Weight Loss Plateau... Already???

MandyMH80 · March 2013

Chinese food. There's your culprit probably. At least with me it would be. It's very high in sodium and I always retain water after eating it. Drink lots of water to flush it out and it also could be your muscles retaining water as someone else said from a new workout. And there will be weeks where you do not lose or gain some. Your body reacts in it's own way sometimes. I've had numerous plateaus but I just kept doing what I'm doing and eventually you will break through it. Keep your head up and keep plugging along. Even if you don't see the scale move your still bettering your body.

The chinese food was last night. I was already at a stand still on the scale for 4 days. I've been drinking a LOT of water the past couple of days so hopefully that's helping to clear things out. I'll keep going. I'm not giving in now.

MandyMH80 · March 2013

What tntgal said re calories....it's too early in the game to think you can ballpark it. Buy a food scale, weigh and measure EVERYTHING. I think you will be surprised how much a serving size really is. When I did WW the leader had five people come up and pour out what they thought a cup of cereal would be. Every single person over estimated in every single one of her meetings.

The only thing I don't really measure out are my fruits and vegetables. If I'm eating crackers or pretzels where the package says "x" amount per service, then I actually count them out. Everything else gets weighed, I just don't actually write everything down it's all math in my head and where I don't keep track of the fruits and veggies I don't know the calorie amounts there which is where the ballparking comes in. I've found that my dinners are the heaviest. Easily over 500-600 calories most nights. The calculator here says I should be consuming 1200 calories, which I'm 99.9% sure I'm over every day.

noscrubbs78 · March 2013

I used to think ballparking it would be ok, until I realized how much sugar and carbs are in even healthy fruit. I agree with all whoposted measure everything and count ALL calories, even the cheating ones.

good luck on your venture.

noscrubbs78 · March 2013

I used to think ballparking it would be ok, until I realized how much sugar and carbs are in even healthy fruit. I agree with all whoposted measure everything and count ALL calories, even the cheating ones. good luck on your venture.

Also if you are going to estimate at all... I always OVER estimate, eating out is really hard to avoid, but you'd be surprised how many hidden calories are in those foods. You can make the samething at home for half the calories if not less.

Ed98043 · March 2013

Having the scale not move for a week or two is completely normal. I find that my weight comes off in groupings...nothing for a while and then 2 or 3 lbs at once. As long as the trend is generally downward, it's good.

As everyone else has said, "ballparking" your calorie intake is not good enough. It's just too easy to underestimate. Even weighing and logging on here is tricky because so many of the calorie counts are wrong (always too low, never too high). I ate a 12 oz steak the other day and the first listing I clicked on said it would be 175 calories. It's more like 575. And don't get me started on the 90 calorie avocado. Always get multiple opinions and look for lots of user confirmations when clicking on calorie counts, particularly for non-packaged foods. Fruits are also surprisingly high in calories - you should weigh and count them.

Also, starting a new exercise program can often result in water retention because the muscles bloat while repairing themselves. That should drop off as the exercise gets easier.

And lastly, as repeated so often - weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise. Don't rely on exercise to do most of the work in moving the scale.

Docmahi · March 2013

4 days? Really... Do what your doing and come back if stuck for 4 months.

lol, I was thinking the same thing.

Well. I'm glad my apparent ignorance is amusing to some.

it was a bit rude - but ultimately, a four day 'stall' is quite normal, I will go periods of weeks without a change then just have a good movement or something and my weight drops a couple pounds - it varies with people. I wouldn't over think it, some people lose consistently every few days it seems on our friend lists, but just not that way for everyone - I think a true plateau is not having a change over a several month period

just keep at it - consistency is key

nel0311 · March 2013

Yeah give it a little more time, about 4 weeks in the same place then try to give your body a shock with a detox or a juice fast.

mjennings · March 2013

watch your sodium intake and are you having regular bowel movements? any little thing left in your body can add weight

blackcloud13 · March 2013

Four days is a bit short. Although I have gone down generally over the past six months, I have had a couple of weeks where my weight has gone up a little for no apparent reason. So keep at it!

I also think that while logging everything can be a pain, its really worth it as you may find there are one or two surprise foods that are making your job much harder - so perhaps log super religiously for a couple of weeks (and when in doubt, over-estimate).

sounds like you are doing the right things though - don't stress out by trying to exercise too hard to fast either.

i reckon once your next calories are looking good, good things will follow :-)

Sadi_Kalen · October 2014

just chiming in here as a newbie to 5:2. i have been losing weight since July 1st with caloric restriction alone but after a month-long stall and facing the possibility of lowering calories even further than i could cope with, i decided to try 5:2. it took almost 3 weeks on this woe for me to start shifting the scale again and i have to agree with other veterans here on this diet - there will be fluctuations and it's not a consistent weight-loss method but it DOES work! i continuously have periods of up to 3 weeks where the scale shows no loss or even a slight gain but i have lost enough inches from my body to know that even when the scale isn't moving or seems to be going up by a lb or two, it's still working! i fit into a size 14 (US size 12) pair of jeans i hadn't been able to fit for the last four years just two weeks ago. yesterday i tried on those same jeans and despite the scale saying i haven't lost any weight for the last two weeks, the jeans are loose! i think i'm getting closer to dropping another dress size and this is encouraging.

i think you're doing the right thing with regards to measuring your foods but i agree with the others here, try to log EVERYTHING! i know i've been naughty and not logged every meal some days but eating this way haz taught me not to binge. w/regards to binging - if you're struggling with that, please don't give up. binging waz one of my vices which led me to being overweight - 5:2 haz changed all of that but it took a good month doing this for my body to "calm down" and relax over portion sizes. going from caloric restriction to 5:2 waz not easy at first but i won't go back. there's nothing more satisfying than knowing i am losing weight while still enjoying all the foods i love. caloric restriction taught me respect for healthier foods... 5:2 enhances it, my body is encouraged by eating properly. please give yourself time and be patient. i also heard another 5:2er claim that weighing yourself only once a month and taking your body measurements will help your state of mind much much more. best of luck!