How we think about plateaus, stalls and mini-stalls
I've noticed that we get a good few posts where people say "help, I'm on a plateau, how do I get off it?" and get told, "nah, that's normal, it's not a plateau for ages yet". Official versions of what constitutes a plateau seem to be 6 weeks or similar.
Of course, even when we know what a real plateau is, that doesn't mean we can't be dismayed if the scale isn't moving for a couple of weeks. So I'm curious about:
1) What length of time do you consider to constitute a stall or plateau?
2) When the scale isn't moving, how long does it take before you start feeling different about it (e.g. when you start grumbling)?
3) How long does it take before you start changing your behaviour, whether it's for the better (e.g. more exercise) or worse (e.g. abandoning the diet in despair)?
My answers:
1) Er, I'll bow to the wisdom of the forum and go with 6 weeks or whatever seems to be widely agreed. I'm a first-time dieter and quite new at that, and I haven't experienced anything major in this way yet,
2) 10-14 days. There may be quiet mutterings at the scale in the morning.
3) Hasn't been needed yet, and being small and unable to exercise, I don't really have the options of increasing exercise or decreasing calories. I'd probably go for more salads, that sort of thing. (Thankfully the scale dropped 1.6lb this morning after nearly a fortnight of being stubbornly unmoving, to my relief.)
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