the Plateau

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Rai007
Rai007 Posts: 387 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
hi all,,
So people here at times complain that they did not see any weight loss for 2-3 months.
Do you guys were in a deficit and truly recording everything.

and to other people here on mfp (the experienced ones) What have you to say about no pound loss over 12 weeks despite a person creating a pound deficit over a week.

what is the science behind it.

Curious
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Replies

  • Rai007
    Rai007 Posts: 387 Member
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    A question for all who went through a plateau (2-3 months) and others aswell.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
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    If you're not losing weight, you're not in a deficit.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

    What is your age, height, sex, current weight, goal weight, caloric intake, and exercise routine? Open your food diary.
  • Rai007
    Rai007 Posts: 387 Member
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    Thank to God i am losing weight and am very particular about my calories and exercise.
    But just curious to know if Plateau do exist ?
  • Cranquistador
    Cranquistador Posts: 39,744 Member
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    are you using a food scale?


    what? you are saying you are NOT in a plateau?


    okkkk then.
  • kellybellyjellyn
    kellybellyjellyn Posts: 83
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    Ive had a good few plateau's over the past, almost 3 years..last a couple of months often more.. but to be honest it was because I wasn't doing my best.. every day.. Life happened and I started going out a bit more and eating not so good food more... but these little periods of time have been good for my soul and yes perhaps if I was good every day all the time I could be at my goal weight by now.. but I also wouldn't have had as much fun..

    When ever I get back on the wagon after these unintentional diet breaks I'm more focused and dedicated so it has proven beneficial in my case..

    But with regards to Plateau's when you're doing everything right.. hmmm this has happened, and when it does it normally leads to a diet break for me and I'm not sure but perhaps a few weeks of eating less carefully, higher calories is just what my metabolism needs to speed back up again !!

    Just a few thoughts !! I am no expert !!
  • Rai007
    Rai007 Posts: 387 Member
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    So kelly you would not lose any weight in 12 weeks. or you are just talking about 2-3 weeks stall
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
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    from the flag in your profile pic, I am assuming that either you live in Pakistan or are of Pakistani ethnicity living abroad and eat Paki food regularly. If you are on a plateau while eating Desi food, I have some bad news. Most of the food entries in the MFP database for Asian foods is very inaccurate. And its not entirely the fault of MFP either. Most of the entries we see in the database is based on serving sizes but the serving sizes vary from restaurant to restaurant and even if cooked at home, the ingredients etc you put in it will differ. Then you add how much oil etc they add and how they calculated for MFP entry, you get very flawed results.

    I would suggest to Add your own recipes you cook to your database and log them when you cook at home. When you eat outside, try to overestimate the quantity you eat. After about 4 months of not losing, I had to reduce the calories I allowed myself even though they were very low for me. That was done because I was simply eating much more than I thought I was. Mainly due to flawed entries in the database.

    Good luck on your adventures.

    ETA: yes, plateaus do exist. but there is a reasoning behind them. Fix the immediate problems like seeing how much you eat and burn etc before writing it off as plateau.
  • Rai007
    Rai007 Posts: 387 Member
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    Pls all read my query properly.

    i am not in a plateau.

    i am just curious to know especially from people who faced a plateau.

    and yes i am a proud Pakistani :)
  • Rai007
    Rai007 Posts: 387 Member
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    And where are all the plateau people who faced the plateau once even ?? it is a question for you.
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
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    Pls all read my query properly.

    i am not in a plateau.

    i am just curious to know especially from people who faced a plateau.

    and yes i am a proud Pakistani :)

    1) There is nothing to be proud of in terms of being Pakistani or American or wherever. Its a term to specify where you were born. You should be proud of your achievements, not about where your mother was the moment she gave birth to you.

    2) your query has been answered. Read again. Most folks go through a plateau but there is usually a good explanation as to why that happens.

    3) if you're not facing a plateau then don't worry about it. Just make sure you are logging things right and you might not even face a plateau. You might face a slowdown (2-3 weeks of no loss) but if you're logging perfectly, you probably won't see a plateau (which is long term of no loss)
  • kellybellyjellyn
    kellybellyjellyn Posts: 83
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    What happens to me is.. honestly.. I reach plateau after losing about... 20lbs or so.. then nothing. I stop losing weight.. and I get annoyed/dishearthened with it so I gradually stop being so careful, tracking everything and then after a few months or so I get back into it and start losing weight again.. sometimes I end up putting back on a few lbs but when I go back to being careful and making the effort my body seems to be back in weightloss mode !!!

    I wouldn't worry about it because it may never happen to you.. and if it does then you can try many things to get things back in gear!!
    Like re evaluating your eating habits, your exercise, changing things up a bit.. perhaps if a plateau happens it might be because you are getting a bit frivolous and you might need to just track better and make sure you are still doing what you set out to do.. but weight loss slows down.. it's inevitable !!
  • kellybellyjellyn
    kellybellyjellyn Posts: 83
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    So kelly you would not lose any weight in 12 weeks. or you are just talking about 2-3 weeks stall

    Hey I would not lose weight no.. I might put on between 3 - 8lbs during these periods but I think this is mainly water weight as I would lose it very quickly once I resumed my healthy eating.. I would not go on a complete binge during these little breaks. I would still try make healthy decisions but If I wanted something like chocolate or pizza I would just go ahead and have it.. It makes me feel good as it means perhaps I can actually succeed at eating "normally" and keeping the weight off ! Which is good for me to think !!!
  • KeViN_v2pt0
    KeViN_v2pt0 Posts: 375 Member
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    Already answered this in a different thread today....try using the search feature


    ETA: Nevermind. I re-read everything you wrote and have no idea wtf you are asking. Just talk to taunto plz
  • neetneetneets
    neetneetneets Posts: 95 Member
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    1) There is nothing to be proud of in terms of being Pakistani or American or wherever. Its a term to specify where you were born. You should be proud of your achievements, not about where your mother was the moment she gave birth to you.

