Stopped losing weight!!!

alexcordero3

Hello All. I know... "you just hit a plateau." This seems more than that and I'm getting pretty frustrated. I've lost 60 pounds since May of 2019. I hit a few plateaus but I would break them in about a week or two. This one is going on for about a month. So here a few points about me.

• I've been overweight my entire life.
• The thinnest I've been was when I was in the Navy (1982 - 1986) and even then, I quickly gained weight. I'm now 55.
• Doc said I'm slightly hypothyroid. I've taken meds for it before (many times) and my weight didn't fluctuate one way of the other. Later the doc said that my hypo wasn't severe enough to not lose weight normally.
• During the first 60 lbs. I realised that he was right because I was losing about from 1.5 to 2 lbs a week save for the occasional plateau.
• I've responded to resistance training, cardio, and intermittent fasting (16/8). I enjoyed fasting because it was great for my digestion.
• After the 60lb loss, COVID quarantine started and I blew off dieting for about two months.
• I restarted and quickly lost 10 pounds...
• Everything just stopped.
• Currently, I'm at 1860 calories, I work out daily, intermittent fasting.. water... I track and weigh all my food, record all my workout, adjusted macros many times, HIIT... Just, nothing!
• I do feel a bit leaner and doing more kettlebell workouts but there's no way that I'm getting that much muscle..

Thoughts? Similar experiences? Encouragement?? LOL... I've never plateaued this long.

Thank you all.

mrsevers2015

Hi ! All the things you did to lose weight the first time around, are you doing all of the same things? I've heard that your workout regimen should change like your diet. Your body can tend to get "used" to said routine. Maybe just some changes could help kick that loss back into gear. Maybe some more weightlifting? Keep the body guessing! Good luck 🙂

Redordeadhead

Do I read correctly that March-May you were not dieting and then in around June you lost 10lb but July nothing? How long is it since you lost any weight?

KateB989

I asked this question and someone said it’s because my body had gone into stress, too much exercise and not enough calories so my body was hanging on to the last bit of fat that I wanted to lose! So I’ve cut my exercise down and upped my calories back up this week! So I’ll see what happens 🤷‍♀️😩

glassyo

Soooo, you're in an actual plateau now. Your one week dealies were not a plateau.

Have you recalculated your calories on here since losing weight? Are you using a scale to weigh your foods? You could be eating more than you think which is one reason why you stopped losing weight.

bmeadows380

how close are you to your goal weight? What are your current stats? The leaner you are, the slower you should be losing weight:


What has been your average loss over the last 4 to 6 weeks? a couple of weeks isn't long enough to really evaluate progress. As mentioned above, have you adjusted your calories intake to accommodate your smaller self? As you lose weight, your BMR goes down since there is less mass to you and thus less that your body has to carry around for daily living i.e. smaller you means less calories burned to keep smaller you alive.

The less you have to lose and the slower the rate, the more water weight fluctuations are going skew your scale results, and water weight can be as bad as 5 lbs or more and last for 3 weeks or more. Water weight gain can be caused by all sorts of things - workouts, especially new ones, leading to water gain for muscles to repair themselves, changes in dietary patterns, increased sodium intake, heat and humidity, etc. And then there are factors such as bowel regularity being off leading to more food and waste being in your system, etc. This is why the 4-6 week trend is needed instead of a week to week; the trend will even out the water weight discrepancies.

I know that for some people, water weight coupled with the natural slow down of weight loss as they get leaner leads to a whoosh/no loss cycle: they'll stay consistent with their diet over a 6 week period, but may go 3 weeks or more with the scale remaining the same, then suddenly they'll have a whoosh loss of 4 or 5 lbs. The fact was that fat loss was occurring the whole time, but water weight was masking it, so when the water weight lets go, you see the actual weight you are.

alexcordero3

Thank you all for the helpful comments. You've given me a lot to consider. I've done some things you're all suggesting but missed a few so I'll implement those. Yes, it does seem like a plateau because I was used to my steady progress... Then Christmas 2019 happened, then COVID readjustments.. no more gym, sedentary job. Again, thank you!