Getting past a plateau

l3kdigh

Hello friends,

I've lost 40 lbs since February just by counting total calories in the MyFitnessPal app.
I have occasionally reduced my calorie ceiling by increasing my weight loss goal until it's now up to 2 lbs per week. That's about as far as I can go without starting to underfeed and lose muscle instead of fat.

If I just stay the course and be patient, will my body start losing weight again at some point?

What is the best way to break through a plateau like this?

Exercise is problematic for me, I'm older and I have a bad back.

lmf1012

Wow, 40lbs since Feb is awesome progress and quite fast!

I definitely would not suggest going further than 2lb per week and that even may be too fast actually, depending on how much more weight you want to lose.

How long has it been since you lost anything? It is more likely just a short stall than an actual plateau (which I guess is like 6 weeks with no loss). How often do you weigh and are you using any kind of trending app? I weigh daily and trend it so even when I have stalls, I can see my trend line is still going down and I just have to be patient and wait for the stall to break.

If you are eating at a deficit (tracking diligently, weighing everything you can, etc), your body will lose weight. Staying the course and being patient is most often the best action. Now... if it has been 6 weeks or more without losing, then it is time to take a deep dive into what could be going on.

AnnPT77

It's hard to answer without some additional information.

Very generically, the answer is often just patience and staying the course. If one has been losing well at a certain calorie level and semi-suddenly the loss rate has trickled to nothing, that's possible related to having such a low calorie intake that stress-related water weight masks fat loss on the scale, and fatigue-related reduced activity may've reduced calorie expenditure (sometimes so subtly we don't even notice, but it matters). On the other hand, if loss slowed gradually, tapering over a period of many weeks, then it becomes more possible that one has found maintenance calories . . . but that wouldn't be likely if the actual calorie intake level was theoretically so low one should be losing.

Without knowing some more info, you'll tend to get generic answers, like "just wait it out", "adopt magical trendy diet X that worked for me" (they're not magical), "do HIIT exercise for an hour every day", "eat a big meal to reset your body", "do a cleanse" (yikes, don't!) or any number of other suggestions that that may not apply in your specific circumstances, or that don't have much scientific basis.

So, could I ask a few more questions?

How long has your weight remained unchanged (or cycled back and forth through the same 2-3 pound range, up and down)?
What's your current daily calorie goal, for 2 pounds a week loss?
What's your current height, weight, age, calorie goal? (I'm asking to better understand your probable calorie needs, not to suggest that you should exercise more.)
How much weight do you have left you'd like to lose?

You mention that exercise is problematic: Does that mean that you're able to do none now? If you do some exercise, what type/duration/frequency is it, how are you estimating those calories, and are you eating those back? (I'm not asking this to suggest you do more exercise, I'm asking to get a handle on your calorie goals)

I'm sympathetic: I'm older myself (65), though female unlike you, and do have some physical limitations (though thankfully I've found ways to work around them with exercise, but I know not everyone's that lucky).
,
Unless you're very substantially overweight, 40 pounds since February is actually pretty fast weight loss. That situation can make it more likely that water weight is masking fat-loss progress, and more likely that there could be some subtle fatigue/reduced activity in the picture. Not sure how old you are, but for me, I find that my body tolerates physical stress less well than it did when I was a youth, so in a calorie-deficit situation, I may see stress side effects (like water retention) sooner than a younger person would.

If that's the case (not saying it is), then maybe going for a less aggressive goal, eating a bit more, and giving it time, could result in the scale moving as water weight drops back, or even taking a break for a couple of weeks at maintenance calories could be helpful.

I think folks would like to help you find a personally-suitable strategy to try, though, if you're willing to answer more questions.

Wishing you a path through this: I'm pretty sure there is one!

l3kdigh

Thanks for the advice, I heard some things I had not thought of.
I'm 60, 272 lbs down from 314 in February, and the "plateau" has been about 7 days so far.
I gather from your responses that patience is called for, so I will keep the same calorie levels and let my body do what it needs to do.

Lietchi

7 days is nowhere near a plateau, a plateau is at least 6 weeks with no progress (while keeping the same routine).

7 days is just a stall, patience is required yes 🙂

AnnPT77

l3kdigh wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, I heard some things I had not thought of.
I'm 60, 272 lbs down from 314 in February, and the "plateau" has been about 7 days so far.
I gather from your responses that patience is called for, so I will keep the same calorie levels and let my body do what it needs to do.

Yes, I agree with Lietchi above. Since you're male, 3-4 weeks with no progress might be enough to diagnose a true plateau, but 6 weeks is still a better standard. (I know that's frustrating advice!)

Meantime, you might want to check the batteries in your scale, if it's battery-powered vs. mechanical, and they aren't newer batteries, as sometimes folks report false scale consistency when batteries get low.

