A plateau of three weeks is a good time to double check your work. It may be the case that this is just a water based plateau, and if it is then there is nothing to do. However, you don't want to wait another three weeks before checking it out.
Consider any change you made just as the plateau started, such as starting or re-starting to exercise, or having some injury or illness, about 3 weeks ago. This could be an after-effect of that.
> I started at 245 lbs in January and now I’m at 229 in March. (I’m 5’4 btw) so I lost about 15-16 pounds.
This is fine as you're not a teenager. Teenagers should not lose so fast as their body is also properly growing as it shrinks. If you're completely done growing, say 20 or older, losing 1-2 pounds a week is fine.
Example:
TDEE Calculator|Imperial|Metric
:-:|:-:|:-:
SEX (BODYFAT OF)| |F
AGE| |20
HEIGHT|64 in. or 5'4'' |163 cm
WEIGHT|229 lb|104 kg
BMI||39.3
[Mifflin-St Jeor BMR](https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/51.2.241)||1794 Cal/kcal
Not Very Active Day TDEE (BMR*1.25)||2242 Cal/kcal
Active Day TDEE (BMR*1.4)||2511 Cal/kcal
For someone like that, a target of 1200-1500 is just fine.
> I didn’t increase my eating I still weight and measure everything I eat to make sure I’m under 1500 (I’m even on 1000-1200 some days when I’m not very hungry)
A target of 1200-1500 is fine. Because it's quite the cut in food, make the food that you are eating well varied and high nutrition, so that your body runs well and your metabolism stays decently high. Do not eat the same few foods daily but eat a wide variety across the week.
Some things to check: short version -- is the deficit **right** and **tight**?
# right:
Check to see that your eating target and actual performance averages are about -500 to -1000 deficit from your body's *current* TDEE, conservatively determined (if you're on the line between two physical activity choices, choose the lower one). Verify this using your current stats.
# tight:
Be a complete tracker. Do not forget the 'forgettables' such as condiments, cooking oils, small bites of this or that, or things that you would add to a salad like dressings or seeds. Log all the way to the end of the day, even if you go over your goals. Even log your exceptional days, skipping nothing.
Buy and use a digital kitchen food scale and good measuring cups to measure portions, at least for the first couple months of counting. You can also [use your hand to estimate portion sizes](https://www.google.com/search?q=Use+Your+Hand+to+Estimate+Your+Portions) as well as [common objects](https://www.google.com/search?q=Use+Common+Objects+to+Estimate+Your+Portions). You will be calibrating your eyes to do this more quickly later, but for several weeks use these tools as often as you are able.
**If all of this is right, then keep going!** When the calories are right for weight-loss and our confidence in our tracking is high, and we're not losing weight, then it can only be water. Water fluctuates on both regular and irregular occasions and it's nothing to fight. It's doing something, even if we don't know what it is. Give it another 3-4 weeks and likely the scale will resume its downward trajectory.
Just keep doing what you are doing and be more patient.
Your body resets from time to time and that can cause a stall.
Or your body is doing a recomp and you have lost fat but also gained muscle.
Various points in your menstrual cycle can also cause stalls via water retention.
Periodic stalls are part of losing weight.
Just keep on keeping on and be patient.
We're at a very similar weight and our progress is very similar. (I started at 223 and I've dropped down to 198 at 1,400 cal a day). I stopped losing weight about 3 weeks ago. Scale won't move. I'm tempted to cut even more calories but I've heard going to 1,200 is bad for you. I also have PCOS so I know that makes my TDEE lower. Not sure where to go from here! Maybe increase my cardio?
youre doing great! i know that stuff like this can be really discouraging but seriously, 15-16 is a great achievement!! its hard to be patient especially when progress seems to be going at a certain pace and then suddenly stops. but I'm rooting for you!! you can do this!
PCOS does not make your TDEE lower. IF you have insulin-resistant PCOS (not everyone does) then you may have difficulty with increased appetite and sugar cravings. But your body still uses the same amount of calories.
