I'll try to keep this as concise as possible. I started my weight loss journey on June 1st, 2011 at 226lb. Today I am 188lb, so I've lost 38lb in a little over two and a half months. I did this by counting calories; I eat 1300 calories each day. The only exercise I have done was during the last week in June. I stopped because of my work and personal schedule.

Well I started working out again last week, August 15th. Nothing extreme, three or four days a week of 30 min of cardio and like 15 min of strength training. Here is the problem: I haven't lost weight in a week now. I have been CONSISTENTLY losing 3lb a week and suddenly stopped last week when I started exercising.

Could it be because of the cardio/strength training? Certainly I have not gained muscle from like an hour of leg presses and free weights! Or could this be a plateau that I've hit that I need to figure out how to get through? If it's a plateau, I'm thinking about about intermittent fasting.

Any advice or opinions are much appreciated.

Maybe days you work out you need to slightly up your calories to help compensate?

Also make sure you are drinking plenty of water- you can retain a bit of water when you workout

Hi Beerab, thank you for your response. Yes, I drink plenty of water. 100+ ounces daily. I might try upping my calories on work out days. Thanks.

Congrats on your incredible weight loss! Losing 3lbs. a week is astounding, as far as I'm concerned. Please give it some time...sometimes, the body holds onto water. It could also be from the heat. I would say keep doing what you're doing and give it a few weeks. Also, once you are lighter, you don't lose as quickly (sometimes) because you're carrying less weight around. Again, great job on dropping all that weight.

it could be from retaining water... maybe try lowering your calories to 1200 (don;t go any lower) and see if that helps. try doing hiit intervals when you work out. i wouldn't stop with the weights.. even if the scale # doesn't change building muscle will make you smaller!

It could be your body retaining water as it gets used to the exercise.

It could be your body needing a few extra calories on work out days.

It could also be... nothing and none of the above. Weight loss is not linear. Even for people who are consistent for a while, it does not mean it will always stay that way. Everyone has stalls. It's a normal part of the process. You'll work past it just like everyone else

The odd thing is not that you haven't lost weight in the last week, but that you were consistently losing the same amount (and a very high amount) each week. It is perfectly normal to fluctuate for any number of reasons (I know there's a sticky about that somewhere... salt, hormones, exercise, heat, food passage, etc). Many folks will sometimes gain weight temporarily even when thay are perfectly on plan. I know it's very frustrating, especially since you were seeing such consistent weight loss before, but please understand that most of us have been through this and with time we try to get used to it (not always with good grace). If the scale doesn't move for another three weeks or so, maybe it's time to double check your calorie counts and things like that. But in the mean time it's much more likely that if you stick with the program you will start to see results again.

Congrats on your weight loss so far, and good luck!

Drink more water! Also avoid salt, and any possessed foods, Carbonated drinks (Even if diet). You body will store the extra water because it's thirsty! You are suppose to drink half your weight in ounces like i'm 215 so i would have to drink 107 ounces. Just like fat, If you don't eat every 2-3 hours your body will retain it. But i think you know that :P

This thread is a microcosm of why weight loss can be so confusing.

Eat more!

Eat less!

Eat less salt!

Drink more water!

It is important to differentiate between weight loss and fat loss. Weight loss is unpredictible and is rarely linear for a variety of possible reasons but almost alway has to do with water balance.

Fat loss is much more linear and until you get to very low body fat levels is simply and equation of energy (calories.) Unfortunately there is no reliable way to easily estimate current body fat levels.

Thus - I wouldn't worry about why your weight loss has stalled. You're definitely losing fat it just isn't being reflected on the scale. More than likely the scale will reward you soon.

What I would suggest is that you take regular measurements and pictures. Once a month is adequate. Use these as your true measure of progress and not the unreliable scale.

I've also been losing everyweek and then last week I didn't lose anything. But the following week I dropped 4lb.

Just give it time, the weight will fall off

I stopped losing when I started exercising, but a while later, all of the extra weight slid off, and it ended averaging 3lbs/week for the time that I thought I was stalled.

I also have had periods where I haven't lost followed by a woosh. Also, I always maintain or even gain a little when I first start exercising. I assume my muscles are a little swollen from the assault.

sore muscles are swollen muscles. It's water retention

The same thing happened to me when I started exercising. Keep doing what you're doing, it may be water retention from the exercise. I can't imagine you are actually not losing (and not just at a little stall on the scale) with your calorie intake and exercise. Don't lower your cals; if anything I'd increase them a little. Good luck!

If your diet hasn't changed, I would guess the exercise is either causing water retention or your metabolism has down-graded because the exercise is consuming enough calories to put your body in "starvation mode". If it's the first case, just keep going and it'll all even out - but if it's the second case, you probably want to up your calories, maybe just for a little while, to convince your body it has enough energy to carry out all its normal metabolic activities.

Based on how low your calories are and how quickly you've been losing weight, I would tend to think you need to increase your calories when adding the exercise. Just my 2 cents.