Plateau's

I went about 3 weeks without shedding a pound. I was so mad! I had just started taking a new brand of supplements and was rocking my exercising too. All of a sudden, bam! I lost 5 pounds in a row. I know I get water retention, and my weight loss slows for a while. Then it flushes out and I drop 2 pounds.

You could also try going above your calories for a day or two. See if that jump starts your weight loss again.

If you aren't losing weight, you aren't eating at a deficit.

Cut your calories to see if it changes anything.

So in 6 weeks you've lost 12 lbs, doesn't sound like a problem or a plateau (which is usually just incorrect logging). The beginning you drop quickly due to water weight lost. Can't see your diary to see how your logging is.

Make sure you are accurately logging everything, how are you tracking your calorie burns? How many of those calories are you eating back? And have PATIENCE! Watch for trends in your weight loss if it is continually moving in the downward trend you are on the right track, if it's not you might need to tweak your intake slightly. But you have lost 12 lbs in 6 weeks Congrats that's a fantastic loss

Also for the other post you don't need to take supplements they are a waste of money and you don't jump start weight loss you aren't a car battery

BUT I WANT TO BE A CAR BATTERY

I take supplements for nutrition, energy, and support. Nothing "makes" me lose weight. My own hard work, will-power, and self control do. However, I do notice a huge difference in how I feel when I take them and when I do not. However, I was talking about when I was on a 3-week plateau. I was working hard, eating right, and doing what I had been doing for months. I started eating more calories a day instead of less. Eventually, the weight came off again.

I'm curious if you are using a food scale or just measuring your food with measuring cups/spoons. Also, some of the entries in the database are waaay off. Be really careful to choose accurate entries. You can do an online search for most foods to get a factual calorie amount then choose the MFP database entry that is correct. So many entries come from users. I saw one yesterday where the protein grams in chili was ZERO. Really?? If you make a lot of logging mistakes it could add up to 3500 calories over a week's time and there goes your loss.

It always takes persistence to get past plateau's.

On my path, the things that have helped me most to get past them include:

I always start with logging EVERYTHING....everything down to the condiments! I mean that quite literally. It's very easy to backslide on portion sizes.

If you're going to set your calories to 1 pound a week, then make sure you eat enough to hit the numbers. I've noticed that with MFP, the numbers seem a bit low to me. I'm also a member of Weight Watchers, and they allow me more food. SO, that's become my range: low (MFP) to high (WW). I hit my low numbers, don't go over my high numbers.

Make sure you're getting your water in.

Pay attention to your fiber numbers. It really does make a difference.


For what it's worth.

What I've learned from being on MFP is the total calories they give you is NOT INCLUDING WORKOUT calories.

So if you are tracking, then I would half what your monitor says and eat that back.

Starving works the opposite way you think it will.

I was losing steadily (and slowly) from Jan-Mar, then hit a 2 pound rotation. I had added back some weights at the end of March and starting about 2 weeks ago I began to lose again. I also adjusted my weight loss since the amount I want to lose is very slight. (5 more pounds).

Also, the more you have to lose the faster it seems to happen, especially in the beginning. Have you changed your workout plan midstream? I've read that can also affect weight loss.

I've considered the exercise program to be a part and wonder if I have built muscle mass replacing fat loss and I therefore don't see it? I started out 6 weeks ago swimming 30 minutes 3 times a week and walking 30 minutes opposite to that. 3 weeks ago I got into some weights (squats, dead lifts, bench press), swimming 1-2 times a week, as well as a 30 minute walk every night.

This week I'm hitting the elliptical (seems to get a better sweat going - more burn??) and the pool more and less weights.

Sorry but no you aren't building muscle. You really need to work on making sure you logging is accurate, and have patience. I wouldn't cut back on the weights, the best changes I've seen in my body was when I started lifting 3 times a week. The swimming is great.

Check out the sexypants link that was posted already it will give you lots of important information

What I've learned from being on MFP is the total calories they give you is NOT INCLUDING WORKOUT calories.

