Mini plateau

bex1086

I've not lost any weight in 5 days, I don't know if I'm eating too much for my exercise levels or if I should just hang in there.

I'm 5'1 and weigh 133lbs, after having lost about 8lbs since the end of September. 18 months ago I weighed 110lbs but I put on a lot of weight during lockdown.

I set MFP to active based on me doing 12000 steps on average a day and exercising which gives me 1500 calories but my average over the week may be a little under. The steps come from general day to day life and work as a waitress which I do part time. For exercise I go to the gym a minimum of 3 times a week to do the Stronglifts programme, minimal cardio on those days. One day a week I may go purely for half an hour cardio but it's only moderate, not intense.

A couple of weeks ago I started going mountain biking, I'm moving for about 45 minutes in total and I'm out of breath at the end.

Diet wise I haven't cut anything out and am not willing to, I just cut back. I aim to eat some kind of fruit or vegetable with each meal so breakfast might be a protein smoothie, lunch an omelette with vegetables and minimal cheese and oil, dinner could be a steak with broccoli and tomatoes and an egg for the protein. I average about 100g of protein a day. I do drink alcohol but it's mostly a bottle of wine at the weekend, I eat carbs particularly just before I go to work but take a protein shake with me to have about 9pm.

My sleep pattern is erratic because of my shifts.

I have lost a successful amount of weight previously, back in April 2018 I was around 133lbs and got down to 110lbs by October 2018 living the same lifestyle I do now and maintained until 2020 (give or take a few lbs)

I do think I'm in better shape than I was back then and over the last few weeks I've lost inches as my clothes are feeling looser and I've dropped down a size in gym leggings.

Help!

Lietchi

5 days is not a plateau, not even close 😉 weight loss is not linear.
If you see no progress during at least 6 weeks, then you're right to question what you're doing.
You've lost 8lbs in less than a month, which is a lot, probably even a bit too fast for your size. Around. 0.5-1% of your bodyweight per week would be a good rate. Undereating can cause weight loss stalls as well, water retention from the stress your body is under.

So I'd say: be more patient and perhaps increase your food intake a bit to lessen your calorie deficit.

Xellercin

5 days is nothing.

I logged my weight loss for 4 years, and as long as I was consistent with my eating, so was my loss. Sometimes it looked stalled for upwards of 6-7 weeks at a time, but the graph seen over a longer stretch clearly showed that the loss was always, always consistent.

For me, at least, there never is such thing as an actual plateau where my weight loss stops. There's only periods where my body retains water for a long stretch.

If you are doing something consistent that works, it will work consistently, but you have to be patient.

Try ignoring the scale for a month, and just focus on being diligent with your lifestyle. Then see what happens. If nothing changes, then you know there's a problem and you need to change something.

earlnabby

A plateau is 4 or more WEEKS with no change in weight or measurements.

You started about 3-4 weeks ago? Having a week with no loss showing on the scale after 4 weeks or so is very normal and you usually don't need to change up anything. What happens to many is: You cut calories and start to work out. Your body drops fat but also drops water weight. After a couple of weeks, it goes "oopsie, I dropped too much and need to hold back some of that water". This is normal and is just the body regulating itself. Sometimes we get spoiled by the first few weeks and think those are sustainable numbers

Look back at your weight loss since you started and see what your weekly average is. My guess is it will be close to target, even with 5 days of no loss.