I posted about this before, but most people say just wait it out. It's been a few weeks and my weight is still stuck...has anyone been able to get things moving again and jumpstarted (aside from just waiting things out)

It's been another week of exercising and eating 1300calories and I'm still 195. The numbers make sense that I should be losing, but I'm just not. I tried cutting carbs more this week, and still noting. This is my second time at this weight and the first time the weight came off a steady 1-3 pounds a week, so it's frustrating it isn't coming off like it did when I lost before. I looked back at some of my fitday logs and noticed I was actually eating less then, like 1100 calories and it wasn't the best food (tv dinners, processed diet foods!). Here I am eating more vegetables and protein but I'm not losing.

I'm thinking maybe I should fast for a couple of days and lay off the exercise just to see if my body drops anything weight at all. Maybe it'll jumpstart it or something. I know my body can lose weight, so I don't think there's anything medical going on.

What did you do when things just weren't moving?

Your body eventually figures out how to maintain when you stay at a particular calorie/exercise level. It's called homeostasis. You have to figure out how to "trick" your body into losing again - increase calories, zigzag calories, increase exercise, change the type of exercise you do.

What are your macronutrient percentages? Protein, carbs, fats?

I totally sympathise with this, and know how frustrating and annoying it can seem when you're doing all of the "right things", but no weight is coming off.

There are three things I tend to try, and I generally find they really help.

Firstly, I make sure I stay hydrated. I do this in the obvious way, by making sure I am drinking water regularly throughout the day. If I'm regularly hydrating my body, there's no need for excess water to be retained in my body, which can lead to a stall in weight loss.

Secondly, and on a similar line to the point above, I carefully monitor my sodium intake. I know that if I eat a lot of salty foods one day, even if I stay within my calorie intake to lose weight, I often end up with either a stall, or a gain the next day. Personally, although drinking a lot of water if I eat high salt foods helps, it doesn't totally get rid of this problem. For me, the solution to this is to avoid any processed foods (which to be honest isn't something I really eat anyway), and when preparing my own meals, carefully measure any salt that I add, and be disciplined about this (measuring out with a small spoon). I find that when my salt intake is at a healthier level, I definitely notice a reduction in the frequency and length of any stalls.

Last, but most definitely not least, exercise is the thing that really helps me break through a stall. I don't know if it's just physical (i.e., burning more calories to leave me more of a deficit that day), or psychological (e.g., if I exercise, I tend to want to eat well that day and not undo my efforts), or both, but I definitely find exercise is the biggest plateau-beater of them all. This September I started the C25K running programme, and I've lost 8lbs in the past four weeks. Given that prior to beginning that exercise, it was taking me a fortnight or three weeks to even lose a pound or two, this rate of weight loss progress is huge for me, and as I've not really changed anything else other than getting my three morning runs in, I'm pretty sure it's played a big part. I read that you have already been exercising regularly, so perhaps you could mix things up and try a different form of exercise, as Rochester recommends. Personally, I find any exercise that involves using intervals really effective (i.e., periods of high intensity exercise followed by a slighly lower intensity, cycled a few times).

Aside from those general tips, I would definitely echo what Rochester says about changing things up. Alter your calorie intake, alter the type and intensity of exercise that you are doing, and you may find this really helps you. I know you already know this, but there is unfortunately just a case sometimes of "waiting things out" - weight loss can never be a linear process, because there are so many other variables involved in losing weight, that it isn't just a simple formula of a deficit in calories (through eating less and exercising more) resulting in fat loss. I know you already know this, but I find sometimes it helps me to keep this in mind when I'm trying to see the long view (e.g., how I will be in 6 months if I keep up with my healthy lifestyle), rather than the immediate (e.g., how the scales haven't budged for a month).

Best of luck, I hope you break through your stall very soon!

I lost 1.5-2.5lbs steadily every single week (including TOM weeks) until exactly 150lbs. I didn't change anything I was doing, I just stopped right at 150lbs for a month.

I gave myself a rest week. I only lightly exercised (walking, strength training) and ate at my maintenance level instead of creating a big deficit. I didn't quit calorie counting or go wildly off plan for the week, I just bumped the calories up and ate different foods that I had been eating. I went from eating 1300-1500 to eating about 1700-1900 for the week.

It was kind of a mental and physical recharge. I actually was looking forward to get back to my regular exercise and lower calorie foods. But to my surprise, I actually dropped like 3lbs on my weekly weigh in for that rest week. Even with the higher calorie eating and minimal exercise. But I still got back to my regular plan and continued losing (although at a slower rate since I was smaller) all the way down to my current size. I now incorporate fairly regular "rest days," cheat meals, etc. Not only because it's mentally refreshing to be able to eat a cheeseburger every once in awhile, but it keeps my metabolism on its toes.

That being said, you should go through a mental checklist to see if there's anything that might be causing a stall. Are you counting EVERYthing? No sneaking bites or extras? And how long has the stall been? People have different loss patterns. I lost steadily linear from 183+ to 150. After I got over my hump, I stalled for two weeks before my TOM, then I'd drop, lose the next week, then stall again. The stalls were somewhat frustrating, but they became my expected pattern.

looking at sparkpeople, it's around 30c/30f/40p, some days more or less where they all look almost equal.

I just keep staying on plan with exercise and diet. It starts moving again eventually. I just rely on the science of things -- if I'm taking in fewer calories than I'm expending, I'm going to lose weight.

Totally agree with what everyone else is saying. I remember also jillian michaels saying on a talk that it's good to have a 'high-calorie' day to get the metabolism shaken up.

Would also maybe see if you are drinking diet soda a lot... I've read that aspartame and other artificial sweeteners can stall weight loss. Good luck!

I am having the same problem, I started doing the 21 herbalife digestive cleanse, and only eating fruits and veggies.So far I have dropped 7 lbs. I am hoping the weight loss will continue when i am done with cleanse.

I'm going to suggest you shake these up a little. My favourite would be to drop the carbs and up the fats. Do you like avocado or a drissle of oil olive on your vegetables? Salmon is a lovely protein with nice fats.

Speaking of moving...are your bowels moving okay? (sorry, TMI) Have you been having 1-2 big poops daily?

What is the difference between homeostasis and maintaince?

For about 5 years I ate around 4000 calories a day and did nothing, and my weight didn't go into "homeostasis". It went up, up, up, even though I was eating the same and exercising the same. I mean eventually I might have hit a maintaince calorie range where my body was a big as it could get on that many calories, but thankfully I didn't wait and find out.

So does homeostasis only exist for people losing weight? and if so, Why? It seems that if it happens when one was losing, it should happen when one is gaining...and it sure doesn't seem to work that way.

Lori, for the past 4 or so years, I was in homeostasis. I would gain a pound or two of water weight if i was drinking too much (partied quite a bit in my mid 20s) but once i cut out the multiple times a week boozing, my weight normalized at 230. I'm guessing i was eating about 2500-3000 calories a day. But, i was also living in a big city and walking absolutely everywhere. I think the very light exercise accounted for this maintenance.

But, it's definitely a mystery!

Lori Bell, not tmi, I'm usually in tune with that type of thing, a couple of days I didn't 'go', so that could be it.

It's interesting that we can keep eating above our BMRs and keep gaining and never plateau going up, but when it comes to taking it off it seems simple calories in and calories out isn't always the answer.

Hi,

If you are hitting the weights, and eating lots of protein it could be that you are building muscle, and even though u dont see the numbers fall you might still be losing.