Has anyone made it through their weight loss journey *without* plateauing?
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No never hit any plateaus along the way. I started in Feb 2014 at 268lbs and hit my goal weight in July 2016 at 130lbs. I was however very accurate with my logging, used a food scale, and stayed very consistent. Still am, still do. I've been in maintenance for 9 months after losing a total of 142 pounds and nothing has changed except I get to eat more now yay
It was a long process and the last 10 pounds took 9 months and when your losing @ only 1 pound per month that can be almost impossible to see on the scale with all the daily fluctuations. I can definitely see how someone would think they were in a plateau on the last leg if not using a weight trending app or website like Trendweight to average out the scale readings to see the actual weight loss over time.
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cross2bear wrote: »115lbs down and to the best of my knowledge, no plateau. I say this because in the beginning, I only weighed myself every 6-8 weeks or so, when at the doc's office for other stuff. Now I weigh more frequently at home, but everytime I had no loss, or a gain of a bit, I knew exactly why that was and I knew how to address it. Sometimes it took me a few days to get my head out of my *kitten* and get back on track, but that doesnt count as a plateau to me - its me being a doofus and not paying attention to what I was doing.
Hehe yeah the only week I didn't lose was the week of Christmas, but then again I did eat about 4217 Christmas cookies, so I can't really blame that on a plateau lol. I'm so excited seeing everyone's responses! Maybe it's not as common as I thought?1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »In my experience, plateaus are usually one of three things...
1. Impatience...as weight loss progresses, it tends to become more erratic and less linear...many people mistake this for a plateau when in reality it's just impatience and unrealistic expectations
2. Diet fatigue and calorie creep...this can be huge and I'd say probably the biggest issue where plateaus are concerned...particularly as the margin of error shrinks
3. Huge deficits caused by underfeeding and overexercising...it's a massive stress on the body and really messes around with hormones that can stall weight loss/fat loss. This issue is compounded when one is already relatively lean or not tremendously overweight.
Thanks for sharing, I will have to keep all of that in mind.0 -
I have only done 1 thing to prevent plateaus and that is maintain a calorie deficit. You just have to be accurate with your logging, pay attention to activity/exercise, and adjust as you lose weight since a smaller body burns fewer calories. My TDEE has dropped drastically since I started. Once you find foods that keep you satisfied and develop good habits, it really is just a simple math equation.
As far as being accurate, count EVERYTHING that goes into your mouth. Everything gets weighed and even my coffee creamer gets measured. Aside from coffee, I really don't drink anything with calories. I drink a lot of diet tea. That leaves me more calories for meals. I use PB2 for peanut butter and sugar free syrup. I usually use egg whites instead of whole eggs and I eat lots of lean meats and veggies. I eat halo top instead of blue bell. In other words, I mostly stick to foods that give me more volume for my calories so I still eat really well, get full and stay full. I still eat junk food at times but only in moderation.
ETA- I actually don't go by MFP's calorie goals. I actually started started using the same process on my own before I found MFP and simply continued doing that but I have put my info into MFP just to see and if I remember correctly, the goal it gave me was pretty close.0 -
As others have said, it depends on what you call a plateau. I have had 7-14 day stretches without losing a lb (sometime gaining) when I KNOW I have been at a calorie deficit and exercising and IT DRIVES ME NUTS ( I literally yell at the scale). So I complain to people that I am at a "plateau" but, so far, it eventually breaks and I get a stretch where I lose 1-3 lbs pretty fast (been at it since Jan 9, lost 29 lbs, so previous posters have a lot more experience). Just wanted to make the point that it can feel like a plateau but hang on and trust the system... It is working.3
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No never hit any plateaus along the way. I started in Feb 2014 at 268lbs and hit my goal weight in July 2016 at 130lbs. I was however very accurate with my logging, used a food scale, and stayed very consistent. Still am, still do. I've been in maintenance for 9 months after losing a total of 142 pounds and nothing has changed except I get to eat more now yay
It was a long process and the last 10 pounds took 9 months and when your losing @ only 1 pound per month that can be almost impossible to see on the scale with all the daily fluctuations. I can definitely see how someone would think they were in a plateau on the last leg if not using a weight trending app or website like Trendweight to average out the scale readings to see the actual weight loss over time.
@ElvenToad Wow, awesome! Thanks for sharing. Your starting and goal weights are close to mine, so it's nice to see that it's possible. I know my loss will slow eventually, so I'll have to keep an eye on the overall trend.0 -
@havronab congrats on your weight loss you look great . I have lost 57 pounds and no plateaus yet but there are weeks where I am hardly down and then the following week I will be down almost 3 pounds. I have been dreading plateauing so I am keeping everything crossed it doesn't happen2
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Something also to consider, is that you might have mini-platues of a week or two with changes in workouts from intensity, added weights, etc. I averaged a 0.2# loss over the course of 2 weeks from an increase in strength training, but I wouldn't have seen it without a trend app and fitbit averaging when you weigh.1
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I have only done 1 thing to prevent plateaus and that is maintain a calorie deficit. You just have to be accurate with your logging, pay attention to activity/exercise, and adjust as you lose weight since a smaller body burns fewer calories. My TDEE has dropped drastically since I started. Once you find foods that keep you satisfied and develop good habits, it really is just a simple math equation.
