Plateau...2 weeks in

nyctina
nyctina Posts: 24 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Good morning. I woke up about a month ago and said ok, today I’m going to start and I did 😁. I knew I had to make changes and I believed I was doing ok. Unfortunately it seems like I’ve hit a plateau...3 weeks in, ugh.

I have my calories set to lose 2lbs a week. I have minimum 55lbs to lose (& some people would tell me I could still lose more)
I’ve cut out a lot of carbs...slowly cutting more but I have a sweet tooth and I’m a stress eater. There’s a lot of things going on right now so the fact that I’m cutting sweets right now is a testament.
I’m always at or about 100 calories below MFP. I weigh and count all calories and always allot 200 just in case I throw something in my mouth (but I’m so aggravated with the lack of scale movement that I feel guilty if I don’t count it).
My job closed due to Covid and I have some stressful family stuff going on so admittedly I’m not very active outside. BUT if I can’t exercise I am watching my calorie intake.

I know about plateaus but have never experienced one right after I started...has anyone else and how long did it last.

Thx

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,841 Member
    edited July 2020
    You don't mention how much weight you lost the first 3 weeks? And are you weighing yourself weekly or daily?

    One week isn't really a plateau, since weight loss is usually a roller-coaster ride with a long-term downwards trend :wink:
  • Geneveremfp
    Geneveremfp Posts: 504 Member
    It's a really short time period so it will just take patience. You're doing the right things. If you're stressed you produce cortisol and hold onto water weight more easily - so this might be what's happening. Sodium might have meant you've retained water too. Lots of little reasons. Keep going push through - you've got this.
  • Hanibanani2020
    Hanibanani2020 Posts: 523 Member
    Are you weighing all your food correctly with a digital scale?
  • nyctina
    nyctina Posts: 24 Member
    Thank you both for your replies...it’s about 7.6 lbs BUT 6 lbs was the first week. This week I’m actually up. I do weigh daily but only log in on Saturdays. I know there are daily fluctuations but I use it more just to keep tabs where I’m at.

    Yeah someone told me about cortisol and with dealing with a sick parent and trying to find a job, that can stress anyone out. It’s taken will power to not snack as much but I am doing it. I cook a lot so at least I’m able to control a lot of my sodium intake.

    I’m 42 and last time I lost weight was 10 years ago...I had nothing but time so I worked out 2x a day but actually became scared of Eating (even when I was hungry) because I was so busy counting everything. I don’t want to get into that headspace again. I’m not looking to get skinny...although I could probably lose 100lbs and be ok, I’m content with the 55lb. There are so many things I can’t control right now, I was hoping this was something that would at least start ok 😔
  • nyctina
    nyctina Posts: 24 Member
    And yes I am weighing all food correctly. I usually work in a kitchen so I know how to break everything down to grams and oz
  • nyctina
    nyctina Posts: 24 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    You don't mention how much weight you lost the first 3 weeks? And are you weighing yourself weekly or daily?

    One week isn't really a plateau, since weight loss is usually a roller-coaster ride with a long-term downwards trend :wink:

    You’re correct. In my frustration I probably mislabeled however since according to MFP I should be losing 2lbs a week...shouldn’t it be moving a bit better than .6 or .8? (I know it’s not gonna be 2 a week...only in my dreams 😁)

  • higginsl1969
    higginsl1969 Posts: 20 Member
    Congratulations on getting started. That’s the hardest part. I feel you need to stop fretting over the scale. Fluctuations & plateaus happen. If your really interested in seeing these, you could weigh yourself daily & log it into MFP to see the graphed out trends. Base things off of how you feel, not what the scale says. Maintaining is almost as hard (if not harder) as losing. My suggestion is to not eliminate carbs. You need them. The minute you deprive yourself of something, it becomes forbidden & you want it. So you cave in and eat. Incorporate it into your daily intake if you really love it.
    Tips:
    - Plan your food intake a day ahead of time. Input it into MFP. Eat what you want within your calorie number.
    - Double check your calories, make sure they’re not to low. A goal of losing 2lbs a week is a lot. You have to do some serious cutting in order to achieve that. I would change it to 1lb. a week.
    - Eat a big-assed salad everyday. It will fill you up. Track it, & load it up w protein.
    - Give @syattfitness a follow. He’s really great. Lots of inspiration, YouTube videos etc.
    - Eat your protein. Go into the macros section of MFP and make sure you’re hitting that number
    - Just walk. It’s the best exercise. Download a favorite podcast or pop on some awesome tunes and go. One healthy action will eventually lead to another one.
    - This is the most important— Be Patient. Changes will occur. But you have to be patient. My motto is “just keep swimming” 🐟. There’s no rush. I’m sure you want this to last a lifetime. Let the process take its time and learn as you go.
    - Also - ignore those people who tell you that you could lose more weight. “F Them”. You do what’s right for you and how you feel!!!
    Hopefully this will help you along the way. 🤗
  • globalc00
    globalc00 Posts: 103 Member
    Don’t focus on losing weight. Instead focus on losing body fat. Carbs is not the enemy. At the end of the day, it’s calories in vs calories out. How you make it though the month with less calories eaten than you burned is the goal. Day to day or even week to week is not significant when you look at the big picture of this is a lifestyle change. The start of every diet typically always have rapid weight loss. But that weight loss isn’t necessarily fat loss. So it’s easy to get excited about it then down when the scale isn’t moving the next week. However if you focus on fat loss, I find that is much more accurate of whether or not I’m on track with my calories.

