Okay, I have been having a hard time getting the scale to move. I went thru a plato last month and then finally the scale moved now it is doing the same thing. I have uped my walking, jogging more and eating a little more protein. Do anyone have any ideas what to do, PLEASE??????

Maybe you could try maintaining for a little while and then jump back in. Your body may be saying it's had enough for now.

Alternatively, rather than upping the time, try mixing it up. Do you do weight training?

no not right now, I hope to in about another month when I start back at the gym. I want to lose more weight I feel like I am so close to my goal weight. OHHHHHHH why is it so hard. I have work so long and hard on this and now

so you think maybe try something else excerise way. Like maybe stepping up on some rocks or something like that. I am unable to go to the gym until later and doing stuff around my house.....

I don't know if there is ever a great time for a plateau.

Can't hurt. Might help.

Remember you're getting closer to your goal, and unfortunately, the closer we get, sometimes the harder it is to lose. Whatever happens on the scale, keep going!

You could do some weight training without the gym. After I posted, I remembered that in the past, carrying 3-5 pound weights in each hand while doing my typical routine helped push along results. My grandma, before she had a moratorium put on exercise, used to strap ankle weights on when she did house work, stretching, etc, to get some quasi-weight-training it at the same time.

Mix up your exercise. As your body gets used to activity your progress slows down.

Also maybe give yourself a high calorie day to wake up your metabolism. I've done this twice in the past few months and actually had a loss afterwards. Eat something like 2300-2500 calories one day.

I agree, best way to conquer a plateau is to shake up your routine.

weight training sounds like a good idea, especially since you're plateauing. But be forwarned: sometimes adding weight training will increase your weight rather than decrease because muscle weighs more than fat. Keep doing cardio, but add the weights and see what happens!
Good luck!

Make lunch and breakfast your larger meals. I actually have a big breakfast, a late big lunch, and a very light dinner with snacks here and there.

Muscle and fat weigh the same - a pound is a pound. A pound of fat takes up more volume than a pound of muscle which is why two people weighing exactly the same may be different sizes.

Thank you everyone for replying back. I will make friday my high cal day since friday I can go out to eat. I will also see what I have around the house I can use as weights and try and mix up my routine.

Thank you again, any more advice would be welcoming

I was just thinking about this the other day. How do our bodies know what our goal is and when we're getting close to that goal? When I get to within 10 lbs. of my goal I was going to change it down another 15 lbs. so my body wouldn't know it was almost done having to lose weight and wouldn't slow down it's rate of loss.


Sometimes a plateau isn't all bad. It gives your body time to adjust to the loss and gives you time to practice maintenance. I've been at the same wt. since June - mostly due to eating just a little too much -- and am finally getting back into the swing of things. Even though I was eating more than I needed to in order to lose, I kept my 5/6 day a week exercise and re-worked that since the kids went back to school. Absolutely, your body gets used to the same-old, same-old. Try intervals, weights, yoga, tennis, swimming -- different intensities and different activities. Maybe give yourself a few weeks maintaining then kick it back into gear. I sure wish weight loss WAS linear!

Well, I think the phrase is kind of shorthand way of expressing two things:

One is that a healthy rate of loss is about 1% of your bodyweight per week or so. When you're 200+ lbs, then 2lb a week makes things go pretty quickly. You can lose 10lb in a month, if your body is cooperating. When you weigh 140 or 130 or whatever, then suddenly 1.3lb a week seems "slow" in comparison to what you were losing before. Suddenly that 10lb will take you nearly 2 months to lose, instead of 1.

The other thing is that most people's goal weights are healthy weights for them, near the mid-bottom of your BMI chart. So the closer your body gets to this weight ... the more your body is going to say, "ok, this losing thing has gone on long enough". The slimmer you are, the harder it is to lose weight in general because your body wants to hold on to reserves of fat in case of famine or drought.

So the shorthand version of that is: the closer you are to goal, the harder it is to lose.



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I have gotten this far I will not turn back. It is hard work, why is it so hard to lose weight and so darn easy to gain it.