Not Quite a Plateau...Help, Please!
 

I'm kind of perplexed by what's going on with my body right now. Like many of you, I had tried losing weight numerous times before--and I had always lost very quickly (averaging 2-3 pounds per week). I joined Weight Watchers at the beginning of March expecting similar results, but for some reason my body just refuses to let go of the weight this time around. My eating and workouts have been good and consistent, but I still find myself fighting just to lose 0.5-1 pound per week. Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be causing this?

I've tried everything I can think of- eating all of my Weight Watcher weekly points, not eating them, eating back exercise calories, not eating them back, adding in strength training, cutting out sugar, working out more, working out less, drinking more water, getting more sleep...

Nope. Nothing. Still fighting to lose a few ounces. Somehow I've managed to keep my motivation this long, but I'm worried that it's going to start to flag after a while if I keep seeing such disappointing results. Any advice you could give me would be very much appreciated! :)

I've heard a lot of people complain that the new program works slower for them than the old ones did.

How long have you been going at this? How old are you?

We lose weight slower as we get older... that's just a natural process. Frustrating, yes. Insurmountable? No.

It looks like you've lost 15lb already - that is GREAT! You are nearly at your 10%!! Keep going! What's the alternative? Remaining overweight? Will that truly make you happy, or will losing the 0.5-1lb per week make you happier in the long run?

Keep going... I weighed more or less the same for two months and then I lost four pounds in a week, doing exactly the same as before. Just keep going!

I did LA Weightloss a few years ago, and I was losing about 2 pounds a week. Now I'm losing, on average, less than 2 pounds a month. I've lost nothing these past 6 weeks or so since getting back on track with the weight loss efforts.

It's very frustrating! I know how you feel!

I'm not doing LA Weightloss now. I wonder if I'd go back to 2 pounds a month if I did. I suppose I could try it if I really wanted to, since I have all my old stuff. I just haven't. I'm doing calorie counting with exercise now. So of course, that is probably one huge difference in the speed of my loss. I'm also older, by almost a decade, and the older you are, the harder it is to lose. My blood sugar is high, prediabetes, I guess. My hormones seem to be OK, so it must come down to diabetes, and diet.

If it continues to be a struggle, you may want to go to your doc. You could have hormonal stuff going on, maybe your thyroid, or diabetes... Those things can really mess with weight loss. But I think a half a pound to a pound isn't outside the realm of normal. It's just.... well... slow.

Just don't give up. Stick with it. A slow loss is better than no loss, right? I started a thread a couple of days ago similar to this, when I realized I've been doing this for 2 years and I've only lost 40 pounds. What I got from that is, I'm not alone. I'm not the only one, and neither are you.

I recently switched from WW to just counting calories. My weight loss was slower than other weight loss attempts and I was so concerned that I would overeat by having too much fruit/veggies that I was counting calories too. Right now I'm eating around 1250 cals a day and when on weight watchers it fluctuated up and down with some days up to 1500 or so. Also, it's harder for me now to lose now that I'm approaching 40 and have had 2 kids. I definitely have to put in much more effort to lose 1-2 a week than I did 5 or 10 years ago!!

I'm actually only 23, which I think is why I was so surprised by this. However, debigulating may be right about the new WW program being slower- I talked to my leader last night, who told me that the plan is designed to make you lose 0.5-1 pound per week...which is right about what I've been losing.

Redbird, did switching from WW to calorie counting help you?

My friend on WW is frustrated with the new program so she has gone back to counting fruit for points like the old one, and takes away 15 of her weekly flex points per week. Her losses have increased a little with that.

You might want to go ahead and double-count for a couple days, points and cals, and see exactly what your calorie count is. That's always an interesting exercise.