    ^^ what? It's all good to be proud of your nationality, where you come from etc
    It's not just about being proud of where 'your mother was', its about identity and culture. It's ok to be proud of whatever culture you are from - in fact that's a great thing! Whether it's American, Pakistani, Quechua, Maori, British ... culture is so important to the world, and having pride in your culture ensures that traditions will stay and protect it from homogenization. Also, culture is part of what makes you who you are, so for an individual, it's also an identity thing, and there's nothing wrong in being proud of one's identity.

    End rant.

    and to answer your question, I stall when I don't watch what I eat carefully enough - ie this year the weekends I eat pretty badly, despite exercising. But definitely don't worry about it unless it happens to you!
  • STrooper
    STrooper Posts: 659 Member
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    Yes, I was on a plateau for 1 year though my body was still changing (measurements confirmed that). At the time, I was not recording anything except my activity (I wasn't using MFP) and when I was recording food intake manually, it was all truly a guess.

    Note: I also discovered that my body was a lot more efficient in energy use than I thought, but that is a different story related to the type of cardio I was conditioning with.

    What it took to lose that last 20 pounds. First, a step change to the activity level from the previous year.

    Second, it took measuring and logging all food intake rather than approximating. I reached and passed through my goal weight to maintenance and since I've been in training for a marathon with all that entails, my weight has been very steady although my body measurements and appearance continue to change. I have my maintenance level set to 0.5 pound loss per week and then eat back my exercise calories. That slight deficit setting and the running three days a week, plus other activities has shown very little day-to-day weight change (unlike prior to my marathon training).

    I have used a high precision HRM program to calibrate my energy expenditure. On some things MFP over-predicts energy expenditure, on others it under predicts.
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
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    1) There is nothing to be proud of in terms of being Pakistani or American or wherever. Its a term to specify where you were born. You should be proud of your achievements, not about where your mother was the moment she gave birth to you.

    ^^ what? It's all good to be proud of your nationality, where you come from etc
    It's not just about being proud of where 'your mother was', its about identity and culture. It's ok to be proud of whatever culture you are from - in fact that's a great thing! Whether it's American, Pakistani, Quechua, Maori, British ... culture is so important to the world, and having pride in your culture ensures that traditions will stay and protect it from homogenization. Also, culture is part of what makes you who you are, so for an individual, it's also an identity thing, and there's nothing wrong in being proud of one's identity.

    End rant.

    lol You know who was proud of his birth place? Hitler.

    Be less proud of where you hail from and more proud of what you do and how you contribute to this planet. Too much pride in this world. Be less proud of where you popped into this world.
  • almasters90
    almasters90 Posts: 38 Member
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    I plateaued for over two months. However, it didn't bother me as much as I'm sure it bothers most. I got down to a weight where I was okay if I never got past it any time soon because it was pretty darn close to where I wanted to be.

    So after a while I decided to eat 1900 calories a day which is what it would take to maintain my weight. When I was restricting my calories I ate 1400.

    So I went wild and enjoyed the extra 500 calories a day. Doing that for a while made my weight go up a few pounds...(probably because i started eating poorly too and just counting the numbers) and then I realized I needed to be serious again if I wanted to get down to the number I truly desired to be at. So I cut my calories back down and even further to 1200-ish.

    I've been at 1200 for about a week now and I dropped below my last recorded weightloss low.. which was the number I had before my plateau.

    I think it's best to trick your body. It gets bored and used to the same routine. However, everyone's body works differently.
  • suziepoo1984
    suziepoo1984 Posts: 915 Member
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    1) There is nothing to be proud of in terms of being Pakistani or American or wherever. Its a term to specify where you were born. You should be proud of your achievements, not about where your mother was the moment she gave birth to you.

    ^^ what? It's all good to be proud of your nationality, where you come from etc
    It's not just about being proud of where 'your mother was', its about identity and culture. It's ok to be proud of whatever culture you are from - in fact that's a great thing! Whether it's American, Pakistani, Quechua, Maori, British ... culture is so important to the world, and having pride in your culture ensures that traditions will stay and protect it from homogenization. Also, culture is part of what makes you who you are, so for an individual, it's also an identity thing, and there's nothing wrong in being proud of one's identity.

    End rant.

    lol You know who was proud of his birth place? Hitler.

    Be less proud of where you hail from and more proud of what you do and how you contribute to this planet. Too much pride in this world. Be less proud of where you popped into this world.

    ^^Love that answer :)
  • brandierich
    brandierich Posts: 1,087
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    I think people are to worried about what the sale says they are relying on it to tell them how they are doing... don't forget that muscle weighs more then fat so even if the scale is going up don't stress... I go by my body fat % that number is what matters to me :)
  • Rai007
    Rai007 Posts: 387 Member
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    Thanks for all the responses.
    And if you have nothing to say about the topic why waste the space and add your comment which wastes everyone time and energy.

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