If the stall goes on, maybe consider a maintenance break. More about why that *might* help is in this thread:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

Onedaywriter

You’re doing great! I lost at about your rate and it was actually fun to weigh myself in the beginning because I got used to seeing a change almost daily. As you get into it, the rate of loss slows down, sometimes a lot.
One of the frustrating things about my scale is that it has a “memory.” If my weight doesn’t change by more than a pound or so, it keeps the same reading. So, many times I’d weigh the exact same for a while, then I’d see around a 2-3 lb loss. Sometimes I’d have my wife or daughter weigh themselves a couple of times just to break the “memory.”

PAV8888

Onedaywriter wrote: »

You’re doing great! I lost at about your rate and it was actually fun to weigh myself in the beginning because I got used to seeing a change almost daily. As you get into it, the rate of loss slows down, sometimes a lot.
One of the frustrating things about my scale is that it has a “memory.” If my weight doesn’t change by more than a pound or so, it keeps the same reading. So, many times I’d weigh the exact same for a while, then I’d see around a 2-3 lb loss. Sometimes I’d have my wife or daughter weigh themselves a couple of times just to break the “memory.”

For many people grabbing a full family size bottle of mouthwash or shampoo for a first weight in followed by a second without will break the memory.

Sixteen_Tons

I've found that using a 5 day deficit & 2 day at or above a 500 calorie surplus has helped, I try to include extra fat and protein on those days. I use a twice a week cycle using Wednesday & Saturday as those days. It worked for me, I've never plateaued, just gained the weight I lost.

KristenDrums10

I’ve hit a plateau, too, & I’m just trying to stay the path. I figure that doing something is better than nothing. Even if I don’t lose weight by making healthier choices, I know that I’ve at least tried & I feel better when I do eat healthier. Best of luck to you! I know you’ll get through it eventually!

Onedaywriter wrote: »

You’re doing great! I lost at about your rate and it was actually fun to weigh myself in the beginning because I got used to seeing a change almost daily. As you get into it, the rate of loss slows down, sometimes a lot.
One of the frustrating things about my scale is that it has a “memory.” If my weight doesn’t change by more than a pound or so, it keeps the same reading. So, many times I’d weigh the exact same for a while, then I’d see around a 2-3 lb loss. Sometimes I’d have my wife or daughter weigh themselves a couple of times just to break the “memory.”

The first part of your post made me laugh because I sure do miss the days where weighing myself was actually fun, LOL.

wmweeza

l3kdigh wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, I heard some things I had not thought of.
I'm 60, 272 lbs down from 314 in February, and the "plateau" has been about 7 days so far.
I gather from your responses that patience is called for, so I will keep the same calorie levels and let my body do what it needs to do.

I know others have replied, I have no real advice except to stay the course and things will move again.
HOWEVER my personal response is "How cute"...lol...my plateau has been A YEAR AND A HALF despite weighing and measuring every bite I eat. This week I finally dropped a pound and a half ...FINALLY. So I'm hoping this is the start of losing again.
Sometimes too you won't see any loss, and then all of the sudden it comes off. Be patient. You are doing great!

callsitlikeiseeit

psuLemon

AnnPT77 wrote: »

It's hard to answer without some additional information.

Very generically, the answer is often just patience and staying the course. If one has been losing well at a certain calorie level and semi-suddenly the loss rate has trickled to nothing, that's possible related to having such a low calorie intake that stress-related water weight masks fat loss on the scale, and fatigue-related reduced activity may've reduced calorie expenditure (sometimes so subtly we don't even notice, but it matters). On the other hand, if loss slowed gradually, tapering over a period of many weeks, then it becomes more possible that one has found maintenance calories . . . but that wouldn't be likely if the actual calorie intake level was theoretically so low one should be losing.

Without knowing some more info, you'll tend to get generic answers, like "just wait it out", "adopt magical trendy diet X that worked for me" (they're not magical), "do HIIT exercise for an hour every day", "eat a big meal to reset your body", "do a cleanse" (yikes, don't!) or any number of other suggestions that that may not apply in your specific circumstances, or that don't have much scientific basis.

So, could I ask a few more questions?

How long has your weight remained unchanged (or cycled back and forth through the same 2-3 pound range, up and down)?
What's your current daily calorie goal, for 2 pounds a week loss?
What's your current height, weight, age, calorie goal? (I'm asking to better understand your probable calorie needs, not to suggest that you should exercise more.)
How much weight do you have left you'd like to lose?

