Weight Loss Plateau & How To Overcome It

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  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,224 Member
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    If you're still getting smaller you need to re-evaluate your dependence on the number the scale is saying.

    :flowerforyou:

    ^^^^^^^^^
    THIS!!

    We can so easily get caught up in what the scale says while it is an indicator of progress, it is not the most useful one. Get out a measuring tape and take your measurements. If they are going down, even if you are not losing weigh, you are losing fat. For that matter the more important measures for health are things like your waist to height ratio, not your weight. The biggest problem with using weight alone to measure progress is that there are a whole host of things that can cause fluctuation in weight that have nothing to do with putting fat on. I can put on 5 or more pounds just by eating high sodium meals for a few days, but it is all water weight.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,224 Member
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    If you're still getting smaller you need to re-evaluate your dependence on the number the scale is saying.

    :flowerforyou:

    I don't depend on it, I just know what I want to look like and what I'm not looking like. I have a very large stomach that is not sizing down and a scale thats not moving, but jeans that fit a month ago not fitting today. Its frustrating when I have followed a serious strategic plan for 6 months and now its just not showing off any more results!

    Obviously if your jeans are getting looser you are showing results, just not where you want them. Just so you know, that is very normal. You can't spot reduce, and your body will choose where it wants to take the fat off. I know in my journey that has led to so rather odd looking shapes due to a lot of fat coming off one place but not another. Know this though, if the fat is coming off it will eventually come off even on your belly. The general consensus, although I have not found hard research on it, is that where you put on fat first will be where it comes off last. This is probably what is happening to you, but if stuff is getting loose you are losing fat no matter what the scale says.
  • cdemoura14
    cdemoura14 Posts: 30
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    If you're still getting smaller you need to re-evaluate your dependence on the number the scale is saying.

    :flowerforyou:

    I don't depend on it, I just know what I want to look like and what I'm not looking like. I have a very large stomach that is not sizing down and a scale thats not moving, but jeans that fit a month ago not fitting today. Its frustrating when I have followed a serious strategic plan for 6 months and now its just not showing off any more results!

    Obviously if your jeans are getting looser you are showing results, just not where you want them. Just so you know, that is very normal. You can't spot reduce, and your body will choose where it wants to take the fat off. I know in my journey that has led to so rather odd looking shapes due to a lot of fat coming off one place but not another. Know this though, if the fat is coming off it will eventually come off even on your belly. The general consensus, although I have not found hard research on it, is that where you put on fat first will be where it comes off last. This is probably what is happening to you, but if stuff is getting loose you are losing fat no matter what the scale says.

    thanks, its frustrating to say the least. but just have to keep pushing thru I guess! :)
  • Chainsaw_Flowerchild
    Chainsaw_Flowerchild Posts: 65
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    Try not losing for 6 months, that sucks! :wink:

    Thats is what I'm working on now. I've only lost 2.5 lbs in 4 months. MFP set to 1.5 loss per week and going to gym 4-5 days a week. This bites.
  • mardec28
    mardec28 Posts: 12 Member
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    I didn't believe it (much) when people kept telling me I wasn't eating enough and that was the reason I wasn't losing weight. After 5 weeks of dieting and working out at least 4x a week, I hadn't lost any weight and was so frustrated I wanted to give up!

    I started eating a bit more, kept up my exercise and voila - I haven't weighed myself, but just in the last week and a half, I feel like I'm digesting my food better, have more energy and --- the same pants I was wearing then are now bagging on me! I will wait until this weekend to see if there is any movement on the scale, but I'm definitely smaller and have more tone!

    So seems like it was two things for me: 1) I wasn't eating enough and 2) I was developing muscle which is denser

    Don't know if this is you too, but give it a try!

    Good luck --

    PS - I'm also 5'3 and started out at 137 lbs -- don't know what I am now but my goal is/was 125
  • amccrazgrl
    amccrazgrl Posts: 315 Member
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    Try not losing for 6 months, that sucks! :wink:

    Thats is what I'm working on now. I've only lost 2.5 lbs in 4 months. MFP set to 1.5 loss per week and going to gym 4-5 days a week. This bites.

    Try only having loss 14 lbs since the last week in Oct 2010. Granted I took 2 months off from diet/exercise and gained 3 lbs back. I'm finally back to where I was from my May/June break. I had one month of -6 lbs by changing gyms. So that is 7 lbs loss over a period of 9 months. The good news is my seasonal job I worked last Oct where I bought bigger pants are too big.
  • nikkishai
    nikkishai Posts: 407 Member
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    If you've been eating low calorie faithfully for more than 2-3 months, eat at maintenance level for a week or so and then go back to it. Your hormones, leptin etc need to reset. Try not losing for 6 months, that sucks! :wink:

    I haven't lost weight going on 5 months now... so I feel you on that. Sigh...
  • cdemoura14
    cdemoura14 Posts: 30
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    Thanks for all the helpful hints guys, but I'm so frustrated. Today marks one month of no weight loss!! :(

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