I have 7 stupid pounds to go before I reach my goal...7! Sounds easy enough, right?
For the past two weeks, I have not lost a single ounce! The weight on the scale has been exactly the same...I've even tried using different scales!
I've decreased my calorie intake slightly, increased my exercise...even started using the stairs at work (I work in a hospital that has seven floors, and my job requires me to go all around the hospital to different units).
What in the world am I doing wrong?! This stinks...
I agree with the other posts. You need to shake things up. But, having said that, it's really common to hit a plateau and if this is your first one, then consider yourself quite lucky. Many of us hit those on an ongoing basis or just lose weight very slowly. Of course that doesn't do anything to make this any less frustrating.....I get it. Be sure you're still drinking enough water. Check your sodium intake. Are you hormonal? Those are just some possibilities. HIIT does wonders to shake up the body (unless you've already been doing that). Finally, just don't give up. Just keep pushing and your body will have to lose the weight. Oh and I forgot to mention that you may be shrinking in your clothes and it may just not be reflected on the scale. The scale is only one way to measure progress.
I feel your pain! I don't have much to lose in the grand scale of things, but the scale has been stuck at EXACTLY 136.2 for 4 days. I know its only 4 days, but you'd at least expect the number after the . to change slightly. I am not going to give in though, at least the number isn't going UP!
Keep going, we can do it
Plateaus are evil. I have them constantly, and it drives me nuts. However, when I look at the progress I've made, sometimes it's comforting. Look at your highest weight and note how long ago that was, maybe try to calculate your rate of weight loss and at least just pat yourself on the back at how far you've come!
You are doing nothing wrong, keep at it and it will come off. I felt the same way when I had 5 pounds left to lost, thought it would never come off , but it did.
Thank you for all the advice! My hard work is paying off, I weighed myself today and poof! 3lbs down! yay! Thank you all though, I'll remember what you all said if this occurs again.
I've decreased my calorie intake slightly, increased my exercise
I can't tell you how many times I made this mistake. Increasing exercise and decreasing cals rarely works and usually results in a stall. The only thing that ever worked for me was increasing cals and exercise and making sure my foods were clean and non processed.
ncuneo, it seems so counter intuitive to eat more to gain more. Once you get past your plateau, do you lower your calories again? I have been eating around or less than 1200 calories, but I haven't really been eating clean. I have been eating white rice, bread, etc. I guess, I will try eating more clean and see if it makes a difference.
Thanks itisntsybil for starting this thread. There are so many of us struggling just like you
I wish I had more scientific evidence to back me up, but all I really have is my personal experience. You can google your hearts content though about the topic and you'll find a lot of good info. I'll also say in my year on this forum I've never read "I decreased my cals and upped my exercise to break my plateau" but I can't tell you how many times I've read "I don't understand, I decreased my cals and upped my exercise and I stalled" or "I've plateaued so I decreased my cals and nothing is happening". The body is a machine and it needs fuel, if it doesn't get it it will find other means, such as storing what it does get. I know I know the hottly debated starvation mode, but there's some truth to it. You just have to experiment. If it doesn't work you can always decrease your cals again.
Anyway to answer you other question, no I didn't lower my cals back down and any time I did I'd stall again. I lost steadily at 1500-1700 with flexible weekends. Now I maintain at 1800-1900 with very flexible weekends.
So just keep at it, clean up your food first then if you keep up the exercise add a measly 100-300 cals for a couple weeks and see what happens. You won't gain it all back in a couple weeks so if it doesn't work no big deal, you can always return to 1200. Good luck!
I have my own personal theory on why raising calories can help. Basically, if you eat at a low calorie amount (say 1200 a day) your metabolism slows to a crawl. Think of how you ate before dieting, you were probably eating twice that at least. So of course you start to lose weight at first, but then your body gets used to living on 1200 calories just like it was used to living on 2500 or 3000 pre-diet. You don't feel as hungry and you stop losing weight. Increasing calories essentially increases your metabolism. Your body adjusts to maintaining weight at that higher calorie amount. Then when you lower again or add in extra exercise you start to lose.
I don't really call this starvation mode. If you starve yourself, you will definitely lose weight, there is no doubt about that. But you will also have the world's slowest metabolism. I think the body is just really good at adjusting and trying to maintain weight at whatever calorie level we eat at for a sustained period.
Starvation mode, as explained to me via Weight Watchers friends, seems to be some sort of concept that you won't lose any weight if you don't eat above say, 1,000 calories. This just isn't true. You will definitely lose weight if you cut your calories low, and you can definitely eat so little that you can starve yourself to death. While I don't believe that you won't lose weight unless you eat a lot of calories, I do believe that after you lose some your metabolism can slow and cause you to stop losing. Your body has just adjusted, you likely aren't starving yourself or you would be wasting away and continuing to lose...If people want to call "starvation mode" the ability your body has to maintain its weight, then well, we are basically always in "starvation mode" because your body will ALWAYS try to maintain weight on the calories you give it.
What am I doing wrong?
Many of us hit those on an ongoing basis or just lose weight very slowly. Of course that doesn't do anything to make this any less frustrating.....I get it. Be sure you're still drinking enough water. Check your sodium intake. Are you hormonal? Those are just some possibilities. HIIT does wonders to shake up the body (unless you've already been doing that). Finally, just don't give up. Just keep pushing and your body will have to lose the weight. Oh and I forgot to mention that you may be shrinking in your clothes and it may just not be reflected on the scale. The scale is only one way to measure progress. 
