The dreaded plateau....grrr!
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I've been in a plateau sine March. Prior to that, it was from Oct. to Mar. A plateau is when you are actually eating at a deficit and yet the weight won't drop. Everything I've read shows that the cause is fat cells being replaced with water as they empty... so the fat cells still weigh the same amount and still are fat cells, but just containing more water and less fat than they used to. Sometimes this feels more like "squishy fat." I'm not sure whether sodium can cause that or not (as @putthefriesdown mentioned).
If your logging is accurate (you are weighing food) and you have tried cutting calories back further, then just keep going. It can be frustrating, but try to stay the course. In both of my plateaus (the prior one and the one I'm in right now), I was only able to stay super tight with logging for 2 months, then gradually started being less relaxed about weighing food and having occasional cheat days during the 3rd month before going crazy and trying a drastic change. Last time, the drastic change was a version of IF that didn't work (I didn't expect it to) for 6 weeks. After that, I went back to tight logging again and after a bit more than a month (so 6 months total into the plateau), I finally had a whoosh of 7 lbs. in a few days.
This time, it's been since Mar. and I'm finally going crazy and trying drastic measures. So yesterday, I cut back calories even further to a max of 1,500 per day (my maintenance should be about 2,130 daily) and I'm only eating calories from protein shakes (measured with a scale to whole grams because that is as close as my scale can get), glucose tablets (I have diabetes, and need these if my BG gets low), and vitamins / supplements.
A few things you may have noticed: The MFP community is more likely to believe you saw a sasquatch than that you are in a plateau. They will tell you that you are not logging accurately, even if you are and they will tell you that you are eating too much even when that is not the case. This is why I'm doing this... if the MFP community is right, then I will lose weight finally. If the MFP community is wrong and I am right, then I still won't lose weight (although it isn't easy to drink that much protein shake because they taste terrible, so I'm actually closer to 1,200-1,300 calories daily and should really lose weight at that point regardless). If that happens, MFP can't help and I'll just end up getting frustrated and either going back to tight logging and trying to be patient or I'll just give up.
Anyway, I'm saying I understand your struggle. You can send a friend request if you would like.0 -
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IILikeToMoveItMoveIt wrote: »
Well, then explain how 1300 with candy I lose nothing, but 1300 without I lose.0 -
franceslinton wrote: »IILikeToMoveItMoveIt wrote: »
Well, then explain how 1300 with candy I lose nothing, but 1300 without I lose.
How are you determining that you aren't losing when you eat candy? How long of a time period are you talking about?0 -
franceslinton wrote: »IILikeToMoveItMoveIt wrote: »
Well, then explain how 1300 with candy I lose nothing, but 1300 without I lose.
Because either you're not actually eating 1300 when you include candy, or you have a medical condition, or you're not waiting long enough.0 -
I went 5 weeks without losing While eating all my normal foods (candy, chips, regular vs fat/sugar free, etc.) but staying under my allowance. All else remaining the same, I cut out sweets, kept the same caloric intake, and then dropped 8lbs.0
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This is tricky! Thanks for all the input!0
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I recommend changing the time of day u exercise if u can.0
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Good idea!0
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What demora said. A plateau tend to be 6 weeks of no weight loss. Not linear and learn to be patient. You lose becayse you are in deficit.
1 week is not a plateau. A plateau is 6 weeks or more of ZERO weight loss. 1 week is just a normal fluctuation. To be successful long-term, you will need to understand that weight loss is not linear. Some weeks you lose, some you will stay the same and some you will gain - no matter how "perfect" you were that week. Letting one week's scale measurement derail you is going to make for a very long, painful process.0 -
I've lost 37 pounds so far and I can honestly say I've never hit a plateau...but I think I was at the easiest phaze of my journey. Going from 250-200 pounds is the easy part. When I get below 200 it will increasingly more difficult and the journey from 150-130 I believe is going to test everything I believe about my weight loss strategy. I can imagine at some point I will have a period where I stall. BTW I don't consider two weeks a plateau. My stategy will be to eliminate as many variables as possible for 30 days when it comes to my food intake and the calories I burn. The first thing I would do would be to not eat back any exercise calories. So that would take miscalculations of calorie burn out of the equation. Next I would cut back as much as possible on sodium or anything that could cause me to retain water. Then if it continued I would only eat those items that are in a prepackaged preset amount of calories. Example.... eating a preset amount Lean Cusine meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 30 days. Eat at the lowest calorie goal (ie 1200) that I could comfortably eat at. Have my 4 bottles of water with me everywhere and make sure I brought them home empty everyday. And I simply would not cheat for 30 days. If I was so frustrated on a plateau I would try these things and there would be no way my weighing could be off and no way I could be miscalcuting or picking the wrong entry in MFP. If I did those things and I still didn't lose weight then I might write a thread on asking for help about a plateau. Eliminate the variables....there's only so many of them.0
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Missed the point. If exercising is in the program and one day is skipped, so was consistency. This breaks the condition of it being a plateau. Same with if they had no candy at all, but then just had one piece. Consistency was disrupted. That's why plateau are really rare.DemoraFairy wrote: »A plateau in weight loss in 6 weeks or more of no weight movement if one has been CONSISTENT with diet and exercise. Any break in consistency stops it from being a plateau. That includes not exercising or even just having a small piece of candy.
Everything else is a stall and is usual when one tries to lose weight. If you've been at it awhile and haven't changed your exercise routine, that would be the first thing I would adjust. Increase the intensity or duration is the usual.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Well... you can not exercise or have chocolate if it's in your calories. You don't need to exercise or cut out sweets to lose weight.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Glycogen reduction in the cells. When that happens, fluid retention is also reduced. So there is a weight shift, but it's not FAT weight. It's water weight.franceslinton wrote: »IILikeToMoveItMoveIt wrote: »
Well, then explain how 1300 with candy I lose nothing, but 1300 without I lose.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Bear in mind whenever you reach a stalling point in your progress, there's a 20% degree of error in nutritional labeling, so much that many scientists frown on calorie counting as it is simply too inaccurate. Try something new with your exercise routine and really push yourself.
Also note that your daily water weight will fluctuate, so your timing on weighing yourself may be the cause.0 -
Hey guys! Thanks for all the input! The most helpful comments were about weighing my food. I started weighing anything that had a weight listed along side Cup/Tbsp amount as the serving size. There were some shocking discoveries, particularly with cereal! Amazing. Anyway, I've achieved my first of 2 major goals, with only 8lbs to my overall goal! And yes, I eat chips almost everyday (side note: weighing chips makes me cry.... Lol!)0
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