Weight loss plateaued three weeks ago, can't seem to lose any more

ConfusedCartman

ConfusedCartman

New member
So I've been losing weight steadily since January. I've made significant changes to my lifestyle, incorporating near-daily exercise and monitoring my calorie intake carefully. I've lost about twenty pounds. I'm now 180 pounds, and I can't seem to lose any more weight. I've tried consuming less, I've tried working out more, and I've tried both as the same time, but I can't seem to break this. I eat about 1600-1800 calories a day depending on various factors (which is about 100-300 below maintenance), if that helps.

I'm not exactly sure where to go from here. I've heard that maybe doing an all-carb day might help, since it might just be water weight. I've also heard that jump-starting my metabolism by eating at or slightly above maintenance might also be a good idea. I haven't tried either.

Oh, also, I'm not sure if this means anything, but I haven't weighed 180lbs in at least three years, if not more. I gained that last 20 pounds very quickly, and although I never shed it until now, it never got worse either. I don't know if the speed at which you gain the weight has any bearing on how quickly you are able to lose it, but I do know that the weight I've lost wasn't on me for very long in comparison to the weight I've yet to lose.

Thanks for any help you can offer. :)
 
Three weeks is nothing to worry about. Just keep doing what you were doing before the plateau.
 
Do you lift any weights or do calisthenics, by chance? Sometimes people who try to lose weight will lift weights on the side and they don't seem to be losing weight when they step on a scale. They are losing fat and gaining muscle, though. Even if you are doing only aerobics like jogging, you are working out your lower muscles which are your heaviest of all.

If not, then you are still losing a little weight. To help with the process you can vary your calorie intake and exercise regime so your body won't adapt. Beyond that, you will need to give it more time.

Here's something to do: Take a picture of yourself now and look at yourself exactly one month later. You can see for yourself if you are losing body fat, The scale only gives you a number, sometimes you have to see your body for yourself and see if there are changes to know where you are going.
 
prodigy88 said:
Do you lift any weights or do calisthenics, by chance? Sometimes people who try to lose weight will lift weights on the side and they don't seem to be losing weight when they step on a scale. They are losing fat and gaining muscle, though. Even if you are doing only aerobics like jogging, you are working out your lower muscles which are your heaviest of all.

If not, then you are still losing a little weight. To help with the process you can vary your calorie intake and exercise regime so your body won't adapt. Beyond that, you will need to give it more time.

Here's something to do: Take a picture of yourself now and look at yourself exactly one month later. You can see for yourself if you are losing body fat, The scale only gives you a number, sometimes you have to see your body for yourself and see if there are changes to know where you are going.
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I actually do quite a bit of weight training, but I've been doing that since I started losing weight. Nothing's really changed in terms of my schedule or intensity or what have you, so that's why I'm a little concerned.

I'll give it more time, as you suggested, and see how things play out. Thanks for the help. :)
 
180 pounds is actually not that heavy for a guy with a large build. Do you have a large build? Wrap your left thumb and index finger around you right wrist. If there's a gap, that means you have a large build. If their tips touch, you have a medium build. If they overlap, you have a small build.

So a guy with a large build who is 5'10" or taller should weigh about 180 pounds I would think.

But if you really insist on losing more weight, you'll probably just have reduce your calories more, but don't go below ~1300-ish because at your current weight anything less than that might cause malnutrition. Also be sure to take a multi-vitamin every day.
 
Jacklinger said:
180 pounds is actually not that heavy for a guy with a large build. Do you have a large build? Wrap your left thumb and index finger around you right wrist. If there's a gap, that means you have a large build. If their tips touch, you have a medium build. If they overlap, you have a small build.

So a guy with a large build who is 5'10" or taller should weigh about 180 pounds I would think.

But if you really insist on losing more weight, you'll probably just have reduce your calories more, but don't go below ~1300-ish because at your current weight anything less than that might cause malnutrition. Also be sure to take a multi-vitamin every day.
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Yes, I'm 5'10" and I have a large build by nature. I don't have the body type necessary to ever be considered "skinny" - I'm either chubby or muscular. Based on how I look in the mirror, I probably have another 20 or so pounds I'd like to lose.
 
In that case you may need to up the intensity of your workouts or something. You may be cursed with a doughy body that just refuses to drop the last bit of flab. Maybe you can talk to a personal trainer/body sculptor about what to do.
 
Hi there confusedcartman, personal trainer here from Melbourne, Australia, well first all you should be super proud for losing that weight. I'm not quite sure if it is easier to lose weight that you've gained quickly, or if length of time you've had weight has any physiological effects. The only thing that comes to mind is a set point. Many people will say there is a set point of weight, like your genetics. This is something you could see as a limitation, however many people do defy what they think their "set point" is. A plateau is definitely nothing to be worried about. In fact it is a good thing because it means your body is normalising to your current weight, and the fact you aren't putting weight back on is something to be very proud of.

