Help..... massive plateau!

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jstro011
jstro011 Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been on this journey for just on 6 months, and started at 261lbs. Just before xmas at my 3 month mark, I had lost 15lbs. At the end of January I stepped up my exercise and have been exercising 5-6 days a week but my scale weight has stalled and since 20th December ( its now the 23rd March) I have only lost 6 lbs.

6 months in and I am starting to get disheartened and need some advise to keep my motivation up.

Ideas please on how to break through this plateau :-)

thank you in advance.

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,141 Member
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    So you're still losing, just not as fast as you'd like? Not really a plateau. Or have you lost no weight at all the past month?

    You also mention upping your exercise at the end of January. That probably caused water weight retention, masking fat loss on the scale.

    How much are you eating? Are you eating back exercise calories or not ?
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,420 Member
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    And to add to above: how much are you exercising? Are you feeling tired from it, or are you getting sufficient rest?
  • jstro011
    jstro011 Posts: 6 Member
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    Not eating back exercise calories at all, and no weight loss this month but 2.5lb gain. 60 mins exercise ranging from cardio, strength and palates, Plenty of rest around 8 hours per night.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,141 Member
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    You didn't answer the question of how many calories you're consuming?
    Are you weighing your foods and checking the food database entries you use?
  • jstro011
    jstro011 Posts: 6 Member
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    My TDEE is 2600 per day, I am consuming 1500. Yes weighing food and scanning everything and checking database entries.
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
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    Six months in sounds like a good time for a planned maintenance break. Have you taken any planned breaks to eat at maintenance calories for a few weeks before going back to eating at a deficit?
  • karissataylor1
    karissataylor1 Posts: 1 Member
    edited March 2022
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    What kind of exercise? If strength (weights) you probably won’t lose weight but will still lose fat. Your body is getting more muscle and muscle weighs more than fat so it just depends.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,931 Member
    edited March 2022
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    emmamcgarity wrote: »
    Six months in sounds like a good time for a planned maintenance break. Have you taken any planned breaks to eat at maintenance calories for a few weeks before going back to eating at a deficit?

    As she's only lost 6 pounds in three months, and is no where close to goal, something else is going on other than the need for a planned maintenance break.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,931 Member
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    karissataylor1 wrote: »
    What kind of exercise? If strength (weights) you probably won’t lose weight but will still lose fat. Your body is getting more muscle and muscle weighs more than fat so it just depends.

    It is so difficult for women to gain muscle that I am sure if the OP was doing the sort of disciplined progressive overload program she would have mentioned it.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,931 Member
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    jstro011 wrote: »
    I've been on this journey for just on 6 months, and started at 261lbs. Just before xmas at my 3 month mark, I had lost 15lbs. At the end of January I stepped up my exercise and have been exercising 5-6 days a week but my scale weight has stalled and since 20th December ( its now the 23rd March) I have only lost 6 lbs.

    6 months in and I am starting to get disheartened and need some advise to keep my motivation up.

    Ideas please on how to break through this plateau :-)

    thank you in advance.

    There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

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