Plateau busting

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GrumpyDumpty
GrumpyDumpty Posts: 234 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
any top tips to get the scales moving again? starting to feel very demotivated if im honest,

i seemed to have tried everything, eating below my calories, way above my calories, drinking more water, less water, starting to think its just me

Replies

  • DFW_Tom
    DFW_Tom Posts: 218 Member
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    Cut sodium (salt) consumption.
    Moderate your workouts.
    More than anything -> don't worry about it. Follow your forever eating plan and it'll work itself out.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,401 Member
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    What kind of time frame are we talking about?
    Do you weight everything you eat on a foodscale and make sure your logging is good?
    How much do you have to lose?
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 1,634 Member
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    Fatloss is a product of a consistent weekly calorie deficit over time. Stick with a plan, give it time. If no loss in 4 weeks of your plan that is a sign you aren’t in a deficit so you’ll need to lower calories, add activity or a combo of both.
  • StaciInGa
    StaciInGa Posts: 65 Member
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    I suspect your issue may be a lack of patience and unrealistic expectations. How long have you been stalled? Losing 1-2 pounds (a little more possibly if you're over 200-300 pounds) weekly is realistic. But that does not mean the scale will drop 2 pounds every Monday like clockwork. You may be down 1, then down 3, then up 1. But the overall trend, should be downward if you're eating at a deficit.

    So how long have you been stuck? If its been a week or two, try to trust the science and keep going despite the frustration. If you've been stuck at the same weight for 4-6 weeks, assess whether or not you're being accurate & honest in your logging and with yourself.
  • nytrifisoul
    nytrifisoul Posts: 500 Member
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    Top Tip? Stop weighing yourself every week. Wait atleast 4 weeks to check weight. If you havent lost, you're not eating in deficiet, or not burning the calories you think you are.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,649 Member
    edited April 2023
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    nytrifisoul wrote: »
    Top Tip? Stop weighing yourself every week. Wait atleast 4 weeks to check weight. If you havent lost, you're not eating in deficiet, or not burning the calories you think you are.

    Not necessarily a good strategy if you pick the worse possible timing and you're losing steadily but not speedily.

    Here is a time period of a month with a loss rate of about 1.8lb (a pace good enough for almost 10kg or 22lbs a year)

    I didn't have too much trouble cherry picking two weight ins that would have had me pulling my (remaining) hair out because I gained 1.8lbs had I been following your strategy.

    But, because of daily weight ins and a weight trend app I was aware that I was successfully applying a deficit at the time.

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  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 1,634 Member
    edited April 2023
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    nytrifisoul wrote: »
    Top Tip? Stop weighing yourself every week. Wait atleast 4 weeks to check weight. If you havent lost, you're not eating in deficiet, or not burning the calories you think you are.
    Once a week tends to be the compromise between too often and not often enough. Daily can be problematic if the person freaks out with the day to day fluctuations. Monthly is probably overdoing the timing. Not to say that monthly is wrong, it just depends on what the person is comfortable with however to gauge progress it’s probably too long a stretch.

    I didn’t have a scale for awhile and just went by clothes fit. It was fine however I would have liked having a scale but not having one wasn’t the end of the world by any means.

  • Sinisterbarbie1
    Sinisterbarbie1 Posts: 712 Member
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    Maybe the problem is that you “seem to have tried everything” instead of sticking with a method that works and pursuing it. You’ve received good advice and if you have spent any time on these boards before you know that everyone experiences periods of stalls for one reason or another. If you are sticking with accurately weighing and logging everything you eat, and also weighing yourself you have the data to diagnose the reason(s) either with the help of people here, by yourself or with a doctor or dietician. You’ll likely see patterns of either eating under calories and then splurging or consistently overeating at a particular time of day, or in response to a particular trigger or of some type of food you like but that doesn’t fill you up and keep you satiated for a good calorie “price” in your “budget.” You might eat one type of macro heavily, forsaing others that if eaten in a more balanced way might help your satiety. You might be working out hard in a new routine and masking steady weight loss with water gains from muscle repair and inflammation.
    Maybe you just need to hear it said directly to you that if you follow a smart plan and stick with it things will work out ok and the plateau is likely temporary. I definitely needed some reassurance now and again when I thought things were stalled for no reason or otherwise wonky. It ultimately all worked out fine. But you don’t lose weight according to a calendar so you just have to pick a workable plan you can live with more or less forever (I am eating essentially the same way in maintenance) and stick with it.
  • GrumpyDumpty
    GrumpyDumpty Posts: 234 Member
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    PAV8888 wrote: »
    I will remind you of multiple conversations you had with many of us, including myself, a couple of years back.

