What's been your longest plateau period?

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BillyBuffTing88
BillyBuffTing88 Posts: 29 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
..and how did you break it?

I've been the same weight for 8 days. Pissing me off.
«1

Replies

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    8 weeks was my longest. These are the things I wish someone had told me at the time:

    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.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    In 2 years of steady losses, my longest 'stall' has been about 3 weeks. I often go 1-2 weeks with no change on the scale. A "plateau" is 6 weeks with no loss while maintaining the same deficit. Honstly, most so called plateaus are calorie creep plain &simple. Fluctuations are normal & to be expected. That's what it means when they say "weight is not linear"
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
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    3 weeks has been my longest. It happened twice during the course of losing 90 lbs.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    3-4 weeks. 8 days is just a blip, be patient :smiley:
  • Annahbananas
    Annahbananas Posts: 284 Member
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    I've been extremely lucky (fingers crossed) I've only stalled for five days which isn't a plateau. I expect it to hit me though...I'm dreading it
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
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    2 weeks but the whoosh afterwards was crazy!
  • jholland927
    jholland927 Posts: 2 Member
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    I have never hit a plateau. Then again, I am always striving for either more intense cardio, longer cardio, faster cardio, or a combination thereof. To avoid any plateau, I avoid doing the same intensity cardio workout. Otherwise, I am just working out at my baseline, which is ever increasing.
  • tmn2016
    tmn2016 Posts: 159 Member
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    Plateau is just a myth (see link below). Calories in vs. calories out is what creates the deficit (or not) which causes you go lose weight. Make sure you log everything and exercise. You need to create a 3,500 calories deficit to lose 1lb
    http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Stall. Semantics. Everybody knows what the op meant...I find that to be the most annoying thing about mfp.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
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    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    Stall. Semantics. Everybody knows what the op meant...I find that to be the most annoying thing about mfp.

    Really? I find the most annoying thing about MFP to be the 20+ threads per day about people saying they aren't losing weight just because they're not losing five pounds per week, how they're doing everything right but not losing weight, or when people expect to lose a pound every day. Like it was stated earlier, weight loss is not linear. Eight days isn't a plateau but it's not even a stall honestly. Sometimes things happen. If it continues, the ONLY way to "break through" is by eating less or weighing food for an accurate intake.
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
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    synacious wrote: »
    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    Stall. Semantics. Everybody knows what the op meant...I find that to be the most annoying thing about mfp.

    Really? I find the most annoying thing about MFP to be the 20+ threads per day about people saying they aren't losing weight just because they're not losing five pounds per week, how they're doing everything right but not losing weight, or when people expect to lose a pound every day. Like it was stated earlier, weight loss is not linear. Eight days isn't a plateau but it's not even a stall honestly. Sometimes things happen. If it continues, the ONLY way to "break through" is by eating less or weighing food for an accurate intake.

    Then you should stop reading the boards...because there will be new people every day who don't yet know that weight loss isn't linear, who truly believe that they have to eat like rabbits, and who call blips plateaus.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    synacious wrote: »
    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    Stall. Semantics. Everybody knows what the op meant...I find that to be the most annoying thing about mfp.

    Really? I find the most annoying thing about MFP to be the 20+ threads per day about people saying they aren't losing weight just because they're not losing five pounds per week, how they're doing everything right but not losing weight, or when people expect to lose a pound every day. Like it was stated earlier, weight loss is not linear. Eight days isn't a plateau but it's not even a stall honestly. Sometimes things happen. If it continues, the ONLY way to "break through" is by eating less or weighing food for an accurate intake.

    Then you should stop reading the boards...because there will be new people every day who don't yet know that weight loss isn't linear, who truly believe that they have to eat like rabbits, and who call blips plateaus.

    'Splain Lucy? You've been here long enough :) I think mostly you like to berate others
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,598 Member
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    a month. The doctor told me to change up my exercises, so I did.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    diannethegeek wrote: »
    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    synacious wrote: »
    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    Stall. Semantics. Everybody knows what the op meant...I find that to be the most annoying thing about mfp.

    Really? I find the most annoying thing about MFP to be the 20+ threads per day about people saying they aren't losing weight just because they're not losing five pounds per week, how they're doing everything right but not losing weight, or when people expect to lose a pound every day. Like it was stated earlier, weight loss is not linear. Eight days isn't a plateau but it's not even a stall honestly. Sometimes things happen. If it continues, the ONLY way to "break through" is by eating less or weighing food for an accurate intake.

    Then you should stop reading the boards...because there will be new people every day who don't yet know that weight loss isn't linear, who truly believe that they have to eat like rabbits, and who call blips plateaus.

    Wouldn't it be great if we could help them out by explaining the differences when they ask?

    Instead of being a smartass? Yes, that would be ideal.

    Great then we agree. Then why call us all out by calling our answers nothing more than semantics?
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    diannethegeek wrote: »
    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    synacious wrote: »
    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    Stall. Semantics. Everybody knows what the op meant...I find that to be the most annoying thing about mfp.

    Really? I find the most annoying thing about MFP to be the 20+ threads per day about people saying they aren't losing weight just because they're not losing five pounds per week, how they're doing everything right but not losing weight, or when people expect to lose a pound every day. Like it was stated earlier, weight loss is not linear. Eight days isn't a plateau but it's not even a stall honestly. Sometimes things happen. If it continues, the ONLY way to "break through" is by eating less or weighing food for an accurate intake.

    Then you should stop reading the boards...because there will be new people every day who don't yet know that weight loss isn't linear, who truly believe that they have to eat like rabbits, and who call blips plateaus.

    Wouldn't it be great if we could help them out by explaining the differences when they ask?

    Instead of being a smartass? Yes, that would be ideal.

    And this is what I mean, you never really add anything to the discussion!
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
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    queenliz99 wrote: »
    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    synacious wrote: »
    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    Stall. Semantics. Everybody knows what the op meant...I find that to be the most annoying thing about mfp.

    Really? I find the most annoying thing about MFP to be the 20+ threads per day about people saying they aren't losing weight just because they're not losing five pounds per week, how they're doing everything right but not losing weight, or when people expect to lose a pound every day. Like it was stated earlier, weight loss is not linear. Eight days isn't a plateau but it's not even a stall honestly. Sometimes things happen. If it continues, the ONLY way to "break through" is by eating less or weighing food for an accurate intake.

    Then you should stop reading the boards...because there will be new people every day who don't yet know that weight loss isn't linear, who truly believe that they have to eat like rabbits, and who call blips plateaus.

    'Splain Lucy? You've been here long enough :) I think mostly you like to berate others

    Pardon me? Who have I ever berated?
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    Options
    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    synacious wrote: »
    eveandqsmom wrote: »
    Stall. Semantics. Everybody knows what the op meant...I find that to be the most annoying thing about mfp.

    Really? I find the most annoying thing about MFP to be the 20+ threads per day about people saying they aren't losing weight just because they're not losing five pounds per week, how they're doing everything right but not losing weight, or when people expect to lose a pound every day. Like it was stated earlier, weight loss is not linear. Eight days isn't a plateau but it's not even a stall honestly. Sometimes things happen. If it continues, the ONLY way to "break through" is by eating less or weighing food for an accurate intake.

    Then you should stop reading the boards...because there will be new people every day who don't yet know that weight loss isn't linear, who truly believe that they have to eat like rabbits, and who call blips plateaus.

    'Splain Lucy? You've been here long enough :) I think mostly you like to berate others

    Pardon me? Who have I ever berated?

    You know what I mean!

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