Struggling to break plateau

sevana2020

Hey! I’m a college student (21F/5’8”/142) who has been struggling to lose weight. For the past 2 weeks it has remained completely stagnant outside minor fluctuations, even though I’m logging and tracking diligently and lifting heavy weights. I’m eating 1450-1600 calories so not sure what’s going on. Any tips to break this plateau? Do I just need to lower calories?

kshama2001

If the weight lifting is new, you are likely retaining water. I GAINED 7 pounds when I started weight lifting. I believe I was also ovulating, which for me was good for 2 pounds of temporary water retention.

What's your goal weight? At 5’8”/142 I imagine it's fairly close, and so weight loss will be very slow.

cmriverside

You're already mid-range in a healthy BMI.

ANY weight loss is going to be minimal. . . and if you're lifting I'm going to assume you don't just want to be skinnier, you are hoping to build a lean but healthy looking shape of some sort. I'd say keep lifting and let go of weight loss.

penguinmama87

Two weeks is not very long, and as kshama mentions you don't have a lot to lose so it will take time. If you have regular menstrual cycles (i.e. don't use hormonal contraception or aren't experiencing amenhorrea for another reason) your weight will naturally fluctuate based on where you are in your cycle, too. You can compare your weight at the same point in your cycle to get a more accurate assessment of fat loss. Many women, for example, will experience a big drop during/immediately after menstruation, after a stall that starts at ovulation or shortly after (usually the midpoint, assumed to be day 14 if cycle is 28 days, but it can vary woman to woman and cycle to cycle.) When you consider what your body is doing during that time, it makes sense that fat loss could be obscured on the scale even if you're still eating at a deficit.

If your weight stays stuck for several cycles, then it might be time to lower calories a little. But I don't think you have enough data yet to say for sure that's happening.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

If you're looking for exercise to help with weight loss, consider emphasizing cardo. It can really help, although you must focus mostly on what you eat. When I first enter a cut, I will sometimes do some higher than normal deficit days (e.g., do without 1000 kcals rather than my standard deficit of 500 kcals). This kicks off my weight loss.

In general, resistance training during weight loss is good for maintaining strength and muscle mass, but you shouldn't expect to improve your strength while losing weight. And, as @kshama2001 points out, you can get a weight bump from hard resistance training sessions. They will go away, but you have to wait it out.

Finally, I don't agree with @kshama2001 graphic (sorry!). You can take whatever deficit you want regardless of how much weight you have to lose. In other words, if you want to lose 5lbs, you can perfectly well do that at a ~500kcal net deficit giving you ~1lb per week loss. This is totally up to the individual: you can lose faster for shorter time (within reason) or slower for a longer time.

tomcustombuilder

Weight lifting doesn't burn many calories in reality. Your BMR and NEAT are the big burners. If you're fairly sedentary outside of the gum you need more activity, normally through a higher step count which for sedentary people means cardio. 2 weeks isn't enough time to gauge things so give it a few more weeks. At that point if no progress look into a lower weekly calorie amount and |or adding activity.

5-8 142 won't leave much to lose so your body probably isn't thrilled that you're trying to lose so it won't be super easy. You may have to get a bit more aggressive, however, understand that once you're leaner the fat will go back on unless you continue to be cognizant of keeping with lower calories\more activity so lose fat with a diet you can stick with after the loss. A balanced diet will generally be your best bet rather than KETO or something.

Your body has a fat set point that it wants to be at so it will fight. There is also homeostasis to contend with which causes water retention to keep that weight set point.

Dreamroper

I'm stuck too. I only have 5 lbs to go and it's reluctant to leave me.