Slowed Down Weight Loss

malliemajorz

I started my weight loss journey around April. My starting weight was 209, I am now 171, and can’t seem to lose any more. I weigh myself every monday, first thing when I wake up. Each time it still says 171, and I’ve been stuck at this for about a month. I’m tracking my calories, still in a 1,200 deficit, I eat healthy. I work out when I’m able but could definitely be more active. however nothing is making it go down. I know that weight loss slows down after the first couple months, but is it supposed to be this slow? Did I reach a plateau or something, if so how can I get past it? This has been seriously so demotivating for me but I haven’t let it stop me because consistency is key and I’ve gotten used to my healthy lifestyle. I just am wondering why it isn’t going down and what I can do to fix it. Thank you all in advance

spiriteagle99

First, congratulations on a very successful and rapid weight loss. Ten pounds a month is pretty aggressive, which may be a factor in your plateau.

Have you been weighing all your food? At first, it may not matter that much, but as you lose more weight, being really precise in your measurements becomes more important. It is easy to slip up on portion sizes and details like oil for cooking or butter on vegetables.

DanaDark

I'd suggest you start weighing every day and seeing the differences there. Water can make funny things happen on the scale. It can mask weeks worth of fat loss and even make you gain weight (which isn't fat)!

Without an open diary and details on how you're tracking your calories, it is difficult to offer any meaningful advice other than generalizations.

ninerbuff

It's been several months since you started. Your body is adapting to the eating pattern you have and is compensating for weight loss by SLOWING RESTING METABOLIC RATE. The way you combat this is to INCREASE the intensity of exercise. By forcing the muscle to work harder, not only do you burn more calories, but you RAISE your metabolic rate.

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weight3049

malliemajorz wrote: »

I started my weight loss journey around April. My starting weight was 209, I am now 171, and can’t seem to lose any more. I weigh myself every monday, first thing when I wake up. Each time it still says 171, and I’ve been stuck at this for about a month. I’m tracking my calories, still in a 1,200 deficit, I eat healthy. I work out when I’m able but could definitely be more active. however nothing is making it go down. I know that weight loss slows down after the first couple months, but is it supposed to be this slow? Did I reach a plateau or something, if so how can I get past it? This has been seriously so demotivating for me but I haven’t let it stop me because consistency is key and I’ve gotten used to my healthy lifestyle. I just am wondering why it isn’t going down and what I can do to fix it. Thank you all in advance

I am in the same position and almost same starting weight and current weight. I have been at same weight for months with same diet and exercise.

I know stress can affect weight loss and I'm sure a lot of people right now are really stressed, keep this in mind as well.

Ghenry1892

Same here, I started out at 101 kg, I'm now down to 83 kg. I just bought a good quality exercise bike online to see if this can jump start the weight lose again.

Strudders67

Have you re-Saved your goals etc in the Guided Set up? With less weight, the number of calories needed per day decreases, but MFP doesn't do that automatically even if you enter your weight each time you weigh yourself. Having lost 40lbs, it's possible that you're now eating more than you need to be, so your deficit and therefore weight loss rate has reduced.

Also,as asked above, are you weighing every solid that you consume or use in cooking? Are you measuring every liquid that you drink or use in cooking or as a dressing etc? Packet sizes are a rough guide only, eyeballing is a very rough guide! Also, check that the database entries you're selecting match the nutritional info on the packaging - a lot of database entries are wrong / out of date. If they're old and things have clearly changed, I try to update any that I want to use. Certainly in the UK, it seems common for companies to reduce sizes or make changes to use more of cheaper ingredients, but keep the price the same and, as a result, the nutritional info has changed; I guess that's happening elsewhere in the world.

And I second the idea of weighing yourself daily. You may be fluctuating up and down.