[Eliana]

I'm officially declaring this a plateau. It's been a week and a half with no movement. So I'm going to document what I do to break it....'cause I have to do something.

Whether coincidence, body science or to be expected, I don't care, I don't like this. I added exercise back into the mix and my body is neither gaining nor losing. I keep gaining and losing the same 1/2 pound.

Week 1: I am increasing my calories from 1200 to 1500. I started yesterday. It takes bravery to do that, I must say.

Today: 3 mile walk, 5-6 if I can get DH to go again later.

And on the psychology side of plateaus, I think I've figured out at least part of why I quit before. When losing, every morning is exciting, pretty much like Christmas. There is an immediate joy at seeing a lower number on the scale. We're robbed of that joy during a plateau and the disappointment becomes more prevalent on the mind than things like remembering how far we've come. So I'm trying to remind myself at every turn of how thrilled I am to be where I am right now. Just this morning I remembered I do not get out of breath tieing my shoes.

ETA: I've lost 2 lbs since January 1.

[natamars]

Eliana, ITA on the plateau thing. I have given up on losing weight so many times over the last year because I will count calories, and go to the gym 5 days a week, and the number on the scale will not budge after several weeks of this, and I will quit. This time is different for me, and after months, I FINALLY broke my plateau.

You sound very determined also, and varying the calories and the exercise should help. Keep us posted!

[lovemyboy]

Good for you on not giving up. I hope the calorie adjustment does the trick.

For what it is worth I've tracked my weight loss and my TOM stuff and it seems my body will bounce around in a 1.5 pound range on days 1-18 and 23-28 of my cycle. Then all the poundage I am to lose that month comes off in a daily whoosh on days 19-22. Totally strange I know but maybe your body is doing something similar

[Eliana]

Originally Posted by lovemyboy

Good for you on not giving up. I hope the calorie adjustment does the trick.

For what it is worth I've tracked my weight loss and my TOM stuff and it seems my body will bounce around in a 1.5 pound range on days 1-18 and 23-28 of my cycle. Then all the poundage I am to lose that month comes off in a daily whoosh on days 19-22. Totally strange I know but maybe your body is doing something similar

Could be since last month I lost 8 lbs in one week and very little the rest of the month and I'm about at the same point as then. Very weird.

[Eliana]

I hope to be embarrassed tomorrow and come back to report that the plateau broke and I just needed patience. I've been weighing a few times a day just for amusement. It's amazing how much less I obsess about the scale when I weigh whenever the whim hits. I used to think THAT would be obsessing, but oddly it's not. Anyway, for the past couple weeks, I tend to gain 2-3 lbs of weight throughout the day. Today, I weighed 205.4 this morning and was only at 205.2 this afternoon. I've never seen a mid-afternoon loss! So I am hopeful.

[eclipse]

You're totally right about giving up during plateaus - it gets depressing seeing a gain or no movement after weeks of loss and hard work. In the past, it made me go stuff my face and think, "Why bother?"

I had a gain for several days in the middle of this week. It was really depressing because I was finally under 260, and then suddenly I was back up over it. Instead of eating, I started reading here. I found a thread that talked about humidity making you retain water - and sure enough, I live in northern Mexico just South of San Diego - we were being battered by the same torrential rains as SoCal was, and those were the days I had a gain. Once the sun came back out and dried it all up, I immediately dropped the extra pounds and ended up down about a half a pound for the week at yesterday's weigh in, and another lb this morning.

[Eliana]

Whining over. It was a mini plateau at worst, I hope. I've been losing about .4 pounds three days in a row now and this morning I saw my lowest ever of 204 point nothin'! And while I'm on it, my scale is so funny! Sometimes I see 300, and I swear yesterday I saw 600! This morning it actually flickered 188 and it ALMOST settled on 203. It's just like being weighed in on "Biggest Loser". LOL!

I have increased my calories from 1200 to 1500. Not sure that had anything to do with it but I like having a nice range. I don't feel like I have to eat 1500, but if I go over 1200, it's no big deal.