As far as being accurate, count EVERYTHING that goes into your mouth. Everything gets weighed and even my coffee creamer gets measured. Aside from coffee, I really don't drink anything with calories. I drink a lot of diet tea. That leaves me more calories for meals. I use PB2 for peanut butter and sugar free syrup. I usually use egg whites instead of whole eggs and I eat lots of lean meats and veggies. I eat halo top instead of blue bell. In other words, I mostly stick to foods that give me more volume for my calories so I still eat really well, get full and stay full. I still eat junk food at times but only in moderation.
ETA- I actually don't go by MFP's calorie goals. I actually started started using the same process on my own before I found MFP and simply continued doing that but I have put my info into MFP just to see and if I remember correctly, the goal it gave me was pretty close.
Hmmm yeah, I suppose I need to take it with a grain of salt when I see so many complaints of plateaus. I forget that many don't weigh food/log exercise calories with precision which could be the cause of many "plateaus". It's just something I've seen everywhere (on forums, reading magazine articles about weight loss, social media, etc) so for some reason I assumed plateaus occurred more often than not. Glad to see that this may not be the case after all!1 -
Lost 90lbs inside of 7 months with no plateaus to speak of (I actually had more issues with losing too much once I hit goal at 83lbs down). I was however exacting in my logging and macro minding and took to running distance fairly quickly. I also have the benefit of having Mirena and therefore not having a cycle I don't have TOM fluctuations either.3
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@havronab congrats on your weight loss you look great . I have lost 57 pounds and no plateaus yet but there are weeks where I am hardly down and then the following week I will be down almost 3 pounds. I have been dreading plateauing so I am keeping everything crossed it doesn't happen
@bizgirl26 Thanks! Great job losing 57 lbs!
I also have weeks where I only lose .2 to .8 lbs but then the next week I might lose 3 or more. I have no problem with the non-linear nature of weight loss, but plateaus as I understand them would probably throw me off my game a bit.1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »In my experience, plateaus are usually one of three things...
1. Impatience...as weight loss progresses, it tends to become more erratic and less linear...many people mistake this for a plateau when in reality it's just impatience and unrealistic expectations
2. Diet fatigue and calorie creep...this can be huge and I'd say probably the biggest issue where plateaus are concerned...particularly as the margin of error shrinks
3. Huge deficits caused by underfeeding and overexercising...it's a massive stress on the body and really messes around with hormones that can stall weight loss/fat loss. This issue is compounded when one is already relatively lean or not tremendously overweight.
Agree.
Number three got me when doing half marathon training, All Pro's Beginner lifting routine and staying at a 250 cal deficit when I was already on the light side of normal weight. First weight didn't drop each month like usual. Then every time my mileage increased, so did my weight, by about 1/2 lb (hello, water retention). Finally, I skipped a cycle which has never happened before and I realized I was being dumb.
Adding more rest days and de-loads took care of everything pretty quickly.
Prior to that, I'd not had a plateau. Plenty of times where an expected 1 lb/mo loss meant 1 mo with no apparent change, and then wake up 1 lb lighter, or an expected 1 lb/wk meant 2 wks with no apparent loss and wake up 2 lbs lighter.0 -
I guess it depends on how long you need to be at one weight for it to be called a plateau. A few times now I've hovered around a weight for ~ 2 weeks and then dropped 4 lbs over 2-3 days. So on average I'm doing what I expect, but it does seem to cycle a bit. I hit 243 on April 16th. Went back up to 244.9, down again etc. Was 242.9 2 days ago and 240.8 yesterday (240.9 today). Did the same trying to get under 250 and then past 248.0
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I hit that 3 week stall every month because of my cycle, but I wouldn't call that a plateau, so no (I only lost the week after my period.. up to 6 lbs in a week.. then nothing until the next one was gone).0
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cwolfman13 wrote: »In my experience, plateaus are usually one of three things...
1. Impatience...as weight loss progresses, it tends to become more erratic and less linear...many people mistake this for a plateau when in reality it's just impatience and unrealistic expectations
2. Diet fatigue and calorie creep...this can be huge and I'd say probably the biggest issue where plateaus are concerned...particularly as the margin of error shrinks
3. Huge deficits caused by underfeeding and overexercising...it's a massive stress on the body and really messes around with hormones that can stall weight loss/fat loss. This issue is compounded when one is already relatively lean or not tremendously overweight.
My current 4 month plateau is definitely some variation on #2. I'm not even sure what it is exactly but a specific scale number seems to be some sort of binge trigger.
I put away the scale last week and that seems to be what I need to move past it.0 -
I haven't had a plateau and I've lost around 200 lbs. with 30 lbs. to go over the past 2.5+ years. Any lack of losing for me has been solely my fault: logging lazily and holidays mostly. I do only seem to lose in whooshes though.2
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25 kg lost and no plateaus1
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Never really happened to me. I have slowed down a bit usually due to my negligence.
Also remember as your weight drops your daily intake should be adjusted to support the reduced caloric need.
So as weight drops you may be actually overeating and the drop may slow down accordingly.1
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