Plateau

tcscholz554

What do you do when you’ve hit a plateau?
It’s been over a month and my scale hasn’t budged and neither have my inches.
I’ve tried eating more, eating less, working out more and working out less.
I get decent sleep and I always drink my water. What is happening?! I’m feeling frustrated and so down on myself lately.
What should I do??

Xellercin

What I did was ignore it. I lost from obese to very lean and never changed my eating. It was just normal for me that the scale sometimes didn't move for weeks on end. I called it "brewing a loss."

I know how to eat for weight loss and I do that. I don't pay attention to the patterns on the scale for any timeline shorter than 6-8 weeks. If the scale doesn't move at all after 6-8 weeks, then I'll make a very, very minor change and see what happens for another 6-8 weeks.

nsk1951

I find that there are specific foods that I consume which tend to hold the scale from moving in the direction I want. Sometimes it’s a matter of digestive issues that seem to be the issue.

threewins

I'm not sure what you should do, but if I were in that situation, I'd eat less.

silverstar65

I agree With xell. If it bothers you too much, maybe add a little more cardio. Other than that. Be patient.

atrgemini

I started my journey in June 2021. I'm down 70 pounds, and I've experienced 3 nasty plateaus (currently on day 32 of one) during that timeline from 272 to 202 pounds.




Plateau 1: October 6th, 2021: 20 days total @ 239 pounds. I didn't change much diet-wise, but added 30 minutes of exercise to my daily 1-hour mark. On days 21-22, I smashed through and dropped to 229 (10 pounds).

Plateau 2: November 19th, 2021: 42 days total @ 223 pounds. This one was extremely frustrating because it was the holidays and there was little I could do to my diet to combat the plateau without looking like a freak to my family. I was also in the middle of a nasty break-up that led to me moving out of the house a couple of days before NYE. Even amidst all of this, I was still exercising rigorously daily, sometimes up to 2 hours. I was disappointed in myself for only logging 50 pounds lost in the last 6 months of the year, and losing virtually no weight in over 30 days. I finally mentioned this to my therapist that week, and ironically she was a nutritionist and an owner of a Curves Gym in a past life. She told me to cut the *kitten* and reset my metabolism by taking a week off from dieting and exercising because my metabolism was stuck. I was extremely unsure of this advice and I felt like I was giving up on my routine. As it was New Years, I was on PTO and staying with a friend because of the ugly split-up with my fiance so I just did it. I consumed 4300 calories on average over a 5 or 6 day period and weighed in at 222 on December 31st. On New Years Day, I jumped back into deficiting and my exercise routine - by January 14th 2022, I was down to 210. The plateau had finally ended.

Plateau number 3: February 6th, 2022: 32 days and counting @ 202.8 pounds. I have no idea what to do at this point. I'm frustrated again, so I'll likely talk to my nutrionist (lol therapist) about it today to get her buy-in. I've tried everything - all of the strategies that previously worked, deficiting, increasing intensity of exercise. My body simply won't budge. However, it's worth noting that my belly has shrank from 41 inches to 39 inches over that time-span and that I've lost a jean size (36 to 34). Yesterday, I weighed in at exactly 202.8 pounds again for the first time in weeks.

However - I showed you the first two examples because I know in my heart that they do end, and that progress is still being made (jean size and dimensions). Hang in there and look for other weighs to measure your progress besides a number.