So if you are tracking, then I would half what your monitor says and eat that back.

Starving works the opposite way you think it will.

I was losing steadily (and slowly) from Jan-Mar, then hit a 2 pound rotation. I had added back some weights at the end of March and starting about 2 weeks ago I began to lose again. I also adjusted my weight loss since the amount I want to lose is very slight. (5 more pounds).

Also, the more you have to lose the faster it seems to happen, especially in the beginning. Have you changed your workout plan midstream? I've read that can also affect weight loss.

I've considered the exercise program to be a part and wonder if I have built muscle mass replacing fat loss and I therefore don't see it? I started out 6 weeks ago swimming 30 minutes 3 times a week and walking 30 minutes opposite to that. 3 weeks ago I got into some weights (squats, dead lifts, bench press), swimming 1-2 times a week, as well as a 30 minute walk every night.

This week I'm hitting the elliptical (seems to get a better sweat going - more burn??) and the pool more and less weights.

Sorry but no you aren't building muscle. You really need to work on making sure you logging is accurate, and have patience. I wouldn't cut back on the weights, the best changes I've seen in my body was when I started lifting 3 times a week. The swimming is great.

Check out the sexypants link that was posted already it will give you lots of important information

How can you emphatically stat I haven't gained muscle? If ive gone from benching (sad to say) 30 lbs to 80 lbs and squatting 40 to 90 lbs in three weeks would suggest muscle build?? My quads definitely show the results.

It's not impossible to build muscle in a deficit, but it's very rare. I think I've only seen two studies where that happened and it was with the super obese or newbies. If either fits you, it's possible. Generally, you need to be eating in a surplus for true lean body mass to increase. However, that being said, you can have regional gains -- i.e. when one area of your body increases (like the arms or back) even though your total lean body mass may maintain or decrease. This is most apt to happen when someone new starts heavy lifting (or someone that used to is coming back to it). You can also gain in strength, but not in actual muscle or lean body mass. And this is through CNS adaptation.

So, that's why a lot of people are saying it's highly unlikely that you've put on significant muscle, if any, as you've been eating in a caloric deficit. Water retention is likely playing the biggest role in the differences you've seen on the scale lately.

As for breaking through the water retention stall, the two links I gave you speak to this -- the second one in particular suggest some strategies to induce the "whoosh" in your very situation. I personally opt for a weekly refeed day, but others use different strategies.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html
http://www.leangains.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-water-retention-part_28.html

How can you emphatically stat I haven't gained muscle? If ive gone from benching (sad to say) 30 lbs to 80 lbs and squatting 40 to 90 lbs in three weeks would suggest muscle build?? My quads definitely show the results.

I was able to increase my squat from 95 to 140 with no muscle mass gain. Same kind of increases in my deadlift and bench press. Strength is not completely related to muscle mass, but has more to do the central nervous system adaptions that allow for increased strength with the same amount of muscle fiber.

Your quads are probably fuller from the strength training and the "swoll." You are probably also seeing them more because with weight loss you are probably losing fat and the reduction in fat helps the muscle show better and be more defined.

There are a few cases where muscle gain can be achieved with a deficit, and you may be seeing newbie gains, but those will diminish as you become better trained. If you are obese, you may also find that you can gain muscle mass in a deficit, but again, they are limited and diminish quickly.

Congrats on your loss up to this point. The one pound loss over the last 3 weeks with the previous 11 lbs in 3 weeks averages out to 2 lbs a week. Yes, it sucks not to lose in 3 weeks, but chances are you lost a good chunk of water weight at first and current fat losses could be masked by some regaining of water weight.

Here are a few articles that you may find informational.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/adding-muscle-while-losing-fat-qa.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/another-look-at-metabolic-damage.html#more-9313
and this one plays on the last one:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html
http://www.leangains.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-water-retention-part_28.html

Really liked article at the top link. Thanks for sharing these!

Glad to help. Someone once shared them with me and I thought they were great -- so passing them on.