First weight loss "plateau" experience?

AlbertWong

Having joined and lost my first 20 lbs without a huge amount of effort beyond faithfulness to my daily limit and some added exercise, I've found that this past week, my usual weight drop has slowed significantly. I've heard from others that the first 10, 15 or 20 lbs sheds quite quickly, particularly if you're starting out in the Obese category (like me) and that as you're BMI lowers the effort to lose increases.

It got me interested in hearing from others, their experience in hitting that first plateau.

- At what point did your first weight loss platea happen? How did you cope or adjust your lifestyle (intake or activity) to keep on losing?

- Additionally, for those who have already lost a significant amount, what following plateaus or bumps should newbies expect along the road of weight loss?

I'd love to hear what you've experienced!

Allan

BobbyClerici

I hit weight loss walls as well.
230, 211 and now 200. And my bodyfat stopped progress I noticed. When was a starting this journey, I was 262 lbs, 33% bodyfat.
I took off 62 lbs, but I noticed that at 220 my bodyfat stopped dropping. It maintained a steady 24% all the way down to 200lbs.

I had to make some new changes in diet and exercise.

On this new program, I have lost 2 lbs but my body fat dropped to 21% and I lost 1 inch from my waist.

I am lifting real weights for the first time where most of my resistance was through calisthenics at home before. I do 90 minutes of low impact cardio - 30 minutes 3 times each day - LOVE IT!

Teresa71464

bump

Misiaxcore

My first happened after a 10lbs loss. I upped my calories by 160 and began losing again until October (25'ish lbs loss to that point). Now I can't seem to break it no matter what I do :explode:

LaBelle89

BUMP!

PlunderBunneh

Started at 226, lost the first 8 pounds easy, and then when I started adding cardio to my routine I got stuck at 218 for four weeks. it was horrible. I even went to the doctor to figure it out, which turned out to be a really bad idea. Anyhow, I kept at it, and eventually started dropping again. I spent two weeks at 210, and two at 201, but since then haven't had issues that I couldn't directly associate with my eating.
Just keep chug chuggin along. And eat those veggies! I lose a lot more much quicker when my diet includes a large variety of fresh and raw veggies.

GreenEyedLefty

I had a nice loss my first weigh-in, then stayed the same the second. I just stayed right on plan and had a nice loss the 3rd WI.

In past weight loss experience, I experienced plateaus when I was being a little less than faithful to the program. "Portion creep" and doing the same exercise at a lower intensity were contributing factors.

Finigan84

bump

Scatterdragon

I started in August at 223.8, and lost the first 20 in 2 months, then I stayed hovering around 200 for just under a month. I added different foods, and changed my workout routine. and have now started dropping again.

It is very frustrating, but as long as you stick with it, and don't give up, you will get past that plateau.

aspen1377

I was 255 after my last baby....hovered around 232 for a while....then 219....then stayed between 185-195 for a long time....that part really wasn't a plateau as much as just not doing what I needed to do to lose....got stuck at 172, 167....then 155 for a while...currently around 148 and been here for a bit as well....hoping to get down to between 140-142 or so...I am 5'8"....it's frustrating but the plateaus DO teach me that this is a life style and not just a diet I am on...and I've had to really work on not sabotaging myself because that is a huge habit of mine...When I don't see progress for a while I blow it...and I mean BIG TIME. Not this time around though...plugging through....I am following the "Olivia Method" of logging and it's really helped me make sure I am eating ENOUGH, but not too much. If you aren't familiar with it there are quite a few posts. Keep plugging away and you'll be just fine!

Aspen

Ericgunner

Have a weekend off go out and enjoy yourself and eat like you used to do, and trick your body into think it's been fed again. I found when I hit one of my plateaus having a binge weekend really helped. I went to France a couple of weeks back and in a weekend gained over 5 pound in weight, but the following week I lost that five pounds +1 pound. So give it a try you really have nothing to lose excuse the pun.

Arabian♥Breeze

Just remember that just because your weight isn't moving doesn't mean your not losing inches or getting healthier. I lose inches continuously even when Im at a stand still in actual weight loss. Eventually it started coming off again. Our bodies just need time. Your still doing the right things just dont stop or give up because it will show results soon enough.

Gee45

Lost 10 lbs from May to July. Gained 1 lb and have stayed there since. Today I decided I better look at the last 30 days and crunch numbers. My NET has been 1436. I made a bit of a change the last 10 days with a NET of 1294 and will see how that goes for another ten days before I drop it lower. My maintenance is around 1650. Might have to create a deficit only with food calories and forget about exercise calories.

