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    Breaking through a plateau

    Posts: 149 Member
    edited December 2024 in Success Stories
    Any success stories on breaking through a plateau? I haven’t lost any additional weight in the last couple of months. What can I do to break through? For those that have broken through a plateau, what worked for you?

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    • Posts: 1,120 Member
      A few years ago I sat on a 6 month plateau and eventually gave up, re - gaining all the weight lost. Since joining MFP I have learned so much more - especially how their calorie calculations work. Over a year I have lost just over 30 kg (68 pounds), which means that my daily TDEE dropped by bout 400 calories a day. If I would continue eating the same way, I would end up on another plateau. MFP re - calculated by daily calories - which means a slightly smaller weekly weight loss, but at least I continue losing weight.
    • Posts: 149 Member
      neugebauer52 wrote: »
      A few years ago I sat on a 6 month plateau and eventually gave up, re - gaining all the weight lost. Since joining MFP I have learned so much more - especially how their calorie calculations work. Over a year I have lost just over 30 kg (68 pounds), which means that my daily TDEE dropped by bout 400 calories a day. If I would continue eating the same way, I would end up on another plateau. MFP re - calculated by daily calories - which means a slightly smaller weekly weight loss, but at least I continue losing weight.

      Thanks. I am thinking that I need to be much more dedicated about logging everything I eat. I log in every day, but I don’t always log everything. Maybe I just need to tighten things up to break through.
    • Posts: 2,325 Member
      OrangeBlossomSpecial21 wrote: »
      show previous quotes

      Thanks. I am thinking that I need to be much more dedicated about logging everything I eat. I log in every day, but I don’t always log everything. Maybe I just need to tighten things up to break through.

      yes i would absolutely start there.

      and if that doesn't work i would then start weighing all food with a food scale and CAREFULLY choosing diary entries (lots of incorrect entries in there)
    • Posts: 79 Member
      Last year I was stuck in a plateau. I had been counting calories and monitoring how many calories I had expended using my fitbit. Even though I was supposedly using fewer calories I wasn't losing additional weight. I think a few things were going on. First our bodies adjust to the calories we're getting and it tries to maintain the weight we're at. Second I was eating calories that were sabotaging by metabolism (and my willpower)- in particular Wine. I broke through when I joined Weight Watchers for a few months. Their eating plan directs you to lean protein (chicken breasts & fish), high fiber (legumes, fruit and vegetables) and penalizes processed foods (white bread, white rice, oil/butter, anything with sugar and alcohol. Although one tracks points with weight watchers you end up eating fewer but higher quality calories and avoid the foods that have a higher glycemic response like white bread, rice and potatoes. You might give it a try for a few months. I'm not on WW currently and just using MFP for tracking and community support.
      My take away after 3 years of really trying to maintain a healthier weight is that weight loss is more complicated than just reducing calories and maintaining the weight loss is also hard (maybe harder).
      Good luck breaking through that plateau.
    • Posts: 161 Member
      1. adjust your calorie allowance (MFP does not do this automatically and I re-set my goals every few lbs). The more you lose, the less you can have (unfortunately).
      2. weigh/measure your food
      3. log EVERYTHING EVERY DAY
      4. don't eat back all exercise calories because calories burned aren't accurately measured (sounds like ~1/2 is okay)
      5. Track weight with something like Happy Scale - maybe you aren't at a plateau but the trend is a very slow decline.
      6. Measure yourself - muscle gain?

      Note - I don't follow all of the above but it is what this site has taught me so when I feel as though I have hit a plateau, I think about all the above points and ask myself if I've really been at a calorie deficit and I'm still not losing. The answer has always been no.
    • Posts: 3,564 Member
      https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10589119/how-to-break-through-a-plateau#latest
    • Posts: 381 Member
      I was stuck in plateau for 3 weeks in a row. The scale did not budge at all and it was very frustrating when I knew I was doing everything right. Changed my exercise routine to accommodate more time for strength training and added little more carbs to my diet. Wight started dropping.
    • Posts: 149 Member
      Thank you. all. This has been really helpful.
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