What do you do when weight loss stalls?
 

OK, here's another poll. You are following your weight loss plan exactly, and for two weeks there has been no change in your weight, or only small fluctuations up and down. What do you do?

Feel free to comment if you wish.

Jay

If I know I'm perfectly on plan and doing things as I should be, then I keep on doing what I'm doing. A couple years ago (before my last large weight drop), I was eating right, exercising right, etc but the scale didn't move for 1 month or 2 months but at the end of 3 months, I dropped 10 lbs and the weight kept going down for a total of 60 lbs. Since I knew I was on the right path, I didn't think there was a reason to change anything.

I cut back on sodium, drink more water, exercise more and vary my calories each day by a wider margin.

If I know my calories and activity are spot on I find my comfort in that.

I whine and whine. :D I'm in the middle of trying to overcome a plateau at the moment, so I'm being way more careful about sodium and water, but other than that I'm sticking to my plan.

Stick to my plan and make sure I am on plan, lowering sodium and making sure I'm hydrated also come into play.

Funny you should ask that question. That is where I am at in my weight loss. Two weeks ago the weight loss just stopped. Before that I was losing about 2 1/2 pounds a week. So I kept on doing what I had been doing, got frustrated at the scale, started to panic when the scale actually went up of all things, etc...:mad:

But today I have seen the smallest of indications that the weight loss may be starting again. I did increase my exercise by just 10 minutes just because. This has been my first plateau and I hope it is short lived. At least for the future, I will know what to expect and what to do.

It's probably because you are so close to 200. ;)

Seriously milestones seem to cause plateaus. I have no idea why.

I give myself a day or two to refeed (which is sometimes unfortunately labeled a cheat day) where I eat at or above maintenance to give my metabolism a boost. Quite often that's all I need.

I answered "I don't change anything" but I honestly don't think I've had two on plan weeks where I didn't lose anything, not for a long time. I've had off-plan weeks (recently quite a few in a row) where I'll gain, and maintenance breaks (where I'll go up a few pounds, but drop them quickly afterwards). It's just been ages (just looked, over a year) since I've had a week where I couldn't explain the lack of loss.

I hit a few stalls while losing. All I ever did was keep going, and they ended themselves after 3-5 weeks, without reducing calories.

I drop my calories and up my exercise for a few days, then get right back on plan.

If it still doesn't budge, then I UP my calories and boost my exercise for a few days. - then right back on plan.

So far, one or the other has worked every time :)

:shrug::shrug::shrug:

Luckily, it's never happened to me while I was following my weight loss plan exactly. Any stall I've ever experienced was due to my veering off plan.

You're really lucky, robin! :D Wish it were like that for me, but as you know, I've had some three-week stalls even though I was POP.

Jay

I ACTUALLY, keep my calories the same, and exercise more...

that wasn't an option though. :)

well, I don't change anything. because I need the right calorie intake for get enough energy for my fat burn process. For the exercise? nothing change, just move more often

See i like this....i think this really puts my lying to myself out there. Ofcourse i am just speaking for myself..im sure plateus do exist for some people. But for me, i just don't think they do. The reason i stay the same weight..is because i veer off, and then i just blame it on a plateu.

Thankyou!

dkneec19, I thought of putting more combinations in for answers, but things were getting too complicated! :lol:

On the topic: I once had three weeks of no change at all, followed by a week in which I dropped 4 pounds. This was without deviating from my plan. My weight loss tends to go stepwise like that. Sometimes it does go up before it goes down as well.

Jay

I am jumping on the bandwagon and admitting the same. When my weightloss has stalled it's because of my veering too--NOT the plan! Whew. That felt good.

It depends on the week. I've prob done them all. Generally, I will try and excersize more and either keep my calories the same, or lower them a little. ( even if some ppl have said they don't think I"m eating enough ) It's hard for me to grasp the concept of raising calories = losing weight

But I have doen binging, which doesn't help AT ALL. All that does is put weight on and takes another month to get that weight off.

Ha! I answered it honestly and I was surprised that so many others answered the same way. I get frustrated and after 2 weeks if I don't see a change I get upset with myself and I binge! :(

I started fresh last night (again) and I even did my before pictures (in my work out clothes). :dust:

After all the reading & research I've done...I think that the best course of action would be to not stick to just one # daily for your calorie intake. I think it is best to eat according to what you need, but have a cheat day (not just one meal, but a whole day). Just be sure that when you average out your weekly total that you consumed about the # of calories you wanted to on a daily basis. So if I wanted to be at approx 1500 calories - I would eat 1440 on Sunday, 1520 on Monday, 1400 on Tuesday, 1475 on Wednesday, 1555 on Thursday, 1420 on Friday & 1800 on Saturday = 1517 calories/day.

I would also suggest changing up your workouts and every 3 - 4 weeks adding on just a little. example = adding 10 min of cycling or walking/jogging (I don't run) or maybe staying a little longer in one of the exercise classes. That way you are constantly changing up what you are doing so your body doesn't have the opportunity to get used to what you are doing and it keeps working with you (not against you).

Of course I'm not a doctor or a trainer (yet!) but I am highly motivated and my goal is to get fit and STAY THAT WAY...then help others do the same!

I want to go back to school now and become a personal trainer/fitness coach/life coach.

I'm always so good at giving advice...it's now time to take it myself!

:flow2:

It's hard for a lot of people to grasp, but for me it works better. It kind of goes this way:

Higher calories
- more energy
- move around more, not exercise, just do more
- more energetic workouts
- better sleep
- consistent weight loss

Lower calories
- less energy
- spend more time on the couch
- go through the motions during workouts
- insomnia
- lose fast (sometimes), then lose next to nothing

I adding the sleeping stuff before I finished up the post. I really didn't think about it, but I do seriously sleep better. When I was on lower calories I would lie awake at night just wanting to go get something to eat. Now, I plan a snack before bed (usually protein shake and fruit), and sleep extremely well. An interesting point is that I'm well over 100 pounds lighter than when I last started to lose weight, and actually eating more (started at 1600-1800, eating 2000 now). That really just kind of floors me.

I do eat more on days I do weight training (in the form of a post-workout shake), and I generally take a break every 12-weeks. Having said all that (in the interest of full-disclosure) I'm currently about 9 pounds heavier than I was in March. Primarily because I let everything (food and exercise) go to **** during the final weeks of school and exams). I proved, that for me, planning really is everything.

This hasn't happened to me, but I think I too would keep calories the same and increase exercise. I'd also try a high calorie day to shock my metabolism out of the plateau.