What do you do to keep your sanity during a plateau?

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enoughisenough3565
enoughisenough3565 Posts: 70 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hi all! Ive been steadily losing for the past 5 months but 3 weeks ago I came to a screeching halt. I know plateau's happen, and I have changed up my exercise. I'm not quitting because I know this too shall pass. However when that evil box on my bathroom floor sneers at me when I step on it I want to give it a swift kick in it's backside! What do you do to keep your sanity during a plateau?

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  • jdlobb
    jdlobb Posts: 1,232 Member
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    I just went through my first plateau in this "round" of weight loss. I got through it just by changing something up, even something trivial. For me it was swapping 160 calories in snacks for a 160 calorie protein shake.

    Also, and I know this sounds stupid, but for me it works. At any given time you have a good 3-5 pounds of water and food weight you're carrying around. If you're weighing yourself at roughly the same time and seeing the same weight, deliberately try to get the food and water out (without dehydrating yourself). Weigh yourself, appreciate the slightly lower weight, then don't weight again for a few days or a week until your "normal" weight catches up with your "lean" weight.

    In the last 2 months I've done this twice, and even though I know it's a trick, it perks me up.
  • DebLaBounty
    DebLaBounty Posts: 1,172 Member
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    Well, I thank my lucky stars that at least I'm not gaining back any weight. Then I keep on doing what I'm doing, and take a big sigh of relief when the scale finally shows progress again. And I started measuring myself, seeing that the waistline is getting a little smaller despite some stalls in the scale numbers.
  • 92joann
    92joann Posts: 67 Member
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    I'm not at a plateau but this month I gained and then lost the same lbs so I'm currently the same weight I was at the end of july, which is frustrating. I'm just trying to grit my teeth and bear it, there's no way it won't change soon. I have decided though to eat dinner earlier so I can try to be as light as possible when I weigh in the mornings. Somethings got to give eventually
  • take2spicy
    take2spicy Posts: 296 Member
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    That's when I've started measuring. Like with a tape. I wish I had from the get go. It would of saved me aggravation. If your food is on point & you change it up a bit you will get there.
  • NadNight
    NadNight Posts: 794 Member
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    I've plateaued for nearly 2 months and it is driving me a bit nuts and on more than one occasion have been tempted to just pack it all in and go back to my old habits. But I remind myself that 6 months ago I would've loved to be this weight and whilst I might not be losing, it doesn't take away the fact that I've achieved a lot already. I'm trying to weigh myself less often as the lack of change just frustrates me and just stick to eating well but doing more exercise.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    I remind myself that weight loss is not linear. I don't give the scales the power to sneer at me!
  • zjpq
    zjpq Posts: 198 Member
    edited August 2017
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    Tighten up weighing, logging, exercise then look at my deficit stats and just keep going until it shifts again. Oh yeah, and measure with a measuring tape!! Have lost quite a few inches when the scale is doing nothing
  • aeloine
    aeloine Posts: 2,163 Member
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    Maybe August was just cursed :wink:

    I was up and down for the last two weeks and I think I "whooshed" today. Down 0.7 lbs since this time last week (gained and then lost and then gained etc.). But then I looked at my 4 week averages and realized that I am losing 2.15 pounds per week, ON AVERAGE. You can't look at it day to day, or even week to week. It has to be over time, especially for us ladies. TOM and food driven fluctuations hit us especially hard. Stay tight on your logging, keep doing what was working, and reconfigure your MFP every so often with your new weight to lower your calories.
  • GemstoneofHeart
    GemstoneofHeart Posts: 865 Member
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    Weigh everything. Even packaged food with a set calorie amount.
    Also if you've lost weight, you burn less calories as a lighter human. You'll have to do more to burn the same amount that you used to
  • RedSierra
    RedSierra Posts: 253 Member
    edited August 2017
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    enoughisenough3565 wrote: »
    Hi all! Ive been steadily losing for the past 5 months but 3 weeks ago I came to a screeching halt. I know plateau's happen, and I have changed up my exercise. I'm not quitting because I know this too shall pass. However when that evil box on my bathroom floor sneers at me when I step on it I want to give it a swift kick in it's backside! What do you do to keep your sanity during a plateau?

    I did intermittent fasting for about a week (or maybe 2 weeks, I can't remember). I ate during an 8 hour window from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., although the window doesn't matter. The value was that I had to wait until 11 a.m. to eat (although I get up at 5 a.m. and did have an apple, because 6 hours was too long for me to wait). The first few days were hard, but then I adapted.

    The value was that it made my appetite smaller, so I ate less food. I think my "plateau" was that I was simply eating too much. Whatever the reason, I started losing again.

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