Hi everyone. I'm curious when the dreadful "plateau" hits. Everyone I've talked to usually tells me that they hit a plateau for a long time before they started losing weight again. Is it pretty much inevitable? I'm kind of worried about this, because I really don't want it to discourage me... and I want to reach goal by Christmas! Does it usually come about 10 lbs or so before you hit goal? Boy that would be so annoying...

Hey Jpye,

Not everyone experiences a plateau. But lots of folks do have small "stalls" where they stay the same for a week or two, or even more. It's not really a plateau unless it goes on for a month or more--or so some people say. When I was losing, I would stall, then drop, then stall, then drop. It was never a straight line. That's typical for many people. Just remember to stay with your good program.

Sometimes going off-plan can cause a stall. I had that happen, too. In that case, it's a matter of getting back on plan again right away and being patient. That's my favorite thing, oh yeah, being patient.

Hang in there!

Jay

i agree, for some people its just weeks of no loss.. like for me, but it is scary because you imagine staying the same for months and it is not a pretty sight.

I don't think that a plateau is necessarily something that has to happen. I have found that most plateaus are self-induced and are usually, though certainly not always, brought on by not being consistient with either ones food plan or exercise regimene or a combination of both.

It's very hard to "stick" to ones so called diet week after week after week, for months on end. People tend to stray a day or 2 here and there and that's where the plateau comes into play.

But then of course there's bound to be a few weeks every now and then where you don't see a loss and then all of sudden you get a nice drop in the scale the following week. Weightloss is not always consistient, even though we are. The best thing to do is stick with the plan that you are following. The weight will come off - eventually.

Also as we get lighter and lighter we require less calories, so eventually we may have to drop our calories or increase our exercise or both in order to keep getting a deficit and seeing downward movement on the scale. So our plans do need to be tweaked from time to time.

The best thing that you can do it to be consistient and that weight will come off - all the way to goal in fact. Good luck.

Jpye, I've been at this for 54 weeks, and have not hit a plateau. I am now 10 pounds from my WW goal, and it has slowed down tremendously, but I haven't stopped losing. This week at weigh in I stayed exactly the same weight, but looking back over my food choices there were a couple things in there that I really shouldn't have eaten....that said....the lack in movement on the scale is my doing, not a plateau!

In my personal experience, I never hit a plateau that wasn't self-induced. Being brutally honest with myself was always the solution. When I started trying to lose weight, I never really believed that I could do it so I didn't have a goal weight. When I found and joined 3FC, everyone was posting goal weight, so I looked at other women my age and height and picked a goal weight based on their number. 135- OK, I want to be 135. I "plateaued" at 135 for a few years while knowing that I really wanted to lose more and was still fat for me. But I also sabotaged myself every weekend, then complained that I'd hit a plateau, a "set point", whatever. Finally, getting really serious about it, facing the reality that if I wanted to be leaner I needed to clean up my eating to 100% on plan broke the self-induced plateau

Mel

Amen, sister. I agree with everyone else that plateaus are for the most part self-induced. They certainly have been in my experience. I haven't really had one, actually, or not anything I would really call a plateau. I've had a week or two here and there where my weight loss stalled, but there was always a reason for it, and it was always something that I did or did not do. I've stayed around 172 practically all summer even though I'm usually staying within a calorie range that should allow me to use, but I'm not really trying to lose at this point because of my half marathon training. I'm sort of choosing to stall, believe it or not, so I can't call that a plateau. It took me almost exactly a year to lose 100 pounds and there wasn't a plateau of any kind in all that time. So my advice is just to commit to your plan and stick to it, knowing that your weight WILL go down if you stay on track.