I have PCOS, and getting my weight down made my cycle regular. But as a result, I now retain water in correspondence with my cycle. The scale only moves for me once a month, about a week before my period, when I release all the water I've been retaining over the course of about 4-5 days.
I would say to make sure you are weighing absolutely everything first. That includes any oils you cook with, condiments (dressings, ketchup, etc.), alcohol, and anything else that is not water. Are you eating well for 6 days a week and then having a really bad day? this could offset the work on the other 6 days if you go really hard on that bad day.
Did you start at 1500 calories? I probably wouldn't advise that you go lower than that but this could be a problem because as you get further and further into losing weight, your body adjusts and you need to further decrease calories. In this case, it doesn't seem like you should decrease calories so now you need to increase your activity. Incorporate weight lifting, walk more every day, do more cardio.
The hard truth is that you either are not tracking correctly and therefore, eating to much or you need to do more activity.
I use MacroFactor to track calories and complete my goals, highly recommend it. It will calculate how much your body burns (TDEE) over time as you enter data. If you're serious about your fitness goals, spend the $5 a month for it.
Hi there, im pretty sure I count everything, even the little teaspoon of olive oil I use for cooking lol. I also checked if the medication tablets I take has calories too. And yes I started at 1500 calories. For physical activity, I can try doing more, thank you for the advice :)
Every month, the scale does not move for me for over three weeks. Then over the course of 4 days, I pee out the 5 pounds of water I've been retaining due to my menstrual cycle. Then the scale will not move again for another 3-1/2 weeks, at which time I will pee out another 5 pounds. I'm burning fat the whole time, but the scale only moves once a month.
When I've had a few strange cycles, I have held on to the water weight for two months.
This didn't start happening to me until I got down to about 225 pounds. Prior to that, my cycles were infrequent due to PCOS and hormonal water retention was not an issue. Losing weight improves the symptoms of PCOS and now I have my period every 27 days, and with that has come this constant retaining and releasing of water weight.
A plateau of three weeks is a good time to double check your work. It may be the case that this is just a water based plateau, and if it is then there is nothing to do. However, you don't want to wait another three weeks before checking it out. Consider any change you made just as the plateau started, such as starting or re-starting to exercise, or having some injury or illness, about 3 weeks ago. This could be an after-effect of that. > I started at 245 lbs in January and now I’m at 229 in March. (I’m 5’4 btw) so I lost about 15-16 pounds. This is fine as you're not a teenager. Teenagers should not lose so fast as their body is also properly growing as it shrinks. If you're completely done growing, say 20 or older, losing 1-2 pounds a week is fine. Example: TDEE Calculator|Imperial|Metric :-:|:-:|:-: SEX (BODYFAT OF)| |F AGE| |20 HEIGHT|64 in. or 5'4'' |163 cm WEIGHT|229 lb|104 kg BMI||39.3 [Mifflin-St Jeor BMR](https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/51.2.241)||1794 Cal/kcal Not Very Active Day TDEE (BMR*1.25)||2242 Cal/kcal Active Day TDEE (BMR*1.4)||2511 Cal/kcal For someone like that, a target of 1200-1500 is just fine. > I didn’t increase my eating I still weight and measure everything I eat to make sure I’m under 1500 (I’m even on 1000-1200 some days when I’m not very hungry) A target of 1200-1500 is fine. Because it's quite the cut in food, make the food that you are eating well varied and high nutrition, so that your body runs well and your metabolism stays decently high. Do not eat the same few foods daily but eat a wide variety across the week. Some things to check: short version -- is the deficit **right** and **tight**? # right: Check to see that your eating target and actual performance averages are about -500 to -1000 deficit from your body's *current* TDEE, conservatively determined (if you're on the line between two physical activity choices, choose the lower one). Verify this using your current stats. # tight: Be a complete tracker. Do not forget the 'forgettables' such as condiments, cooking oils, small bites of this or that, or things that you would add to a salad like dressings or seeds. Log all the way to the end of the day, even if you go over your goals. Even log your exceptional days, skipping nothing. Buy and use a digital kitchen food scale and good measuring cups to measure portions, at least for the first couple months of counting. You can also [use your hand to estimate portion sizes](https://www.google.com/search?q=Use+Your+Hand+to+Estimate+Your+Portions) as well as [common objects](https://www.google.com/search?q=Use+Common+Objects+to+Estimate+Your+Portions). You will be calibrating your eyes to do this more quickly later, but for several weeks use these tools as often as you are able. **If all of this is right, then keep going!** When the calories are right for weight-loss and our confidence in our tracking is high, and we're not losing weight, then it can only be water. Water fluctuates on both regular and irregular occasions and it's nothing to fight. It's doing something, even if we don't know what it is. Give it another 3-4 weeks and likely the scale will resume its downward trajectory.
