The dreaded weight loss plateau

meharmahshahid

Guys, what do you do if at one stage of your journey you are not losing weight?

Hanibanani2020

How long as it been?

Lietchi

In your other thread you mentioned losing 8 lbs since June 1st, so you really aren't at a plateau.

meharmahshahid

I'm not at a plateau but I'm very anxious that at one point I will be, and I'm very far from my target weight yet

Hanibanani2020

Stop being worried about things that may or may not happen especially a non event like a plateau. They’re no big deal as they don’t last. Stay the course and enjoy the process day by day

Lynatea

If you do a forum search for 'plateau' you'll also finds tons of other thread discussions to read

jtechmart

I was in a similar situation recently, cutting calories and working my butt off every day to reach a certain fat loss goal. Thought I was in a plateau. It's tough because you are putting so much work into it, you want to be sure you are making progress. But, after a few weeks of staying with it, turns out I'm still on track. Patience is key. Yes, my weight loss slowed from before, but that is because I have less to loose and my body is probably used to what I am doing now. But, I'm still making enough progress to know what I am doing is working.

If you feel like you aren't loosing, I would say give it at least 4 weeks and check back to see if you are still making progress. The mental part of not worrying and just being patient is key. Obviously, you want to make a change if you aren't making progress. But, you need to be sure of that first, and only enough time and effort will get you there.

ninerbuff

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10459226/youre-not-plateauing/p1


A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

quiksylver296

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

AnnPT77

Don't borrow theoretical troubles from the future, and poison happiness in the present.

I never had a plateau, through steady weight loss from class 1 obese to a healthy weight in the lower end of the normal BMI range, in less than a year (despite being old, post-menopausal, hypothyroid). You may never have one, either.

Stress can increase water retention; water retention can hide fat loss on the scale; water retention hiding ongoing fat loss can make you believe you're in a plateau when you're not.

Consider stress management techniques, instead?

Best wishes, sincerely!

threewins

I can think of three types of plateaus. 1. Measurement error caused by salt intake/scale/exercise issues, so it's not caused by stopping losing fat

2. You are eating too much to lose weight

3. This preceeds a 'whoosh', where you suddenly lose a large of weight, I had one a few years ago, over about 15 days I didn't lose any weight, then suddenly I lost about 800 grams.

Any others people can think of?

MercuryForce

Honestly, one thing that has helped me with plateaus is tracking my weight. I've been doing so for almost a year using Libra and seeing it like that helps remind me it's just what my body does. I'll steadily lose weight for a while, then just suddenly stop for a few weeks, and then for some reason suddenly start again. It's what my body does.

Like, this latest time. I lost .2 lbs in May, .5 lbs in June....then suddenly in the last week have dropped 5 lbs and will probably keep losing weight at somewhere between .5-1 lbs per week for the next couple months. All this without a single change in my diet and activity level. I did pretty much the same thing back in January, and before that back in September. I expect I'll hit another one sometime in early fall.

As other's have said, don't borrow trouble. But also, don't immediately freak out if it does happen, because sometimes it's just what bodies do.

Strudders67

threewins wrote: »

I can think of three types of plateaus. 1. Measurement error caused by salt intake/scale/exercise issues, so it's not caused by stopping losing fat

2. You are eating too much to lose weight

3. This preceeds a 'whoosh', where you suddenly lose a large of weight, I had one a few years ago, over about 15 days I didn't lose any weight, then suddenly I lost about 800 grams.

Any others people can think of?

4. Your deficit is so small that any weight loss will take a long time to actually show up on the scales.
Being short and not having much weight to lose (despite the MFPer thinking they're 'obese' / have a huge belly / look pregnant because they're 3lb heavier or more normal looking than a photoshopped model) means your maintenance cals are already close to 1200 and, without under-eating, you will only ever have a small deficit and will therefore only lose a miniscule amount each week.