This has happened to me like, 4 times so far. I started at 226, got down to about 212, then my body seemed to just cling on to the weight. Maintained between 212 and 215 for a year, then started again. Got down to 204, then couldn't get any lower. Went back up to 215, now I'm stuck at 205 and can't get any lower... It seems like after 10lbs or so my body just doesn't want to give anything up anymore. Not sure if it's what/how I'm eating or what I'm doing for exercise, but it feels like I'm perpetually "stuck".
I want the number 205 to get out of my life forever!!
Anyone else seem to get "stuck" after 10lbs or so?
I go through those periods of "stuck" but it's not every ten pounds. It's about every 2 or 3 lbs. I can lose maybe 2 lbs pretty "normally" then I get stuck, even if I haven't changed anything. Eventually, I will get "unstuck" (once again, not changing anything in my diet).
I feel it's like my body needs a little time to regroup after some weight loss. If I remember, I try to tell it (as I fall asleep at night) it's okay to lose the weight/fat, because it just means I'll be healthier. That the weight loss isn't a sign of famine in my world.
I don't know how much that really works, but I'm hoping that my body listens and doesn't stay stuck too much.
Over the short term, it might not be. Over the long term, it certainly is.
Over a week or two, sure - you can maintain a calorie deficit for a couple of weeks or maybe even a month and not see any weight loss. This is because fat loss happens slowly, happens in fits and starts, and can be masked by water weight.
But the OP was talking about a year. You cannot eat fewer calories than you burn for a year, and not lose weight. You simply cannot! Where would the extra calories you burn come from? So if you do not lose weight over the course of a year, you were not in a caloric deficit over the year.
The key is even when you are stuck to keep going. It is much easier to find the motivation when you see the scale moving even in tiny increments on a daily basis, when the scale is at a stand still, it is REALLY hard to stick with it. But if keep going, diligently counting calories, keep up the activity, then you WILL lose.
I totally feel you, for the first few weeks i was losing 3 pounds a week.. then I hit my 12 pounds total loss... ive been there for 3 weeks, my diets the same as i started with but ive kicked up my workouts.. nothing helps, i go up a pound and back down to the 12 pound loss... but like some of the others say, i guess just keep pushing.. eventually it will drop below your plateau and hey maybe you will lose big one week
For some people, it should be basic, calories in and calories out, but that alone did NOT work for me. For years I did not eat much but kept gaining or not losing. Until I learnt my own body needs, I did not start losing weight.
After losing 17 lbs over 6 months, I was stuck at 155 for about 4 months, even with exercise burning 300+ cals, and maintaining my diet. I had to up my calories and re-use calorie cycling techniques to move beyond the plateau. At that time I was eating 1200-1400 cal/day, so over the christmas, I upped to 1500-1600 cals/day with 2-3 evenings of light to moderate exercise (maintenance is approx 1600 cals at sedentary level for me at that time).
I also did at least 2 high cal days (1900 cals) per week. By the 2nd week in Jan when I went back to 1300 cals, I dropped 4 lbs and have steadily lost about 1/2 per week which is average for me.
Find out what works for you body, talk to a doc or nutrtionist if you still need help. Additionally, ensure you check all the labels as calories are sneaky buggers and one tsp of a dip can have as many calories as one oreo cookie! ( I know, I checked!)
Right now I've been at 205-206 for about 2 weeks now, and my daily calories are in the 1300-1650 range.
Definitely have a deficit going on there.
Two weeks is not a stall. Many people (including myself) regularly hold steady or fluctuate around by a pound or two for 2-3 weeks out of every month. Weight loss is not a linear monotonic process where your weight will march down cooperatively by a few ounces every day like clockwork. It happens, rather, in fits and starts, whooshes and bounces. Real fat loss of a pound or two over the course of a couple of weeks is easily masked by a small fluid gain. This is the reality of weight loss. You have to take a longer term view.
If you are sure you're in a deficit than trust your plan and give it some time. Two weeks is not enough time to decide that you aren't losing weight. And if you do decide to make a change to your plan, give the change at least a month before you decide whether the change is working, too.
I know it sucks, but the process takes patience. It is not "eat on plan today, see a loss tomorrow." It's not even "eat on plan this week, see a loss next week." It's just not. I wish it was too, I bounced up two pounds this morning because of hormones and fluid retention and I'm as ticked off about it as anyone. What I'm not doing, though, is scrapping my plan because I haven't seen any weight loss in a week or two.
By the way, your original post said "maintained for about a year" - it didn't say anything about this current "stall" only being two weeks long. If you maintained for a year, you were not in deficit for a year.
Anyone else get "stuck" after 10lbs??