julie204

I HAVE LOST 29 POUNDS AND HAVE PLATEAU ED FOR 6 MONTHS NOW ITS SO DEPRESISING I HAVE BEEN AABOUT ZIGZAGGING IF YOU HIT A PLATEAU YOU SHOCK YOUR BODY AS IT SAYS STAYING AT A CERTAIN CAL ALLOWENCE FOR SO LONG YOUR BODY GETS USE TO IT YOU EAT 6 SMALL MEALS ADAY I WENT ON THE CALCULATER AND IT TELLS YOU WHAT CALS YOU EAT OVER 7 DAYS I AM GOING TO GIVE IT AGO JUST PUT IN ZIGZAG DIET ON GOOGLEAND IT WILL COME UP WITH INFO

sheltielover

I was 255 after my last baby....hovered around 232 for a while....then 219....then stayed between 185-195 for a long time....that part really wasn't a plateau as much as just not doing what I needed to do to lose....got stuck at 172, 167....then 155 for a while...currently around 148 and been here for a bit as well....hoping to get down to between 140-142 or so...I am 5'8"....it's frustrating but the plateaus DO teach me that this is a life style and not just a diet I am on...and I've had to really work on not sabotaging myself because that is a huge habit of mine...When I don't see progress for a while I blow it...and I mean BIG TIME. Not this time around though...plugging through....I am following the "Olivia Method" of logging and it's really helped me make sure I am eating ENOUGH, but not too much. If you aren't familiar with it there are quite a few posts. Keep plugging away and you'll be just fine!

Aspen

You make a really good point about not sabotaging yourself when a plateau hits. That was the toughest part for me.

sheltielover

oh- I should say.

I lost the first 20 really easily-- started sept 19 and lost them by Nov 7th or so. Then, all weight loss just stopped. I tried to decrease salt, alcohol, increase exercise... but nothing. I had read about the zig zag method and gave it a try for a few days, but it wasnt for me.

I think what got me thru my 4 week plateau was Thanksgiving. I gave myself 2 days to eat what I wanted to and not track. In 2 days I gained 6 lbs. After that it's just melted off now.

I'm back to my 1200 cals a day and still working out- but mixing them up.

Plateaus are just so mentally draining- especially when you see everyone around you losing. But, I had to keep reminding myself this is MY journey and my body is unique. I'll have to remind myself of that when I hit the next plateau (which I hope doesnt hit for another 10 lbs or so!)

good luck!
Aimee

inhousecork

im lucky i hope im not jinxing myself but i have not hit a wall as of yet i thaught it was mith but after reading all ur story "gulp"

IvoryParchment

Plateaus are pretty normal. The best advice is to understand you ARE progressing in your weight loss program BECAUSE you have reached your plateau. Don't worry about not losing weight for a while. Your body can't plateau forever. Stick with the program.

If you read about people who starve to death, as long as they have enough water, it takes a long time to die, much longer than you would predict based on the 3500-calories-per-pound-of-fat equation. (They tend to last about two months, in fact.) There's a good reason for that -- your ancestors had to survive periodic famines, and they obviously were successful. Those plateau genes are your survival mechanism if you're ever seriously ill and unable to eat for a while. But the plateau can't last forever.

That being said, get out the food scale and measuring cups, get on line and make sure you are entering accurate calorie values for the foods you eat regularly and that you are counting every cookie crumb. There are errors in the database, and if you are entering an erroneous value every day or if you have not measured accurately, you could be eating/drinking more than you think.

And don't skip the carbs. In order to metabolize fat completely, you need insulin. Your body won't make any if you're only consuming protein and fat, including the fat you're hoping to get off your waist. You don't need much carbs, but you need some.

taso42

I hit a handful of "plateaus" while I was losing weight. Mostly I just stayed the course. I knew I was eating well and exercising, so I just kept doing that. This was pre-MFP. While on MFP, all the times I've stalled, I responded by raising my caloric intake. That would invariably get me losing weight again.

Don't get freaked out and try to change a bunch of variables. Plateaus happen no matter what (that's why scale weight is not the best indicator). Just eat well and exercise. Make sure you're not restricting calories too much. Counter-intuitively, the main problem I see on MFP is people undereating.

themommie

I have lost 89 lbs and have hit several plateaus along the way. it seems to me that when i hit a plateau my body is trying to catch up with the weighloss it that makes sense. It is during my plateaus that i seem to have the most comments from people about me looking like i have lost weight so i think my body is changing in other ways during this time and usually after a few weeks of maintaining i see a drop of 2-4 lbs all at once and the scale starts moving again, the important thing is to not give up......

Athena413

I'm currently on my second plateau, but it seems both of them happened after losing about 35 lbs (thus my 70 lbs lost). I've been stuck at 222 for the last month and I'm working on breaking it, but the first time, I just switched up the workouts I was doing and made sure I was getting my body the nutrients it needed. Your body gets used to the same old routine week after week - cause some confusion and it should pick back up again. The plateau I'm currently on is because I've been eating like crap, but working out enough to maintain my current weight. If I would get back to eating more clean and preparing meals ahead of time, I'm sure things would get moving.

FabulousFifty

Bumpity bump bump!

whydonttheywrite

I've not really hit a plateau of any specific weight, I've kind of gone in spurts, I'll lose weight for the first half of a month then kind of sit where I am for the remainder of the month, then all of the sudden the new month comes around and I drop a few more pounds. The most important thing to remember I think (and different things work for different people so take it for what its worth) is that I don't have a time limit or a hard deadline that I have to be down to my goal weight by. I've tried that before and I fail miserably half way through as I realized I'm not going to make that goal. I just look at plateaus as its your body having to adjust to being that thin and then it realizes its okay to keep losing it lets go for a while and then it kind of thinks again I can't keep losing like this and then you do... just think to yourself that it would be pretty much physically impossible for you to eat at or under your calorie goal and doing any of the exercise you are doing and not eventually get to your weight goal it just may take a while, but don't give up it'll happen!