plateau help!!

I think you have done so well at losing weight that you need to shift focus from weight loss to simply being fitter and stronger. If you add the goals of being stronger, faster and having more endurance, the weight will take care of itself in due time.

Well done on the 40 lb loss

Realistically you can't go any lower with your calories, so I'd ask if your weighing/logging is on point? Next thing to mention is that you could be over estimating your calorie burn from exercise, this happens all the time. Do you log that cheat meal? Are you doing the math to work out if you're still in a deficit?

joslyngoos wrote: »

I track everything pretty closely... I don't really eat any processed foods it's veggies fruits lean protein and whole wheat/whole grain bread. the cheat day I'm not in a deficit but I'm not over calories burned either. I was thinking of trying a week or two with a very low carb diet to see if that shift in calorie intake would trigger fat loss again

Being in a calorie deficit will trigger fat loss again. What is your exercise calorie burn? Current weight, height? This will help in offering advice.

Also, how long has it been since you've not lost any weight? Water weight really can mask any of our losses. Just recently, I was on to my 3rd week without any loss, and then suddenly over night I dropped 3 lb, water weight. If we know we're doing everything right, we just got to have patience.

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.