Plateau? Advice

minnelizzy
minnelizzy Posts: 45 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
So I’ve lost 10lbs in about 8 weeks. I’m 40, 5’3, female, at 164lbs now. I aim for 1200 cals per day plus exercise cals and I may eat them may not. I’m really diligent about tracking, measuring, weighing food etc so I’m pretty sure of my daily intake. But last week I gained a pound- I was down 11lbs and this week I stayed the same. My job is fairly active- about 6000-8000 steps a day then I do the elliptical for 30 mins a couple times a week and hot yoga at least once a week.
How do I budge this scale and lose the last 20lbs I want?!

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,848 Member
    Really a plateau would be considered weighing the same for several weeks. Keep doing the right things. It will likely drop of, here, read this often quoted article:

    https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

    1200 is really low. You could set your Goals at, "Lose 1 pound per week," set your Activity Level at, "Active," and then eat more on days you do purposeful exercise. Those 6000-8000 steps are considered part of the Activity Level. Purposeful exercise you would enter into the Exercise tab and the app will give you more calories to eat for that.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,449 Community Helper
    What riverside said.

    Wait it out, if you've been consistently losing at around the same rate to this point.

    Plus: If 1200 really is on the low side for you - which it is for many women **, the longer you go, and the more cumulative physical stress there is, it's more likely you might see stranger water retention effects on the scale. **** (Note that freaking about it could increase psychological stress, so make the effect worse. I'm not saying you're freaking out, but some people do, without realizing how counterproductive that might be.)

    After 2 months, if you've been consistent, you should be getting a good picture of your average loss rate. As long as it hasn't been tapering off, you're seeing a water weight effect right now, almost certainly.

    Weight loss, of any meaningful amount of weight, is a long game: Weeks, months. The scale won't drop linearly the whole time. This is how my last few months of slow loss (losing a few vanity pounds in year 5 of maintenance) looked on the scale:

    7i2kt7o8cns5.png

    Solid line is the trend (moving average), vertical lines connect daily weights to the trend line.

    Your loss, if base rate is around a pound a week, won't be quite that crazy, but it'll still jump around. That's normal.

    ** https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/

    **** https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,848 Member
    That graph Ann just posted is over an eight month period and all those little pale red lines are her daily fluctuations.

    No one gets through this easily or on a direct down-slope.

    Keep good records, be as consistent as you can and be patient.


    It took me nine months to lose the last 15 pounds...just keep doing the right things and it will continue downward. Mostly. :wink:
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,449 Community Helper
    cmriverside wrote: »
    That graph Ann just posted is over an eight month period and all those little pale red lines are her daily fluctuations.

    No one gets through this easily or on a direct down-slope.

    Keep good records, be as consistent as you can and be patient.


    It took me nine months to lose the last 15 pounds...just keep doing the right things and it will continue downward. Mostly. :wink:

    Oops, yes - when I cropped that graphic, I cut the months off the bottom! This should be clearer:

    glqkeudb4mzc.png

    I was *intentionally* losing slower than you're shooting for, OP, not saying last pounds are inherently *that* slow . . . though slowing down as one gets closer to goal is a good plan. At any weight loss rate, there will be non-linearity. The slower the underlying fat loss rate, the longer it takes to verify that loss is actually happening. But, like I said, fast loss can make water fluctuations more extreme, for short periods.

    Think in months, not a week. At 40, I'm guessing you probably still have monthly hormonal cycles. If so, compare the same relative point in at least two different cycles, because that can make a multi-pound difference for many women.

    Man, I need another cup of coffee . . . ! 😉
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