Help! I have hit a weight plateau

Options
green_eyes_99
green_eyes_99 Posts: 149 Member
in Motivation and Support
I have lost 30 pounds and lots of inches all over within the past 14 months. I am 20 pounds away from being at the weight I want to be at. I have hit a weight plateau for the past 6 months. Im going up/down 2 pounds on a weekly basis. I work out 4-5x a week. I feel like my nutrition is fairly good but I don't always log everything I eat so I may be going over my 1300 calories MFP has me on. I don't know if I need to start taking a multi vitamins, BCAA or what I need to do to help me get over this plateau. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. :)nz3bmgbvybts.jpeg

Replies

  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    Options
    Re - look at your eating habits, food / beverages recorded, consider that with weight loss your metabolism goes down as well - I still don't believe that there is a "plateau". When I gained weight I didn't sit on a plateau at any time - I just gained weight.
  • covevendor
    covevendor Posts: 5 Member
    edited February 2020
    Options
    Plateaus are common and can be very frustrating. They are one of the common reasons people give up on weight loss. A few things that I find personally helpful when I hit a plateau especially a prolonged on as you are dealing with.
    1. Go back to logging everything you eat carefully.
    • With phone apps it is not difficult since you can scan things in with a bar code.
    • Be sure to weigh things that you are cooking at home.
    • A common cause of plateaus for me is a small increase in what I'm eating, e.g. a mini Twix candy bar today, adding an extra slice of cheese to a sandwich, and different bowl of soup than usual was enough to put me 500 calories over goal. If I had logged it while eating today I'd likely have made some different food choices. Looking over the log today makes me think more about tomorrow. Why do such small changes tend to happen at this point? Multiple reasons including getting tired of logging foods/exercise/etc., lack of variety in what we are eating on a diet, and changes in a number of hormones at stimulate appetite, signal satiety, etc. which tend to remain altered for months to years (making weight regain so common).
    2. Continue to work out regularly
    • While studies have shown this does not have a very big effect on losing weight it definitely decreases subsequent weight regain and is good for your overall health
    4. Follow a diet plan. Which one does not seem to be as important as following a diet (based on multiple studies that have compared weight loss with different diets).
    5. Cut back on consumption of highly processed foods (based on a study last year form Stanford Univ). This includes diet sodas (a weakness for me).
    6. A multivitamin is not a bad idea, but it is unlikely to have any effect assuming you are consuming a relatively balance diet. Branch chain amino acids have not been shown to have a impact in controlled studies that I am aware of.
    7. Given the prolonged period of not losing weight there are some things that can help through your medical provider
    • Meeting with a dietitian to review your diet (most useful if you have a detailed food log)
    • A medication to assist in weight loss, e.g. Contrave or topiramate, may be an option.
  • ang82much
    ang82much Posts: 30 Member
    Options
    Well done on the 30lbs! And well done on successful maintenance (i'd call it maintenance rather than a plateau after 6 months!). It's great that you've been able to stabilise your losses over a good time period and that you're still motivated to make more changes, but agree with you, and the posters above, that it looks like you're consuming the calories for maintenance and need to find a way to cut them again to lose more.

    For me it's not the odd calorie increase each day that does the damage, it's the slacking off at weekends, and i just can't do that if i really want to lose.

    I'd recommend the old story of making sure your protein levels are the same as now at least (this should keep you feeling fuller longer, and good for energy at the gym), but try cut down on sugars (carbs) or fats a bit and see what happens?
  • 88olds
    88olds Posts: 4,463 Member
    Options
    If you aren’t losing over that much time it’s because you aren’t in a calorie deficit.

    Maybe it’s time for a talk with yourself about what you really want. I was stuck a long time at the 2/3 mark in my 100 loss. But that was before I started tracking.

    But a big part of the reason I wasn’t getting anywhere was because I was pretty comfortable at 215 lbs. it was a really big improvement over 285. I went from couch potato to gym regular. My BP was good, my CPAP was gone, back pain gone, sore knees gone. Life was good. You likely have seen a lot of positive changes while losing 30 lbs.
    What do you want now?