    At that time you were pushing hard for big and fast losses and lots of exercise browbeating your body into losing weight and performing according to your specifications and relying on iron will and the motivation of results to keep going.

    If I recall correctly you went dark a little bit after some birthday celebrations.

    You've got three kids. Are you going to teach them how to speak, how to write, how to play football/soccer by iron will and discipline, or are you going to teach them, give them time to learn, let them develop. Sure, while helping out and giving direction. Even with slight nudges. But not by applying the pressure of life or death: do this get that result, or else.

    Your goals are less over the top than they were last time. But they're still at the edge of the dial.

    You're not giving yourself time and you're not embracing the journey.

    You're viewing weight loss as a temporary state between where I don't want to be and where I want to end up.

    You're not viewing this transition as the way that you are going to develop the process/procedure/methods/LIFE that you will have to continue to live to both lose the weight and maintain the loss.

    Take a look at how you're eating and moving/exercising to lose weight today.

    Do you see yourself doing this for 10 years? How about 5 years? Day in and day out. Not just till you lose the weight.

    Four months at 3lbs a week is no different of a low weight result than 12 months at a lb a week

    Except it is.

    It gives you more time to figure out and embed the things that work. You're eating and moving closer to the way you will have to continue to in order to maintain your loss. And it probably even gives you more time at a weight reduced state even if things go wrong.

    Some things will change moving forward. They always do.

    But the closer the alignment between weight loss and maintenance the higher, I believe, your chances for success.

    To me you seem to want to do what I used to do for years: Eat the least I could while exercising the most I could till something happened that would take me out of that unsustainable state and back to the path of fighting regain.

    In one of your go arounds consider that there appears to exist a bunch of us who are quite capable of gaining weight if we don't continuously manage our conditions. I.e. if unmanaged we gain weight.

    And try to figure out a non punitive method of arrangements that will allow you to continuously manage yourself.

    If you're ready to give up or angry when you don't see the results of your hard work, you're pushing hard as opposed to sustainably.

    The problem is not the lack of results but it is the intensity and perhaps even methodology of the pushing.

    Best of luck in finding a healthy path forward.

    ive dropped you a friend request and a message, but ill say this publicly, i needed this, thank you
  • obstacle_overcomer
    obstacle_overcomer Posts: 133 Member
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    May I ask what diet or Meal Plan you are using?
  • GinLee61
    GinLee61 Posts: 1,190 Member
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    How long have you been at the same weight? If it's only been a couple weeks it may not be a true plateau.

    How much more do you need to lose before you reach your final goal? As your weight drops and you get closer to goal you may experience some weeks with a very small loss or none at all.

    If you are not measuring yourself you might want to start doing that. Sometimes even when weight loss is small or even nonexistent on the scale the measuring tape will tell a different story. My rate of loss has slowed significantly since when I started and over the 2 month period from mid-January to mid-March I lost 3.5 lbs. However, when I measured myself I found that over that same 2 month period I had lost an inch each from my hips and waist and half an inch each from my bust and thighs.

    I have a friend who posted that her registered nutritionist told her that plateaus are a good thing. They are the body's way of adjusting to a new lower weight. I try to remember this when I go several weeks without seeing any loss.

    Don't give up! You can get past it.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,649 Member
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    Hey man, just saw your message. I hang out a bit at larger losers (a sub group here). MFP did NOT pass your private message through since it often blocks between non friends. I probably automatically declined your invite as I tend to do with all of them but I will send one back at you.

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