So what gives? . . . I'm doing mostly my same level of exercise (lifted weights with a trainer for an hour last week for the first time) and a thousand calorie/day deficit and my weight hasn't changed from 154ish for a couple of weeks, yet I'm fitting in jeans I couldn't fit into a couple of weeks ago. Agh, these 9 lbs to go are the hardest and most confusing! Leading up to this I lost 8 lbs in two weeks.

This sounds pretty normal to me. I very frequently go two weeks or longer without seeing any loss on the scale. Often these periods are accompanied by some apparent readjustment of my body, in which things rearrange and my shape changes.

It would be nice if our bodies were clockwork automata that reliably shed a few ounces of weight and a few millimeters of girth every single day so that we could always have a nice, linear sense of progress. Unfortunately that isn't the reality. Too many factors determine your scale weight and the pliability of your shape on any given day, and most of those factors are outside of your control. The best you can do is be patient, think in terms of averages over time rather than day to day or week to week changes, and take a longer-term view. If you are fitting into clothes you couldn't wear a couple of weeks ago, then you are doing very well. Your plan is working and you just have to keep stick with it.

The last few pounds when you are close to a healthy weight are notoriously difficult. Over the past year my weight loss has slowed to less than half the rate it was the previous two years. I am approaching the healthy BMI range asymptotically, not linearly. That is just how it goes.

Are they new jeans, and the same brand as the ones you previously fit into?

Thanks for the wise words. I'm now hovering around 155 and 156 which makes me think the strength training, which left me very sore, might have caused me to retain water!

They're jeans that I tried on 2 weeks ago that are from my closet. I previously fit into them maybe 5 years ago. There are maybe 3-4 pairs and now I fit all of them, snugly, but they fit.

Thank you for posting this! I was feeling exactly the same way. Really frustrating.

I understand exactly where you are coming from... I am stuck at 160/161 and i can fit into smaller jeans, but my weight hasn't changed....I know I am losing weight though because my jeans are getting looser and I can fit into pants that I couldn't before....

you need to switch up the exercise, same old will lead to plateaus for some people.

And do measurements, you can lose inches without losing too much weight.

If the scales are making you frustrated don't let them demotivate you, I find that I will lose, maintain gain a little and lose, its like my body is rebooting itself ha. But I don't know of anyone who just loses constantly its like a jagged graph for everyone but it gets there in the end.