Weight Loss Plateau That I Can't Break Out Of

Are you using a food scale?

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

So you've only been dieting for 10 days and have lost 3.5 lbs in that time?
That is not a plateau or a slump. That is progress. Be patient and keep doing what you are doing.

[quote="mrinaltodi;33622401
@booksandchocolate12 I understand that it isn't linear, but I've used this diet a couple of times and I've seen much faster results before than I'm currently seeing. I was just wondering if there's anything I can do to speed it up. [/quote]

You can't compare how you're doing now with how you've done in the past. I've always had a problem with my weight, but I did lose weight faster when I was younger.

Hang in there.

mrinaltodi wrote: »

@diannethegeek That is really fantastic advice! Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed post. In particular, points 1, 3, 6 and 7 look like they could be applied to my situation. I'll try those out for a few days and update my progress

Using a kitchen scale for as much of your food intake as possible is my best suggestion. You said "approximately 1500 calories" and that's the first clue something may be off. Using cups to measure can be pretty inaccurate. How much will fit in a measuring cup will vary based on the size of the pieces, how closely you're packing the food in, etc. and that will impact how many calories are in that cup. On the other hand, how many calories are in 4 ounces of something will always be exactly the same.

A really strict diet often leads to "cheat" days or even worse binging on some days. Allow yourself some small treats that fit into your calorie goal. "Cheat" days are never a good idea starting with the simple fact that if something is "cheating" it carries a negative connotation that you're doing something against the rules. Another reason is that most people don't log them and when there's not much wiggle room between your normal intake and your calorie burn a cheat day can easily wipe out a week's worth of calorie deficit and you won't lose weight. It's YOUR diet and YOUR life and you can do whatever you want with it. If you decide you're going to go out to dinner and eat whatever you want, do it but you still need to log it and realize that you won't lose as much weight that week.

Water weight from vacation, and water gain from exercising again. Sounds normal to me.

I second using a food scale though if you're still not losing in a couple weeks.