Stuck at one weight for over a week

Totally common! Just be consistant! It will come!

You're not stuck yet, it's only a week. Have patience.

I assume you're a male, and 1200 calories is too low for a 200 lb male (and a much smaller female). You might want to rethink your calories, or you're due for a lot of stuck weeks in the future, though.

You're not stuck yet, it's only a week. Have patience.

I assume you're a male, and 1200 calories is too low for a 200 lb male (and a much smaller female). You might want to rethink your calories, or you're due for a lot of stuck weeks in the future, though.

Even if you do re-do your calories, which I also suggest, you're still in for a lot of suck...err...stuck weeks in the future.

Weight loss is not linear, it's not going to always drop 2 lbs a week, some weeks may go up, may go down a pound, may stay the same, and may even drop 3 lbs. Depends on eating, when you weigh, exercise, etc. Focus on the long term end result, don't set a date that you "have" to get to your goal weight, be patient and consistent.

Also, if you're initial goal is to lose +/- 10 lbs, change your goals from 2 lbs a week to .5 or 1 lb a week.

Just one week? pfft

That is all

Normal!

You are a man. Eat at least 1500 calories.

I personally refuse to acknowledge what is commonly referred to as the "plateau"....

When the scale seems to not want to move, I take some drastic measures to confuse my body as to what is really happening. NO GETTING INTO A RUT, BODY!

I utilize different methods each time...whatever strikes my fancy that day. But I do ask myself for some brutal honesty first: What have you done in the past few days that may have adversely impacted your progress?

Then if there is no simpe answer like 1- ate the half gallon of ice cream, 2-drank no water, 3-ate prime rib dinner out, ate no vegetables or fruit and someone needs a laxative...Then I choose from these methods:

1- Hyper-hydrate: Drink a lot of water, water releases water, and allows the fats to be flushed out of your system. Stay on track with water for a couple days and eat balanced nutrition in a healthy way.

2- Eat raw food protocol for 24-48 hours. Hate this one. But you do it till you feel your body craving fat, sugar and salt and stay in that area of discomfort for a day.

3- Eat the most boring diet foods in the world. No sauce, no packaged prepared foods. Boiled chicken, steamed veg's, plain fruit that is lower glucose indexed (apple pear seems best), no grain other than brown rice or quinoa or wheat berries or barley with no sauce or salt, and in small portions (1/2 c.), plain non-fat yogurt (go greek with no additives - what I call God food, just the way it came - no modified food starch or preservatives or artificial sweetners) Again, till you feel your body craving fat, sugar and salt. That area of discomfort IS WHERE THE FAT BURNING HAPPENS. YOU HAVE TO FEEL THOSE CRAVINGS. Learn to identify it and revel in the knowledge that your body is doing what you want it to. And then fight like heck to not eat a chocolate bar or drive to the all-night drivethrough for a fat bomb!

4- Treat Day - this is my favorite one...sometimes your body detects your intentions as detrimental. Unless you have been cheating and not being honest with yourself first, give your body the chance to take a day off and know that you are not intending to deprive it of every simple pleasure. This is not an opportunity to drink two bottles of wine, but have a glass or two; don't eat the 32 ounce porterhouse, but enjoy the 6 oz filet; don't eat the loaf of fresh baked sourdough and the whole cube of butter, but enjoy a nice hot melty treat piece. Still eat your veggies, still eat your fruit, still eat your dairy, but maybe as icecream instead of cottage cheese.

5- Get back to basics. Are you eye-balling your portions? Go back to counting, measuring, weighing your portions. Go back to writing what you are biting. Go back to keeping tally on glasses of water, servings of fruit and vegetable.

6- Cut back on muscle building excercise and increase cardio excercise for a couple days.

7- Refocus, reframe, reposition yourself MENTALLY. Get your brain out of a stress zone into a happy place. Mental is half the battle.

8- Pick a NEW diet habit to focus on: like taking vitamins if you don't - or - discontinuing eating after 5 pm - or - trying to learn how to prepare the odd vegetables we never buy in a tasty diet friendly way (jicama? fennel? bok choy? collard greens?) Be creative and inventive.

STEPS 5, 6, 7 & 8 should happen all the time, but absolutely in conjunction with any of steps 1-4. I also have been told not to "obsess" on my weight loss, but for me and my control freak, OCD self, it is what i exactly need to do. I try on my way way way too skinny clothes way way way too often. I want to see my fat roll out to disgust myself about the condition I let my body get to. Gives me motivation to go walk my fat butt throught the neighborhood for 20 minutes. I weigh myself everyday. I need constant feedeback on my habits. I avoid seeing my friends, that way when they see me for the first time in weeks, they gasp at how different I look (LOVE THAT!). I sleep longer than before - I can't eat if I am sleeping right?. I threw away all the garbage foods in my house - the high fat salad dressing, the hot cocoa, drank the rest of the yummy scotch I had on my last fat day ($$$ = too pricey to dump - had to drink it) Mayo tossed, ice cream tossed, frozen fatty burger tossed. Don't put the temptations in front of yourself. Replace with all the healthy versions. Grocery shop regularly. I stop every night at store for dinner, breakfast and lunch fixing's. Have the frozen Lean Quisine etc for emergency, hectic days but fresh daily makes meal time more fun and more pleasurable.

Those are my secrets. Happy to share what has worked for me in the past.

You might lose faster but it isn't healthy because you are losing muscle along with fat. You are also lowering your metabolism.

A 200 pound dude eating 1200 calories? How do you do it? Maybe 2 pounds a week is too aggressive for you. Try setting it to 1 pound a week. You'll probably feel better, and though it might take longer, it will probably be more sustainable long-term. Anyways, it's totally normal for your initial loss to be fairly quick and then for it to slow down, especially the closer you get to goal. One week at the same weight is totally normal. I had 2 or 3 weeks go by sometimes where nothing would happen and then suddenly I'd drop 3 pounds over night. It's all good. Just stick with it. :flowerforyou:

If only dieting were obsessive. This would be a lot easier for me. I am dieting this aggressively because I have a gigantic hernia and must lose at least twenty pounds before the surgery can be scheduled. I spent two years farting around with less aggressive diets and made no progress. Once I've lost the first twenty pounds, I'll back off to a more rational pound a week plan.

I do not really see why at your current weight that you MUST drop 20lbs to get a hernia surgery. I have had countless hernia surgeries and currently am awaiting another. Most of my hernia surgeries... about 4 of them were performed when i was overweight. I can't imagine any of my doctors telling me that to fix my horribly painful medical problem (that prevents exercise) that i should starve myself...
If you are a 200lb man you body is starving at 1200 calories plain and simple. I am 115lb girl and i eat 300calories more than you EVERY day and still lose.

happens to me all the time. Weight in the beginning came off a little easier. Every time that happens I step up my exercise and it starts to come off again. I try to remember I did not put this weight on overnight and it isn't gonna come off that way either. Hard work, determination, watching what your eating and logging will work. Just give it time and patience and whatever you do, don't quit! EVER! its well worth it, I promise!

By the way is 1200 what you set or what MFP set? that seems very low for you! You may be eating to LITTLE. Check out some of the threads on eating to little calories.

Same thing is happening to me. It is very frustrating. I have been on program for 4 weeks. 1200 calories a day faithfully plus exercise. Lost 4 lbs. the first week, very happy. 2 lbs. week 2, great. Nothing week 3 and just 1 this past week. Trying not to get discouraged and hang in there. Good luck to both of us.

Me too! Very frustrating. But will keep at it as long as it takes. One week at a time...