Generally 1kg or 2 pounds per week is a safe amount of weight to lose. Now you've plateaued, and all this means, is that perhaps you need to up the anty. Few questions I need to ask first, what's your diet like? How many times a day do you eat? what kind of foods do you eat? do you eat immediately after a training session? do you have breakfast? Maybe if you gave me a typical days diet, I could give you some advice here. Diet is very important, but so is exercise.

You mentioned you've been doing lots of weights, I'd like to know which exercises you've been doing, how many reps, how much rest between sets, and how many exercises you'd do in one training session. Plus I also would like know if you've been doing any cardio stuff, and if so, I'd like more details on that, like how many times a week and which time of day. This way I am best at giving you the best possible advice to help you move on from this plateau.
 
Steven Scott said:
Hi there confusedcartman, personal trainer here from Melbourne, Australia, well first all you should be super proud for losing that weight. I'm not quite sure if it is easier to lose weight that you've gained quickly, or if length of time you've had weight has any physiological effects. The only thing that comes to mind is a set point. Many people will say there is a set point of weight, like your genetics. This is something you could see as a limitation, however many people do defy what they think their "set point" is. A plateau is definitely nothing to be worried about. In fact it is a good thing because it means your body is normalising to your current weight, and the fact you aren't putting weight back on is something to be very proud of.

Generally 1kg or 2 pounds per week is a safe amount of weight to lose. Now you've plateaued, and all this means, is that perhaps you need to up the anty. Few questions I need to ask first, what's your diet like? How many times a day do you eat? what kind of foods do you eat? do you eat immediately after a training session? do you have breakfast? Maybe if you gave me a typical days diet, I could give you some advice here. Diet is very important, but so is exercise.

You mentioned you've been doing lots of weights, I'd like to know which exercises you've been doing, how many reps, how much rest between sets, and how many exercises you'd do in one training session. Plus I also would like know if you've been doing any cardio stuff, and if so, I'd like more details on that, like how many times a week and which time of day. This way I am best at giving you the best possible advice to help you move on from this plateau.
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Diet consists mostly of healthy, varied foods. Three meals a day: for breakfast, usually cereal does the job; for lunch, it's usually just these baked chicken strips that my school sells - there's not much to choose from there, so I stick with that on a daily basis; for dinner, it's usually a meat and vegetable and carb.

I eat right before a training session, actually. I go to the gym from 5AM through 6AM, so I get up at 4:30 and eat something (usually cereal) before I go. I don't eat again until 11:45. There are some days when I don't make it to the gym - on those days, I have a backup workout I use in lieu of it, which I would do at about 5PM, after returning from school.

In terms of what I do at the gym, it goes in cycles. Different muscle sets each day, usually without repeating a set in any given week. There are lots and lots of machines at the gym I use, so there are plenty of options for each muscle group. On a "shoulders" day, I'd do shoulders and upper back muscles, so I'd stick to those machines that worked that muscle group. Usually I aim for three sets of 10 reps per machine, with a half minute or so's rest in between. In a single session I probably get in about seven to nine different workouts, depending.

Cardio is very on/off. I generally only do cardio a couple times a week, and that would be in place of 15 minutes of my regular workout. So instead of spending 60 minutes doing full muscle training, I'd do 45 minutes of it and 15 minutes of cardio. It's always in the morning.
 
I think you're still losing fat, but the scale isn't going to help you if you do weights. You could be losing a pound of fat, but gaining a pound of muscle. Just keep doing what you are doing for a month and take pictures of yourself as time goes by. At a month, compare the pictures and you will see if you are getting in better shape or not.

A little more cardio wouldn't hurt, though.
 
I've noticed from personal experience that once I "plateau" like you are, that my body is basically readjusting to my new body weight. With that, if my lifestyle changes again into a less healthy lifestyle, I don't balloon back up to my starting weight. It seems to work both ways for me.

Typically, I take plateaus the same way in weight loss as I do in strength training. I take a couple weeks off, eat at maintenance, let things repair itself and get used to the new changes.

After I have done that I start up where I left off (for the most part), and within a week or two I'm losing weight again and gaining strength. Just be patient, it will come.
 
During my quest to lose, and having lost 43 pounds already, in 5 1/2 months, I had many bouts of not losing weight for several weeks. I continued to eat healthy and count my calories and continued to do my 3-4 days of cardio and 3 days of weight lifting, and eventually I'd have a drop of a couple of pounds. It's funny, I will have a month where 8-10 pounds dropped off, and then a month where only 4-6 pounds dropped off. I must say, my body is much smaller losing the weight than when I was gaining it - due to all the working out. One thing that makes a difference for me, is my trainer changes my weight lifting routine every six weeks or so, and one day a week, he does totally different stuff with me - a lot of core exercises to strenthen my inner core. It's all working and I will be doing a testimonial soon.
 
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