What to do when you plateau?

Unless you overate by 3500 calories in one day - you didn't gain a pound, it's impossible. 1-4 pound swings are water retention. If I have a day where I go over say 2400 mg of sodium, for sure, the next day I'll be 1-2 pounds heavier on the scale. As long as you are trending downward, you are fine.

Cry, whine and stomp my feet. Ok, I'm kidding (sorta). Plateaus are going to happen and the closer you get to your goal the longer they seem to last. I've done a couple things:

Make sure I'm drinking plenty of water. If I don't get in enough water, I tend to retain some and the scale reflects that and my weight loss stalls.

Change up my workouts in intensity and/or length.

Eat at or slightly above maintenance for a day or two and then go back to my usual calorie goal. I usually put on a pound or two after the higher calorie days and then those will drop off typically taking another pound or so with them. I guess this is what people call "calorie cycling" which keeps your body guessing.

Thanks for the comments, I haven't been over eating if anything not eating enough. I try to hit 1100 calories a day but some days i don't it make it to 1000 calories. I work out 3 days a week and on those days i don't eat the extra calories i gain from exercising. I know that we all plateau it just is frustrating when you work so hard and at the end of the week the scale isn't showing it. I guess i am not really complaining just felt frustrated. I have also lost 17.5 ins, so i will just move forward and do my best.

Honestly, if you are truly eating only 1000-1100 and not eating back exercise calories, you are probably doing damage to your body because you are not eating ENOUGH. Your body need fuel and energy to function...at that much of a deficit, any weight you're losing is probably a big chunk of lean muscle mass.

Are there any studies that claim the damage in a macro problem or a micro nutrient problem. I would think not hitting micros does more damage than not hitting macros.

Thanks for the comments, I haven't been over eating if anything not eating enough. I try to hit 1100 calories a day but some days i don't it make it to 1000 calories. I work out 3 days a week and on those days i don't eat the extra calories i gain from exercising. I know that we all plateau it just is frustrating when you work so hard and at the end of the week the scale isn't showing it. I guess i am not really complaining just felt frustrated. I have also lost 17.5 ins, so i will just move forward and do my best.

Honestly, if you are truly eating only 1000-1100 and not eating back exercise calories, you are probably doing damage to your body because you are not eating ENOUGH. Your body need fuel and energy to function...at that much of a deficit, any weight you're losing is probably a big chunk of lean muscle mass.

This times 1000% - do some research - your body is holding onto weight because you are not giving it the bare minimum it requires.

I really sympathize with anyone frustrated by the fluctuating readouts on the scale.

Age and past dieting has been a factor for me. When I was in my twenties and thirties, I was vegan, and I could drop five pounds in a couple weeks whenever I wanted to just by walking an extra mile a day. Now middle aged, I am lucky if I can lose a fraction of a pound per week.

In my forties, with hormonal changes, suddenly the weight came on seemingly out of nowhere. I was eating the same, exercising the same. A naturopath told me to quit being vegan or I was going to become diabetic. I was shocked because I wasn't a junk food vegan at all. But she said I had developed a tendency for insulin resistance from a very long term high carb diet. Calorie cutting became almost impossible. I felt constantly starved and got bad migraines if I did not give in when my stomach growled. So, getting off the carbs got my appetite back under control.

I lost 60 lbs in a year from very low carb, working at a stand up desk, walking and standing without my heels touching the ground as much as possible to build up my legs and butt, and some temporary help from bio identical hormones.

The following winter I went back on moderate (healthy) carbs and even though my activity was the same and my caloric intake the same, I gained ten pounds. I really think my metabolism slowed down partly because it was winter and partly because my body was more into making fat than burning anything for energy!

It seems now in my fifties, trying to drop that last ten, that my carbs must be VERY LOW for me not to stall, and my fat needs to be high enough. I will also stall if I don't eat enough in general. I think my past long term high carb low fat diet changed my metabolism, besides just my age. I don't know the truth about the starvation mode theory, have seen it debunked, but I do think the body can become more stubborn about letting fat reserves go. Carbs seem to prefer making me fat and tired.

And I've learned for me that hormones have a lot to do with it. For awhile, a naturopath put me on bioidentical hormones. We found that I reacted most positively to testosterone. But, I did not continue with this therapy because of all the extra whiskers popping up, and the grouchiness.