Weight loss drop off?

ash1864

I started my weight loss journey again, on 1st Jan.

So far I've lost 12lbs and I'm really happy with that. I've stayed in my calorie deficit and I've been exercising at least 3-4 times per week.
Week 1, I lost 5lbs, week 2 was 3lbs, week 3 3.5lbs, then last week just 1lb. I understand it's going to slow down a little as time goes on but is there anything I can do or adjust to keep the pace?

Obviously I understand every body is different and it may be down to certain foods that week/hormones/changes in muscle as opposed to fat. Eating between 1350 - 1450 calories per week, I'm 13st8lbs, 29, female and 5"8.

Xellercin

From my experience, it's very normal for weight loss to not continue at a constant pace. For me I would lose steadily for a bit, and then nothing for weeks on end, and then lose again for a bit, and then nothing again.

However, when I looked at the graph over a year, the slope was actually constant. My rate of loss was consistent every single month except around Christmas where I ate more for a few weeks.

The scale seemed to not budge for long periods, but when viewed at a higher level, my weight loss was actually totally predictable. It just didn't feel that way at the time.

Be patient. Impatience and expecting a constant rate of loss is the number cause of failure.

Lietchi

Weight loss is not linear. Your fast losses the first weeks were probably partly water weight loss and perhaps less food waste in your digestive tract from reducing your food intake.

After those fast losses because of factors not related to fat loss have passed, you're experiencing normal weight fluctuations. Weight loss is not linear, there will be ups and downs. After fast water weight loss, sometimes our body weight will stall a bit, as the body finds its new water weight level. Or you could be experiencing water weight retention from the increased exercise. Or it works be hormones, related to your monthly cycle. Or it could be related to stress, sleep, the position of the moon or any other mysterious reason our body plays tricks on us 🤪

All those fluctuations mask fat loss on the scale, so you just need patience - look at the long term weight trend. For women with a monthly cycle, it can be more helpful to compare similar points in the monthly cycle to make sure progress is being made.

cwolfman13

ash1864 wrote: »

I started my weight loss journey again, on 1st Jan.

So far I've lost 12lbs and I'm really happy with that. I've stayed in my calorie deficit and I've been exercising at least 3-4 times per week.
Week 1, I lost 5lbs, week 2 was 3lbs, week 3 3.5lbs, then last week just 1lb. I understand it's going to slow down a little as time goes on but is there anything I can do or adjust to keep the pace?

Obviously I understand every body is different and it may be down to certain foods that week/hormones/changes in muscle as opposed to fat. Eating between 1350 - 1450 calories per week, I'm 13st8lbs, 29, female and 5"8.

This is normal. Losing weight isn't a linear process. Early on you drop a lot of water weight from consuming fewer calories and then it slows to a normal rate. You're also going to have weeks with bigger losses, smaller losses, gains, no losses, etc.

yirara

What Lietchi said. Hey, look at it this way: MFP lets you chose a maximum of 2lbs per week. you lost 12? That's 4 too much! Go and fix it!

Lets be honest, if I see this correctly, your about 85kg, and your fairly tall. You don't have so much to lose. Maybe 20lbs? A loss rate of 1-1.5lbs per week would possible realistic at the moment. It will go down as you become lighter because a smaller body needs less energy. But hey, well done!

AnnPT77

ash1864 wrote: »

I started my weight loss journey again, on 1st Jan.

So far I've lost 12lbs and I'm really happy with that. I've stayed in my calorie deficit and I've been exercising at least 3-4 times per week.
Week 1, I lost 5lbs, week 2 was 3lbs, week 3 3.5lbs, then last week just 1lb. I understand it's going to slow down a little as time goes on but is there anything I can do or adjust to keep the pace?

Obviously I understand every body is different and it may be down to certain foods that week/hormones/changes in muscle as opposed to fat. Eating between 1350 - 1450 calories per week, I'm 13st8lbs, 29, female and 5"8.

No. And I'd theorize that if you think it through, you really wouldn't want to keep that pace.

To lose at 3 pounds a week, you need to burn roughly 1500 more calories daily than you eat.

If you were sedentary, i.e, desk job **, your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) at your stated size would be around 2200 calories daily. (**You don't mention your job, so I'm being conservative, and exercise counts for less than most people think),

So, to lose 3 pounds a week in that scenario, you'd need to eat only 700 calories per day (about half what you're eating now), or exercise for multiple hours daily while eating your current 1350-1450.

Personally, I don't think that's a good idea, and probably not one that a normal person could continue long enough to lose a meaningful amount of weight.

After an initial water weight/digestive contents shake-out on the scale in the initial weeks of your new regimen, you'd expect to lose around a pound and a half of fat per week or a bit more, on average, at 1350-1450, maybe a bit more than that if you were also doing some typical amount of exercise on top of a fairly sedentary job. If your job isn't sedentary, it might be a little more, but not vastly more.

To lose 5 pounds a week of fat (at sedentary), you'd need to eat nothing, and exercise around 300 calories daily on top of that. That's clearly not a thing that's survivable (for long), let alone sustainable enough to lose tens of pounds.

Folks above are giving you good advice. Plan to lose around a pound and a half a week on average, maybe a bit more for a while, and do so steadily. If you choose to exercise, do it for health and appearance purposes, not to burn more calories.

The stuff on web sites, in tabloids, or on so-called reality TV about losing 20 pounds a month . . . that's nonsense.

BTW: Even if only losing a pound a week (not three!), you would not be gaining enough muscle in a month to have a meaningful impact on your scale weight. A young, genetically gifted woman following a good progressive strength program, getting excellent nutrition, and eating in a calorie surplus (i.e., gaining weight, not losing it) would be doing well to gain one pound of muscle mass in a month.

It's possible to gain muscle in a deficit, but the faster one loses, the less likely it is, and it would certainly happen at less than that quarter pound a week.

I wish it were otherwise, but that's true.