    Unless you have some disabilities, you can always exercise. If you have a place to lay down on the floor you have room to do squats or push-up or crunches. You can always clean the house more often or Do more for your family such as doing the dishes or cooking or laundry. Just any kind of movement/activity is burning calories and will help with your goals.
  • nyctina
    nyctina Posts: 24 Member
    Hanibanani2020 wrote: »
    I’m also sole carer for a sick family member and with the added pressure of covid my weight fluctuations have been all over the place with fluid retention due to massive stress despite accurate logging. I eat the same thing nearly every day except cheat days and if I have a super stressful day I can go up over 5lbs in 24hrs. It doesn’t help that I have an inflammatory condition that randomly pops its head up as well during times of stress. Be kind to yourself. This isn’t a plateau. It’s completely normal. You’re moving forward. Don’t add extra stress.

    Man, let’s not get started on that. Besides being sick they had Covid as well. With everything else going on personally I actually had a panic attack once...THAT was scary.

    Taking care of a parent is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done (with it’s weight both physically and mentally). But if I never lost weight but did right by them that’s fine. Thanks for taking the time to encourage me and I send the same best wishes back to you.
  • nyctina
    nyctina Posts: 24 Member
    higginsl1969 wrote: »
    Congratulations on getting started. That’s the hardest part. I feel you need to stop fretting over the scale. Fluctuations & plateaus happen. If your really interested in seeing these, you could weigh yourself daily & log it into MFP to see the graphed out trends. Base things off of how you feel, not what the scale says. Maintaining is almost as hard (if not harder) as losing. My suggestion is to not eliminate carbs. You need them. The minute you deprive yourself of something, it becomes forbidden & you want it. So you cave in and eat. Incorporate it into your daily intake if you really love it.
    Tips:
    - Plan your food intake a day ahead of time. Input it into MFP. Eat what you want within your calorie number.
    - Double check your calories, make sure they’re not to low. A goal of losing 2lbs a week is a lot. You have to do some serious cutting in order to achieve that. I would change it to 1lb. a week.
    - Eat a big-assed salad everyday. It will fill you up. Track it, & load it up w protein.
    - Give @syattfitness a follow. He’s really great. Lots of inspiration, YouTube videos etc.
    - Eat your protein. Go into the macros section of MFP and make sure you’re hitting that number
    - Just walk. It’s the best exercise. Download a favorite podcast or pop on some awesome tunes and go. One healthy action will eventually lead to another one.
    - This is the most important— Be Patient. Changes will occur. But you have to be patient. My motto is “just keep swimming” 🐟. There’s no rush. I’m sure you want this to last a lifetime. Let the process take its time and learn as you go.
    - Also - ignore those people who tell you that you could lose more weight. “F Them”. You do what’s right for you and how you feel!!!
    Hopefully this will help you along the way. 🤗

    Thanks so ouch for the tips. I was actually considering cutting it back to 1lb just to play with it and see what happens.

    I actually love walking....I’m working on getting it back in my schedule even if it’s just to have a little quiet time to myself

    Thanks for the advice...I’m just a little tired right now and hoped with everything else I can’t control that maybe I could control this to some extent...welp, that didn’t happen. But like you said gotta keep swimming 😊

    About ppls opinions...I agree. even when I was killing myself, I looked GREAT but couldn’t break 200 and was afraid to eat because HAD to keep losing. Life shouldn’t be lived like that. Also I’m a pastry chef, I love baking and cooking.,.its my therapy. I’ll cook and then take a nibble and I’m done.

  • nyctina
    nyctina Posts: 24 Member
    globalc00 wrote: »
    Don’t focus on losing weight. Instead focus on losing body fat. Carbs is not the enemy. At the end of the day, it’s calories in vs calories out. How you make it though the month with less calories eaten than you burned is the goal. Day to day or even week to week is not significant when you look at the big picture of this is a lifestyle change. The start of every diet typically always have rapid weight loss. But that weight loss isn’t necessarily fat loss. So it’s easy to get excited about it then down when the scale isn’t moving the next week. However if you focus on fat loss, I find that is much more accurate of whether or not I’m on track with my calories.

    Unless you have some disabilities, you can always exercise. If you have a place to lay down on the floor you have room to do squats or push-up or crunches. You can always clean the house more often or Do more for your family such as doing the dishes or cooking or laundry. Just any kind of movement/activity is burning calories and will help with your goals.

    Oh, I’m definitely moving around the house 😁...and you’re right...I’m working on finding “me” time a bit better and hopefully can start walking more. I have an leg injury that I have to keep an eye on so I was aiming to lose some weight first to take off a bit of the pressure off but baby steps.

    Yes I do love matching up with calories in vs calories out. I’m an analytical person so it’s easy to see in my head and numbers make me happy.

    Thank you for your encouragement, I appreciate it
  • nyctina
    nyctina Posts: 24 Member
    Thank you everyone for your kind words and encouragement. Admittedly I was scared to post because I see some people respond harshly when people ask similar questions/talk about similar frustrations. Sometimes people just need to vent or need talk to someone 😊
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    Put this article somewhere safe, and read it whenever the scale lies to you.

    http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
    Just eating at a deficit will result in weight loss, eventually. I recommend trying to take some time to yourself and walk (even if it’s only 20 min a day).

    Also, what activity level did you put in MFP? I would recommend setting it to inactive based on what you put in here. If it isn’t already set at inactive, your calorie deficit might not be a deficit at all.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,226 Member
    To amplify what others have suggested more generally: If you're a premenopausal woman, it's very common to see some scale gain during one or more times of the month, then have it drop off later. It's not fat, it's water retention, so anyone premenopausal shouldn't assume fat loss has stalled at least until she can compare weight at the same relative point in two (or more) different menstrual cycles.

    Hang in there: You're doing great, under tough circumstances!

    P.S. It doesn't work for everyone, but making it a point to eat more whole fruit helped me tame the cravings for less nutrient-dense sweets. Might be worth a try. :)

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