    For me it was that nagging voice. I hadn’t closed the deal. Hadn’t finished what I started. Then my neighbor, overweight but very active, a few years older, died suddenly. Like everyone, my time was not unlimited. I went back to work on weight loss.

    Can you try for 10 lbs and see what happens? Track closely for a month see and what happens? That nagging voice is a pain in the neck. Only really one way to get it to stop.
  • sugarcakes38
    sugarcakes38 Posts: 80 Member
    Options
    covevendor wrote: »
    Plateaus are common and can be very frustrating. They are one of the common reasons people give up on weight loss. A few things that I find personally helpful when I hit a plateau especially a prolonged on as you are dealing with.
    1. Go back to logging everything you eat carefully.
    • With phone apps it is not difficult since you can scan things in with a bar code.
    • Be sure to weigh things that you are cooking at home.
    • A common cause of plateaus for me is a small increase in what I'm eating, e.g. a mini Twix candy bar today, adding an extra slice of cheese to a sandwich, and different bowl of soup than usual was enough to put me 500 calories over goal. If I had logged it while eating today I'd likely have made some different food choices. Looking over the log today makes me think more about tomorrow. Why do such small changes tend to happen at this point? Multiple reasons including getting tired of logging foods/exercise/etc., lack of variety in what we are eating on a diet, and changes in a number of hormones at stimulate appetite, signal satiety, etc. which tend to remain altered for months to years (making weight regain so common).
    2. Continue to work out regularly
    • While studies have shown this does not have a very big effect on losing weight it definitely decreases subsequent weight regain and is good for your overall health
    4. Follow a diet plan. Which one does not seem to be as important as following a diet (based on multiple studies that have compared weight loss with different diets).
    5. Cut back on consumption of highly processed foods (based on a study last year form Stanford Univ). This includes diet sodas (a weakness for me).
    6. A multivitamin is not a bad idea, but it is unlikely to have any effect assuming you are consuming a relatively balance diet. Branch chain amino acids have not been shown to have a impact in controlled studies that I am aware of.
    7. Given the prolonged period of not losing weight there are some things that can help through your medical provider
    • Meeting with a dietitian to review your diet (most useful if you have a detailed food log)
    • A medication to assist in weight loss, e.g. Contrave or topiramate, may be an option.


    Contrave? Really? That’s to treat obesity. No doctor in their right mind is going to even consider prescribing this drug OR play around with any anticonvulsant off label... just to deal with 20lbs.

    OP, start from the simplest likely culprit; accurate weighing, logging and staying within your calorie goal. If you don’t have a digital food scale by now, invest in one. Good luck.
  • Siberian2590
    Siberian2590 Posts: 57 Member
    Options
    You're looking great!!!
    Plateaus are normal, it's your fat cells fighting back!! You have to fight them harder.

    Add some more walking, every day if possible.
    Drink more water.
    Cut alcohol consumption.
    Log everything.

    My weight chart looks like a seismograph.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    edited February 2020
    Options
    green_eyes_99 wrote: »
    I have lost 30 pounds and lots of inches all over within the past 14 months. I am 20 pounds away from being at the weight I want to be at. I have hit a weight plateau for the past 6 months. Im going up/down 2 pounds on a weekly basis. I work out 4-5x a week. I feel like my nutrition is fairly good but I don't always log everything I eat so I may be going over my 1300 calories MFP has me on. I don't know if I need to start taking a multi vitamins, BCAA or what I need to do to help me get over this plateau. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. :)

    Make sure it is a true plateau.
    1. Have you gone 4 or more weeks without losing weight or inches? (I know you already answered this)
    2. Tighten up your logging. Make sure you are weighing everything except liquids (and measuring those) and logging everything that goes in your mouth that has calories. Double check any exercises you log to make sure you are entering correct calorie burns
    3. If you haven't recalculated your target calories since you lost some weight, re-enter with your current stats.

    If it is a true plateau, patience and persistence. Most go through this and most plateaus break without doing anything different.

Categories