Anyone had a plateau lasting a month or longer?

Leonie_M234

Hi Guys,

Feeling really deflated today. I thought I had beat my plateau and then gained the pounds back in the last week. So the scales have not shifted for about 1 month. The only thing thats different is I am lifting weights 4 times a week for 25 mins per session. ( heavy as in it feels challenging and I am struggling with last few reps)
I understand that people say that you cant be in a defecit if you have stalled for that long and I mostly would agree.
However knowing I weigh and count pretty accurately I am wondering whether I should lower my cals a bit more.
I would love to hear from anyone that had a long plateau, and what they changed or whether they just stuck at their program.
Bit of background...I am 5,9 tall , fairly active ( young child to look after) walk alot, lift weights few times a week. I do TDEE and eat on average 1850 cals a day which I cycle through the week.

Lietchi

I think you've given the answer yourself, actually. Lifting weights when you're not used to it can definitely make you retain water and make it look like your weight loss is stalled. That's my experience anyway when lifting weights. I would give it a few more weeks, and consider measuring yourself to give yourself another way of checking whether you are making progress (losing inches even when the weight isn't going down).

Leonie_M234

@Lietchi Thanks for your reply. I guess I thought because its not like superheavy barbell lifting that I did years ago, it wouldnt do that.

xxzenabxx

You’re just holding onto water weight from lifting weights. As long as it’s challenging you will retain water from inflammation in the muscles. I would wait another few weeks. I haven’t seen the scale drop since 1st Jan but I’m hoping for a drop soon because I was in maintenance for 3 weeks. It does get hard being so patient but the time is passing anyway lol.

ElizabethKalmbach

I stalled out for 5 weeks in November. I was lifting weights and had measurements, so I just kept going. My waist measurement dropped 2" in those 5 weeks, so obviously *something* was happening. Then half way through week 6, I dropped about 2.8 pounds when I took about 3 days off from lifting, due to the holidays closing my gym.

I strongly encourage you to take measurements. They can reveal what the water hides.

Leonie_M234

Thanks it helps so much to read other people's experiences

CeeBeeSlim

Do you have an article of clothing that you can use
as a test? I was/am in same boat, scale is barely budging, but from the comments from other gym-goers and my own “test” pants I know I’ve lost inches. From as hard as I’ve been working, I would’ve thought I’d lost at least 5-7 lb since Jan 1. But Nope. Just 2 pounds! But as I’ve learned here, a 10 pound weight loss goal will
be slow. Hang in there! What’s your goal?

Leonie_M234

Thanks! since last July I am 180lbs and started at 202lbs. I would love to get to 154lbs. I am eating on average 1850 cals, I have increased and decreased it over the last 6 weeks to test and see if it helps. I actually think I might need to eat 1700 cals a day..could be overestimating activity levels

AnnPT77

Leonie_M234 wrote: »

Thanks! since last July I am 180lbs and started at 202lbs. I would love to get to 154lbs. I am eating on average 1850 cals, I have increased and decreased it over the last 6 weeks to test and see if it helps. I actually think I might need to eat 1700 cals a day..could be overestimating activity levels

You won't see true results of 100-200 calorie or so changes nearly fast enough to evaluate the true effect amongst normal water weight fluctuations, with multiple changes in a 6-week span.

If you're premenopausal, you need at least to be sticking with a new regimen long enough to compare the same point in two different menstrual cycles, and even that might not be long enough to see a difference from 100 calories a day. (100 calories a day is less than a pound a month, 250 is only half a pound a week - I dunno about you, but my weight can fluctuate a pound or even two from one day to the next, just from water weight changes due to extra sodium, exercise, heat, head cold, or a dozen other things . . . and I'm in menopause, so I don't have the hormonal cycling.)

Put a sensible set of habits in place (sounds like you mostly have), then - tough as it is - patience, and trust the process.

Best wishes!

Leonie_M234

Thanks! very good points.