At what point did your losses slow?

  • Hi. I seem to have hit a point where weight loss has slowed to a crawl. Was doing 2 lbs/week for 6 weeks and now the weight has become stubborn. How long/how many pounds before you saw a slow down?
  • Weight loss is not linear in most people. Fat loss is fairly linear but impossible to measure outside of expensive testing methods.

    So ... assuming you've been sticking to the same plan ... you can probably expect a "whoosh" soon.
  • Hard to say for me every times think I have plateaued I end up seeing a loss soon enough. Just don't let the lack of loss slow u down. U might still be losing inches or gaining muscle. Or it could be water retention
  • After 8 months of slow and steady loss, it took me 8 weeks to lose the last 6 pounds!

    That's ok. I gained good healthy habits in the mean time, and I'm maintaining!
  • This is encouraging. Thanks!
  • I average 2 lbs a week. Average. Some weeks I lose none. Some weeks I lose 4. some weeks I lose 6, some weeks I gain two. All while on plan perfectly. Better than perfectly. Hormones, water retention, stress, salt intake, etc and so forth, it all plays a part. But when I add up what I've lost over a certain number of weeks and do the math its 2lbs a week. Thats what I have lost per week since I was probably at 300lbs. The first 35 came off really fast, in probably 6 weeks, as it usually does when you're as heavy as I was. But I'm very happy with 2lbs a week and I know it will eventually start to taper off.

    What I'm getting at is what others are saying, its not linear. Its averages. Maybe your plan is set up for 1lb a week or 2lbs or whatever, but you won't see exactly that weight every week. Youll have ups and downs but over the course of time youll go down. It probably won't be a perfect average either, I did a lotttt of math and testing and experimentation to get my numbers, I'm a huge math nerd and science nerd. But as long as you are going down its okay. If you have a 500 calorie deficit youll see that 1lb a week at some point so don't get discouraged. We all have these stops and starts. It would be awesome if weightloss was linear though wouldnt it lol.
  • Quote: I average 2 lbs a week. Average. Some weeks I lose none. Some weeks I lose 4. some weeks I lose 6, some weeks I gain two. All while on plan perfectly. Better than perfectly. Hormones, water retention, stress, salt intake, etc and so forth, it all plays a part. But when I add up what I've lost over a certain number of weeks and do the math its 2lbs a week. Thats what I have lost per week since I was probably at 300lbs. The first 35 came off really fast, in probably 6 weeks, as it usually does when you're as heavy as I was. But I'm very happy with 2lbs a week and I know it will eventually start to taper off.

    What I'm getting at is what others are saying, its not linear. Its averages. Maybe your plan is set up for 1lb a week or 2lbs or whatever, but you won't see exactly that weight every week. Youll have ups and downs but over the course of time youll go down. It probably won't be a perfect average either, I did a lotttt of math and testing and experimentation to get my numbers, I'm a huge math nerd and science nerd. But as long as you are going down its okay. If you have a 500 calorie deficit youll see that 1lb a week at some point so don't get discouraged. We all have these stops and starts. It would be awesome if weightloss was linear though wouldnt it lol.
    For me pretty much exactly too.

    From 220 down to about 179 it was steady, an average of 2 a week, but like others have said it wasn't 2 every single week just an average.

    Once I got into the 170s I have fought self sabotage quite often. I'll have good months and bad months. I've had months with about 3 pounds loss, and some up to 12 (although that was back in September and I was still in the 160s then).

    Now, it's slow, slow because I'm close to goal and slow because I apparently refuse to stay on plan for more than a few days at a time. BUT I'm still losing and that's all that matters, no matter how slow it is
  • It's slowing down for me now, also around the 6th week. Not sure if it's just slowing down or just my tom week, probably both...been working out more to push through it but it's just not budging...le sigh...
  • I was losing 10 pounds a month (at least) until I joined a 10 pounds in a month challenge - which was after 6 months of losing. After that it dropped to 8, then 6 and so on.

    Basically, the closer you are to your ideal weight, the harder it is. And that's for several reasons. First being, you need fewer calories to maintain your current weight than at higher weights. So, if all things are the same. Let's say 1500 calories then and now, you have a bigger deficit at 170 than at 160. Your body NEEDS less food for the day, essentially.

    Also, your body adapts. It says, "uh-oh... we are losing weight and that is not good - must mean resources are scarce. Let's slow everything down to reserve energy." So... losses slow as the body adapts as well as the body was designed to hold fat, not lose fat. Losing fat must mean we are in famine or something, right?
  • Quote:
    Also, your body adapts. It says, "uh-oh... we are losing weight and that is not good - must mean resources are scarce. Let's slow everything down to reserve energy." So... losses slow as the body adapts as well as the body was designed to hold fat, not lose fat. Losing fat must mean we are in famine or something, right?
    Love this. So true


    Anyways, I can't really add anything to what everyone above me has said but when I started losing, my loss was a fairly consistant 3 pounds a week until I hit 230. Then it slowed to maybe an average of 2 pounds a week...When I hit 200, about a pound a week. Now...at 184, last time I was at this number, I was only losing 1/2 a pound a week, after stalling for 6 weeks...so we shall see

    Again, those are only averages...I had plenty of weeks at every weight where I saw no drop, and other weeks where I got a big woosh..
  • After about 50 lbs and right now it is painfully slow, lol.