Extra Easy Plateau - Please help :(

[timmins]

Hey all,

I've been doing SW since January 5th. Since then I've lost 18lbs (with a 2 week holiday to Florida half-way through) but I've been using MFP to log my food and track my syns, and have been trying to keep under 1200 cals a day still (just because I know I'm bad for portion control). I'm doing SW EE 100% - Free foods, speed foods, HE A, HE B, 10-15 syns a day, lots of water, keeping on top of what's syns and what's not etc. and I seem to have plateaued.

I weigh myself every day (please don't comment on this) purely because it's the only thing that keeps me on track, and it's my OCD coming out. I know exactly the difference between my scales and the SW ones as I've been doing it since day 1, and this week I've not lost even a 1/4 of a pound. I've been consistently losing 2-4lbs a week, and even only put on 0.5lb when I was on holiday last month (and I've lost 5lb since), and I know exactly what I usually need to do and eat to see results on the scales usually every morning:

For some reason after weigh in on a Thursday I seem to lose, and then over the weekend, despite sticking 100% to plan and under 1200 calories with no booze or anything, I never seem to lose anything. I don't know if this is due to me walking a lot more at the weekend? And then usually Sunday-Wednesday I manage to lose around 2lbs, like clockwork, except this week.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how I could push through this plateau of no loss this week, or how to continue from here? I've still got 16lbs to lose and I'm feeling really disheartened.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Phoenix_Girl]

Hi Timmins.

If you are flogging pretty hard with the walking, you may not be drinking enough, you have to keep properly hydrated during exercise otherwise you begin to retain water.
In addition, I notice that you are having under 1200 Calories, this is the body's threshold for starvation mode and dipping below this on a regular basis may actually harm your losses.

You sound a lot like myself, I have a habit of wanting to weigh myself a lot which SW actively discourage. Have you been tracking your weight on the scales though?
It may be worth keeping a written record and potentially plotting it on a graph, maybe on excel to see a trend in your rhythms.
What you may find is that your weight will oscillate over the course of a week and you may change weight by a large amount even within the space of a day.
I had read an article about constantly weighing yourself and how it can trick you and be counter-intuitive (if I find it really hard not to weigh myself!) >_<

If on the other days, prior to WI, you are losing weight, it may be worth just eating normally as your low calorie cycle may be starting to have a negative impact on your losses.
Just try this technique for a week. If you have a loss, it may be worth repeating and seeing if it pays off in the future, if not, you may need to try something else to shift that weight. We have all been there with maintains or gains, you just need to persevere, dig deep and keep going!

 

[lentil2]

I think you need to ditch the calorie counting for a while and just follow the plan for what it is. Sounds like your body has 'behaved' itself so far purely because its had a calorie deficit to what it was used to and now its used to that amount, its rebelling!
A lot of people say that when they calorie count on SW they tend to eat around a similar sort of amount of calories but personally, I think its good to have an assortment of days, ie maybe a highish calorie day, followed by perhaps a not so high one etc etc. I'm not suggesting you actually follow it like that, more suggesting that you relax a little and just follow the plan and the calorie intake will take care of itself.

 

[swansong1a]

I agree totally with what the others said. Oh, and being stuck for one week is a slight blip, not a plateau

 

[lentil2]

I agree totally with what the others said. Oh, and being stuck for one week is a slight blip, not a plateau

Yes, I also meant to mention this in my post above.
A plateau is when you just cannot budge the lbs for several weeks no matter what you try.
Not losing weight for one week is pretty normal really and is what can make losing weight so difficult. I mean, if we could all just lose 2lbs every week, it would be simple. Its times like this that throw people off plan and where the hard work really begins.

 

[Ponytales]

Hiya,

I agree with the others. Don't be too hard on yourself if you sts for one week. You've done really well so far but your body probably just can't keep up with the 2 to 4lb losses and is just taking some time to sort itself out.

I also agree with what they said about your calories. They are on the low side and if you want to trick your body you might be better off eating 1600 to 1800 most days and then pick one or two days where you only have about 600 to 800. I used this technique to successfully boost me past my last plateau.

It might also be worth just totally changing up the things you are eating. There was a thread on here last year where people were having good success with having a "fish only" week. Could be worth a look. I think it was called something like "my fishy week"

 

[chocko1]

Don't forget to take your body measurements too. Sometimes we can hang on to the numbers on the scales but be losing inches from our bodies.

Kathy

 

[Wendolene]

I can really sympathise - I weigh myself daily, and I have been feeling very disheartened this week, as I appear to have either maintained or gained after having losses every week since starting. I weigh tonight, and while normally I'll get very nervous, I'm trying to face up to the fact that it is probably just a blip, as one of the above posters said, and the general trend will hopefully still be downwards.

I saw another poster say in a thread that sometimes we focus too much on what lies ahead, forgetting how far we've come. It sounds as though you are doing very well, so try not to get disheartened .

One other factor that I'm aware can affect weight loss is lack of sleep. I'm incredibly guilty of this, and have had as little as 3 hours some nights this week, which could account for something.

Keep going, and I'm sure you will be rewarded with many more great losses down the line. X