I'm a little confused on why so many people are upset when they "plateau"..

What does that mean exactly? It means that you are neither loosing nor gaining mass. In other words for the moment you are maintaining ...
What is so bad about that?

Because we don't WANT to "maintain" -- we want to lose weight and are working our butts off toward that goal!! We know the plateaus are there and we get through them... but that doesn't mean we like them or that they are not sooooooooooooooooo frustrating!!

I'm with Misti in Seattle. I want to lose not maintain. I hit a plateau last month at 270 lbs and it was soooo frustrating to work my butt off and not lose even 1 lb in a whole month. I had only been losing for a month so when I hit my plateau I didn't know what was happening, it really almost ended my dieting and exercise because I almost gave up. Now I know pretty much what to do when this happens again and it won't freak me out as bad.

i'm sure plateaus have their purpose...but we don't have to like it. unfortunately, we may say we are doing this to get healthy...we will even say we don't care how much we weigh as long as we look good...but in reality...the numbers count almost more than anything. It is definately a mental thing. I hate plateaus!!

Yeh... what Lumi said Except I don't think it is just a mental thing... I DO think it matters that the scale says I am waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overweight. But maybe it depends on just how overweight we are.... I know I sure don't want the scale to say this and I don't think it is just mental. I want both... to be healthy AND to be thin.

Yea, plateaus have a purpose. Your body knows what it's doing.

Here's a link that explains it a little better than I can.

http://www.weightlossforall.com/weight-loss-plateau.htm (hope the link is okay to post)

Plateaus are frustrating, yes. But if you continue to do the right things, your weight will start moving again. Your body is basically saying, "Whoa, hang on, I need time to adjust to this new weight." It just sort of puts things "on hold" for a while.

On the flipside, yes, I'd much rather maintain than gain. But when we're trying to lose weight and busting our butts exercising and eat the right amount of calories, we want to see that scale move DOWN. I know, I've been there more times than I can count. And when the scale stops and stays there for about 3 weeks (they say it can't really be considered a true plateau until you've been stalled for 2-3 weeks at least) you start ripping your hair out because you can't figure out what you're doing wrong. Do you up your calories or cut them back even further? Do you exercise more? Or are you exercising too much? Blah blah blah. All kinds of stuff goes through your brain.

Weeeee! Been on that trip more times than I care to admit

I'd say you can consider yourself in 'plateau mode' if you're going on week 3 with no loss. After one week? That's nothin. Lots of people don't budge in one week. Two weeks? Okay, bordering on frustrating, but it's still nothing to worry about. Three weeks? Yep, you can start throwing tantrums, lol.

i have a certain little mini goal i am trying to hit and my plateau was very frustrating to me cuz i was doing everything i could to lose weight. plateaus are the very reason so many people give up .. they are hateful little diet sabotagers!

Yes they are and that's why it's so important to understand the plateau and why it happens.

The next time any of you hit the dreaded plateau, just keep telling yourself, "Okay, my body knows what it's doing, it's just taking a little break for now but it will cooperate again eventually."

That's how I got through them. I did countless hours of research on the stupid plateaus and knowing how and why they happened is what kept me from giving up.

Even though we all hate plateaus and they're incredibly frustrating, Jayde's making an important point. When you plateau, the scale isn't going down - but it also isn't going up. And that's a GOOD thing! You're keeping off the pounds that you've already lost. People, that's a HUGE accomplishment!! Rather than focusing on 'grrr, the scale isn't moving', take a moment and savor the achievement.

You all know the horrible statistics about weight loss and regain, right? That 95% of people who lose weight end up regaining it?? When you plateau, you're maintaining your loss - and beating the odds. Sure you want the scale to keep going down - and it will - but there's a LOT of success in staying in the same place for a while.

Once you get to goal, the scale doesn't go down any more. Let's say you're eating 1400 clean calories and doing 90 minutes of exercise every day and your reward is ... seeing the same number on the scale every day. So you're forced to define your success in other ways -- and I personally think maintenance of ANY pounds lost is an enormous success.

Amen.

I just can't be happy about maintaining, not when there is soooooooo much more to lose. Not when I'm doing everything "right" and still not getting the results. Nope, no sir. Not happy at ALL.

If I do everything that's expected of me, I feel entitled to a loss. I feel I've earned it. And I feel cheated if it doesn't happen. If there were a good solid reason, if I'd eaten doughnuts and ice cream, THEN I could accept it. But if I'm doing the things I should be doing, I should get a payoff commensurate with that effort.

In the past 4-5 weeks, I've gained and lost the same 2ish pounds in half pound increments. And I'm durned ticked about it! Actually, I'm way more than ticked but that's about as PC as I can say it on these boards. It seems the only thing I've lost is my enthusiasm.

It's as if my body is conspiring against me.

Ok, I read the link about plateau's in Linda's link. I've heard about zig zagging before but never used it. Do any of you out there use it? What do you think about it?

I hit a plateau for my firt 5 weeks. I lost for a couple and hit another. That is why I hate them. It wouldnt be so bad if I had at least lost an amount of weight to brag about or if my cloths at least fit different. Argh!

As frustrating as palteaus are, I'm learning to deal with them - that just seems to be how my body loses weight. It is frustrating to go to the gym all the time, skip the treats, live really healthy, and not see the numbers budge for a few weeks. For me, though, it seems like I hit a plateau for a couple weeks, then drop 3 pounds all at once. On the other hand, my mom only hit one plateau during her whole weight loss. Frustrating, irritating, but I've still lost an average of 1.25 pounds per week since I started, which is what i was aiming for, and i haven't once gained since i started (although... after that hot dog at 3 am after the bar on Saturday night... ) so I really can't complain.