I say stick to your plan and don't let this slow-down get to you. It's so easy to let the first sign of slow-down as a "failure," but that's not the case at all. The only "failure" would be to give up because the numbers aren't moving only to find yourself gaining again. Just keep plugging along; I think you'll continue to see losses in the future, even on this same plan!

I would wait a few weeks. Could be water weight or something. I've gone through many weeks without loss, and later, some weeks with loss. I think that just doing what I am doing (at least for several weeks) despite not seeing results really helped me out in the long run.

I have refeed/cheat days which I believe have helped to stop me from extensive plateauing (although your weight does temporarily increase mainly due to water weight) but I'm good at not carrying them over to extra days. Calorie cycling might also help!

I had a week with no weight loss at all and it helped to remind myself that it will happen and that sticking to the plan will work. No matter what I was in a better position than when I started because I'd already lost some weight and was no longer at my highest.

For me the solution was adding in full-cream milk which restarted the loss (mainly because I think I wasn't getting enough fat or calories). However, I think that's just my body being weird.

Like Kayriel said, I use cheat days to avoid plateaus. Even just one meal with a higher calorie content seems to be helpful. Some find it difficult to stay on track, but if you don't think you'd have a problem, it might be something to consider. I stalled one month in and having a cheat day broke it; I just do them now as-needed and I haven't stalled since. *fingers crossed*

Good luck!

You don't need to do anything fancy.

What you need to do is educate yourself on weight loss vs fat loss because the scale will mess with your mind if you don't understand the difference. Short version - calories determine fat loss or gain and THAT is what matters. The scale is all over the place. Check out the sticky and keep reading ... you'll see a number of other threads nearly identical to this one.

Most importantly .... stick with the program. It looks like a good one to me!

I'd encourage you to consider joining TOPS (taking off pounds sensibly). The weight loss club really opens a person's eyes about what normal weight loss looks like.

In TOPS groups everyone goes around the room and tells how they did (often the actual numbers aren't reported, just the gain or loss). The net gain or loss is read for the club (and if you divide that number by the number of members you get the average loss per person - which is almost never more than a fraction of a pound).

Some groups run other contests that also help you see what "normal" weight loss really looks like.

My chapter for example runs an "apple tree" contest each month. On a cardboard tree, everyone has a paper apple with their name on it. If the person misses a meeting or gains weight at a weigh-in that month, their apple "falls from the tree." The members who are still on the tree at the end of the month split $10.

Sometimes no one makes it (and the next month's group splits $20). More often one to three people make it. Very rarely more than three will win.

This is out of a group of almost 30 members, which means that 90% of the group has at least one gain during the month. And very rarely are the "same people" winning consecutive months.

Personally, in the two years I've been in the group, I've only won apple tree ONCE (TOM gets me every time - it was no coincidence that the only month I "won" was February - a short month and a month my TOM was late).

One of the main reasons weight loss statistics are so dismal - why so many people give up - is that we've been taught to see our phenomenal successes as failure. We don't compare ourselves to "average" or "normal" weight loss (heck we don't even know what that is), we compare ourselves to the olympic athletes of weight loss.

You're succeeding incredibly. Most people don't lose every week, so you've got to get that expectation out of your head, or it will eat at you until you quit. Two pounds per week isn't normal weight loss (no matter what you read, or what anyone says. "Normal" is giving up and regaining - so just "not losing" is amazing progress. Remember that. Even when you think you can't lose another pound, you CAN keep off what you've lost).

I don't fear regaining anymore, because the biggest thing I changed was deciding that "not gaining" was much more important than actual weight loss. That meant I could never give up. If I give up, even for a short time, I also give up the weight I've already lost.

I'm not saying I've never backslid, I've just continued to remember that weight maintenance is just as important and in many ways even more important than weight loss. And while I don't always feel I have weight loss "in me" I usually do feel confident enough to "keep off" what I've lost so far.

Early in the game, it was hard to feel like "not gaining" was worth the extra effort. It felt like gaining couldn't be any worse than not losing (because our society teaches us to think and feel this way). I had to remind myself that gaining was TONS TONS TONS worse than not losing (because not losing was also not gaining).

My weight loss has been very slow. Partially by design (when I cut calories too far, I end up bingeing and on foods that don't make me feel very good), and partly because even when I do drastically cut calories I often don't lose (either from the unplanned binges or the metabolic issues I have).

But by focusing on "not gaining" I"ve lost and kept off over 100 lbs. By far the largest amount I've ever lost (even though at the slowest rate) and it's by far the longest I've stayed on a downward trend (seven years).

Taking seven years to lose 100 lbs isn't going to impress anyone. You'll probably never see my face on a women's magazine cover, but losing 100 lbs, even at 1 to 2 lbs PER MONTH, is extraordinary - because most people who need to do it, don't. I "win" just by staying in the game.

And you can win too, but to do it, you will have to redefine success and reshape your traditions and rituals, because most of our culturally ingrained traditions and rituals support weight gain not weight loss.