The Irritating “Weight-loss Plateau”.

ally_mccoy
ally_mccoy Posts: 6 Member
edited September 6 in Health and Weight Loss

Evening Everyone,


so I’ve been on a weight loss journey for several months now. It’s going great and I feel better than ever. Friends and family have noticed a difference, as have I in the mirror and on the scales. Until the last two weeks….


I knew it would come. The infamous “weight loss plateau”… it came as no surprise that my immediate stop in weight loss came just around the time my nutritionist friend at the gym said (after looking at myfitnesspal tracking) I was likely going too hard. My training did indeed become strained and harder because I was pushing the calorie deficit much too hard. I took his advice and stopped tracking so obsessively since then. I’ve continued to train, I train hard! But it’s been 3 weeks now and I can’t seem to shake off that extra lb here and there since…


no denying I feel fitter and my aerobic threshold has gotten better.

So, wanted to know what some of you people have done in the past or do now when you hit that inevitable “pause” in your weight-loss / fitness training.


look forward to hearing from you.

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Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,990 Community Helper

    Were you losing at a reasonable pace then stopped suddenly? If so, more likely some kind of weird water retention effect. The answer to that would be persisting.

    Did your loss taper off gradually over weeks, then slide into a stop? If so, more likely it's time to re-evaluate calorie goal.

    I wouldn't consider it a true plateau - particularly in that first case - until the stall lasted 4+ weeks. Sometimes bodies are just weird for short periods of time. I admit, I've only had a pseudo-pause when losing quite slowly, and I was sure it was water weight. Eventually, I saw the expected scale drop quite suddenly.

    Pushing the calorie deficit so hard that training feels strained does suggest going too hard. Maybe it's time to slow down, even take a break at estimated maintenance calories for a couple of weeks? Sometimes that helps restore energy, plus maintenance practice is always a good thing.

    Have you read this thread?

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks

    If training gets strained, that's a sign that energy compensation (a.k.a. calorie compensation) could be happening in daily life, too - loosely, subtle fatigue, less energy, less spontaneous movement, burning fewer calories than usual in daily life because of overdoing exercise and calorie deficit in combination.

    I'm a very strong believer that for me personally, exercise isn't the route to weight loss. I trained hard for a dozen years and stayed fat. For me, weight loss was entirely about getting the eating side of the equation in the right balance - loss, but not extremely fast.

    Good nutrition, exercise performance, energy in daily life . . . all of that needs adequate fuel. Body fat only goes so far in supplying that. The thinner we get, the less that bodyfat can make up for a large-ish deficit, besides. Since you don't say how much you've lost, or how fast, what you weigh now, or how fast you're trying to lose now - how big an estimated deficit - it's harder to evaluate your situation based on personal experience.

    I hope you're able to find a solution!

  • ally_mccoy
    ally_mccoy Posts: 6 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48753184#Comment_48753184

    hello and thanks for the very detailed reply!

    So, as for the water weight thing. That happened very early on for me and I haven’t seen that as reason for concern. I get the odd day here and there where my belly looks a bit more bloated than it does in the mornings.

    Roughly about the start of June 2026 I went from 118kg to 107kg very quickly, which from my own perspective and the advice of my friend was likely down to water weight (and some other factors)

    Over the next month (about early August) I went from 107 to my current weight (which hasn’t shifted and has stayed steady since) of 104kg.


    I expected a slight stall and the need for adjustments to calorie goal which I did indeed do. All while keeping the appropriate macros in place to suit my daily needs.


    when it comes to training, I follow (with a pinch of salt) my watches coaching and fitness tracking features. It’s been pretty accurate since I started on how I feel so I’m confident that I’m not over training. I was early on, but as you mentioned, I did actually take a break about 3 weeks ago, with only light exercises but still maintaining a good balanced diet.

    I do actually feel stronger and fitter. But I still feel I’m at a bit of a wall.

    Today was the first time in 3 weeks that I felt great and confident during exercise (bit of a struggle towards the end) but felt good nonetheless. I smashed some records and upped my avg pace.


    im hoping that stopping the overly obsessive calorie tracking and the recovery time I took means I’m at the end of my “plateau”.

    Thanks again for your advice and input

  • rudyzenreviews
    rudyzenreviews Posts: 74 Member

    Plateaus can be so frustrating, but honestly they’re super common and your body’s just adjusting to all the progress you’ve already made. The fact that you’re feeling fitter and noticing better endurance is a huge win in itself! What’s helped me in the past is shaking things up a little also either by eating closer to maintenance for a week (a “diet break”) or changing up my workouts so my body gets a new stimulus. It usually kickstarts progress again.

  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,530 Member

    fast stopping is water retention. Magnified by too much exercise. When losses slow down slower it's more likely to be more of an indication that your deficit is getting smaller as you lose weight.

    Hold the line. Increase calories for a week.

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