Hello, this is my first post here. I've just gotten to a point where this is all so frustrating. My weight has not budged for a month, and I've barely started this journey. I've been doing so well in keeping a log of my eating, keeping it under 1200 calories, I just joined a gym about a week ago, so daily workouts (nothing crazy, just about 30 minutes of brisk walking).. the scale is absolutely stuck at 222. I know I should judge the way I 'feel', and not the scale - but the scale is making me 'feel' pretty irritated! Anyway have any suggestions to get through this point of being stuck? Thank you!!

Stop getting on the scale. Seriously.

If you're doing everything else right, the weight will eventually come off. Don't drive yourself crazy over a number that really doesn't mean that much.

Others may have suggestions to jump-start your weight loss again. But all I can say is that the scale is no longer a part of my life, and I don't miss it at all!

I agree. Sometimes the scale can be the worst enemy in this whole journey. I would try and stay off the scale for awhile and yes, base it on how you are feeling.
I am not sure of how to get "unstuck" but hopefully others can give you some good tips! Don't get to discouraged! Keep doing what you are doing and the weight will eventually come off!

I have to respectfully disagree that it's the scale that's the problem. A month is plenty long enough time to see if your diet is working. I like to see a weight loss of 2-3 lbs a week for myself. And definitely no less than 1 lb a week. If I'm not seeing that, then what I'm doing isn't working.

Try tweaking something. Sometimes the smallest tweak makes the difference. For me, it was adjusting my carb/protein/fat ratios. I dropped my carbs to under 100g a day and upped my protein/fat calories. My overall caloric intake remained the same but since I wasn't spiking my insulin my body became better at burning fat and I started losing fat pounds.

Look at some of the ways people are successful here, and try adding one tweak from their strategy that you like to what you're doing and see if it helps.

Change the batteries in the scale.
How are you tracking calories? Are you measuring and weighing your food? Can you post a sample day?

I'm 5'9", and weigh less than you do and comfortably lose 1-2 lbs per week on around 1600 calories a day. You are keeping it less than 1200. I'd up the calories for a week, see what happens. If you don't lose, you could drop the calories back to what you were doing before. Then I think you'd lose. Sometimes the body needs a deviation from the norm. I agree with the other posters about the carb levels possibly needing lowered.

I started off by doing a very low carb diet, and have slowly introduced a little bit more carbs in the way of fruit and veggies. I'm wondering if it's also my age (I'm 40) and that it's just taking a lot longer. The very low carb made me feel lousy, very thirsty, and felt very unbalanced.
Also, I agree with all of you about the scale, however I only weigh myself about once a week. I've tried other scales, and they are all about the same - so I'll try to play around with my diet a bit and see. I'm using MFP and I've been very good at tracking what I eat. Thanks for all the feedback.

Have you had your thyroid checked? And are you sure you are tracking your calories accurately?

yep, I have had the thyroid checked. It might be worth checking again. I have been really good about tracking the calories. 10 pounds came off rather quickly at first, which I attribute to water weight mostly. I've been super motivated, for sure. I'm really just trying to stay the course, but have been mystified by the stall.

I'm 56 and lost 50 pounds a couple of years ago on 1,500 cals per day (with lots of carbs), at an average weekly rate of 1.25 pounds. If you're truly eating an AVERAGE of 1,200 cals per day, exercising, and still not losing, I suggest you go to the doctor for a workup.

Freelance

I think that is my only other option, to ask a doctor. I've lost weight (and gained) several times over in the past - my weight loss has never been this sluggish!

Thyroid is a possibility. I have Hashimotos and could NOT lose weight until I started replacement thyroid hormone medication. After I started thyroid replacement hormone, it became possible to lose weight. Not easy, but possible.

If I go less than 1200 calories, I don't lose anything. I lose when I eat 1400-1600 though. I also eat back my exercise calories. So as someone said, I would up your calories for a week or two and see if that does anything.

You have had a lot of great suggestions! I hope that you can get it figured out soon; after coming off a 3 week stall myself I know how frustrating not seeing the scale move is.

It's very typical to not see any loss for several weeks, then to have a "whoosh" one day where several pounds are gone.

Are you have regular bowel movements? Strict calorie restriction has a tendency to slow those down.

One of the biggest reasons a very low calorie diet doesn't work for me is stalls. When I am in a stall, I want to be able to lower my intake to jump start my body out of it. At 1200 a day, you don't have any room to go down without feeling like crud.

I lose a pound a week at 1700 calories. At my current weight, I don't expect any more than a pound a week of loss. When I am stalled, I can do 1500 for three days and the scale will move. Then I go back to 1700. It took me months of tweaking and adjusting and reading and calculating to find my sweet spot with calories, so to speak. Higher is better for me.

I knew these great folks here would have some good suggestions!

After reading all this, I was thinking back on when I counted calories and exercised to lose weight. I used a calorie counter to count my calories & it allowed me 1200 calories to lose weight. In addition, it added in my activity calories and I almost always ate them each day. My exercise of choice was walking on an indoor track, and I increased that over time to 5 miles daily, so I had a nice number of extra calories to play with. (and I usually used them on wine! )

I weighed once weekly, same day, same time - first thing in the morning after I went to the bathroom. As far as I can remember, my weight loss was pretty linear. I don't remember big stalls such as what you're describing.

So perhaps adding in some extra calories would help. Worth a try, I think.