You mention that exercise is problematic: Does that mean that you're able to do none now? If you do some exercise, what type/duration/frequency is it, how are you estimating those calories, and are you eating those back? (I'm not asking this to suggest you do more exercise, I'm asking to get a handle on your calorie goals)

I'm sympathetic: I'm older myself (65), though female unlike you, and do have some physical limitations (though thankfully I've found ways to work around them with exercise, but I know not everyone's that lucky).
,
Unless you're very substantially overweight, 40 pounds since February is actually pretty fast weight loss. That situation can make it more likely that water weight is masking fat-loss progress, and more likely that there could be some subtle fatigue/reduced activity in the picture. Not sure how old you are, but for me, I find that my body tolerates physical stress less well than it did when I was a youth, so in a calorie-deficit situation, I may see stress side effects (like water retention) sooner than a younger person would.

If that's the case (not saying it is), then maybe going for a less aggressive goal, eating a bit more, and giving it time, could result in the scale moving as water weight drops back, or even taking a break for a couple of weeks at maintenance calories could be helpful.

I think folks would like to help you find a personally-suitable strategy to try, though, if you're willing to answer more questions.

Wishing you a path through this: I'm pretty sure there is one!

I would definitely stress the exercise part, even if that means seeing a PT to help solve the problems. Weight loss should definitely help back issues since you will have less weight to carry, but exercise can also help by strengthening the muscles to support the back structure.

l3kdigh

Thanks to everyone for sharing their knowledge and experience.

I have been trying to maintain but have been slipping without the reward reinforcement of seeing good news on the scale every couple of days. The example graph provided by callsitlikeiseeit above showing that weight loss normally slows after the first few months, and everyone's knowledge that plateus can normally last at least 6 weeks has helped me understand that this is not over, I can still be in the game.

Information psuLemon asked for includes:

My weight was in a steady range around 273 +- 5lbs from mid-June to early August, and seems to have been creeping up for a few weeks as my behavior has slipped more and more. I will include a graph if I can figure out how.

I increased daily calorie goal to "lose 1.5 lbs per week" for which the app calculates 1847 cals/day.

Height 6'0", weight 277, age 60, daily calorie goal 1847.

I'd like to get down to 180, so that's 103 lbs left to go.

Regarding exercise, I'm not disabled though I have some neuropathy in my feet. I can walk and do chores but not bike or dance, for example. I don't have an exercise regimen, though I have been known to take a 20-minute walk for exercise occasionally.

I'm one of those people who have trouble making diet & exercise commitments and sticking to them. I don't know what changed in February, but one day I was able to eat sensibly without being overwhelmed by temptation, and I ran with it. Now I'm having trouble with temptation again but I don't want to give up.

I've talked to the bariatric surgeon and my hesitation there is that without the ability to keep those commitments the weight will return despite the surgery. For me it brings up the question that if I were able to keep those commitments, would I need the surgery in the first place?

psuLemon

l3kdigh wrote: »

Thanks to everyone for sharing their knowledge and experience.

I have been trying to maintain but have been slipping without the reward reinforcement of seeing good news on the scale every couple of days. The example graph provided by callsitlikeiseeit above showing that weight loss normally slows after the first few months, and everyone's knowledge that plateus can normally last at least 6 weeks has helped me understand that this is not over, I can still be in the game.

Information psuLemon asked for includes:

My weight was in a steady range around 273 +- 5lbs from mid-June to early August, and seems to have been creeping up for a few weeks as my behavior has slipped more and more. I will include a graph if I can figure out how.

I increased daily calorie goal to "lose 1.5 lbs per week" for which the app calculates 1847 cals/day.

Height 6'0", weight 277, age 60, daily calorie goal 1847.

I'd like to get down to 180, so that's 103 lbs left to go.

Regarding exercise, I'm not disabled though I have some neuropathy in my feet. I can walk and do chores but not bike or dance, for example. I don't have an exercise regimen, though I have been known to take a 20-minute walk for exercise occasionally.

I'm one of those people who have trouble making diet & exercise commitments and sticking to them. I don't know what changed in February, but one day I was able to eat sensibly without being overwhelmed by temptation, and I ran with it. Now I'm having trouble with temptation again but I don't want to give up.

I've talked to the bariatric surgeon and my hesitation there is that without the ability to keep those commitments the weight will return despite the surgery. For me it brings up the question that if I were able to keep those commitments, would I need the surgery in the first place?

Thanks for the update. You are generally correct that if you can maintain the commitment to eating better that even after surgery, it would return and could come with additional complications.

I also see that you recognize the problem, That maintaining the diet is the difficult component. That is often why it's better to make slow changes that can become sustainable over a long period of time. It's not about being perfect all the time. Especially when you considering your current situation.

It would definitely be beneficial just to continue to try to make better choices, especially by adding an additional fruits, vegetables and lean proteins to the diet. Keep telling yourself everyday that you're just trying to be better than you were yesterday. Step one is to get back on the ladder and try to make better decisions today.