consistently in a deficit. Set MFP to a reasonable pace of weight loss for your stats, and consistently eat as close as possible to your MFP calorie goal without going over. What constitutes a "reasonable pace" depends on how much weight you're trying to lose, not how quickly you want to lose weight.

Starting a new or more intense exercise routine can cause temporary water weight increase due to the normal muscle repair process. That should not last more than a few weeks. If you are frequently changing your exercise routine, stopping exercise, restarting, etc., then this may be part of what you're seeing. However, accurate food logging is the issue for most people.

tl;dr, Use a food scale consistently if you don't already, pick a reasonable calorie goal and stick to it consistently, stick to a consistent exercise plan if you choose to exercise, give those changes a month before making additional changes.

quiksylver296

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

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10697068/how-i-stopped-kidding-myself/p1