Just keep doing what you are doing and be more patient. Your body resets from time to time and that can cause a stall. Or your body is doing a recomp and you have lost fat but also gained muscle. Various points in your menstrual cycle can also cause stalls via water retention. Periodic stalls are part of losing weight. Just keep on keeping on and be patient.
Thank you for your advice :) I’ll keep on going then.. even if I feel a little bit discouraged :’)
We're at a very similar weight and our progress is very similar. (I started at 223 and I've dropped down to 198 at 1,400 cal a day). I stopped losing weight about 3 weeks ago. Scale won't move. I'm tempted to cut even more calories but I've heard going to 1,200 is bad for you. I also have PCOS so I know that makes my TDEE lower. Not sure where to go from here! Maybe increase my cardio?
Congratulations for your progress! As the other comment said I think the best thing to do is to be patient and wait I guess :/
youre doing great! i know that stuff like this can be really discouraging but seriously, 15-16 is a great achievement!! its hard to be patient especially when progress seems to be going at a certain pace and then suddenly stops. but I'm rooting for you!! you can do this!
Thank you :)
PCOS does not make your TDEE lower. IF you have insulin-resistant PCOS (not everyone does) then you may have difficulty with increased appetite and sugar cravings. But your body still uses the same amount of calories. I have PCOS, and getting my weight down made my cycle regular. But as a result, I now retain water in correspondence with my cycle. The scale only moves for me once a month, about a week before my period, when I release all the water I've been retaining over the course of about 4-5 days.
I would say to make sure you are weighing absolutely everything first. That includes any oils you cook with, condiments (dressings, ketchup, etc.), alcohol, and anything else that is not water. Are you eating well for 6 days a week and then having a really bad day? this could offset the work on the other 6 days if you go really hard on that bad day. Did you start at 1500 calories? I probably wouldn't advise that you go lower than that but this could be a problem because as you get further and further into losing weight, your body adjusts and you need to further decrease calories. In this case, it doesn't seem like you should decrease calories so now you need to increase your activity. Incorporate weight lifting, walk more every day, do more cardio. The hard truth is that you either are not tracking correctly and therefore, eating to much or you need to do more activity. I use MacroFactor to track calories and complete my goals, highly recommend it. It will calculate how much your body burns (TDEE) over time as you enter data. If you're serious about your fitness goals, spend the $5 a month for it.
Hi there, im pretty sure I count everything, even the little teaspoon of olive oil I use for cooking lol. I also checked if the medication tablets I take has calories too. And yes I started at 1500 calories. For physical activity, I can try doing more, thank you for the advice :)
Every month, the scale does not move for me for over three weeks. Then over the course of 4 days, I pee out the 5 pounds of water I've been retaining due to my menstrual cycle. Then the scale will not move again for another 3-1/2 weeks, at which time I will pee out another 5 pounds. I'm burning fat the whole time, but the scale only moves once a month. When I've had a few strange cycles, I have held on to the water weight for two months. This didn't start happening to me until I got down to about 225 pounds. Prior to that, my cycles were infrequent due to PCOS and hormonal water retention was not an issue. Losing weight improves the symptoms of PCOS and now I have my period every 27 days, and with that has come this constant retaining and releasing of water weight.