Have you plateaued in your weight loss?
Do you feel like you're spinning your wheels?
Sometimes, our perception of our weight loss can be skewed. When your weight hasn't changed for 4 weeks, it's hard not to be discouraged! And I do want to make it clear...your feelings are valid! But let's slow down and dissect for a second before you get discouraged.
Are you actually plateaued?
First off, there are a few questions to be asking yourself before you get discouraged about your weight loss:
1) Have you been consistent? This is the number one issue if someone's weight isn't changing. There are a few different reasons for this:
You aren’t measuring your food accurately. Be sure you are weighing your food instead of guessing, counting out, or using a measuring cup. Weighing your food (in grams or ounces on a digital food scale) is much more accurate than any other method.
You aren’t tracking everything you eat. Every bite, lick, and taste matters, no matter how small you think it is. It all adds up.
You are choosing the wrong entries in your tracking app. Because most tracking apps have user-entered foods, there is a high probability of error in the entry. You could also be choosing a raw measurement instead of a cooked measurement. You can double check any calorie count at the USDA’s nutrient database.
You are going out to eat a lot. Restaurants are notorious for under-reporting calories on their foods (check out this study which even calculates restaurant dishes as high as 245% of their reported value!), if they even report them at all. You may well be eating much more than you think you are at restaurants.
You are binging on the weekend. If you eat in your calorie deficit all week and then have a “cheat day”, you may be putting yourself right back into maintenance because the calories on your “cheat day” are so high. Calories always count. There’s no such thing as a meal that doesn’t count.
2) Has it been more than 2-3 (sometimes even 4) weeks? If you haven't seen progress in 5 days, you aren't in a plateau. It takes a few weeks to determine whether or not you are making progress. You won’t lose weight every week. Sometimes, you’ll even go up in weight. That’s ok. It is all part of the process. Real, sustainable weight loss takes time! Trust the process and keep doing what is working for you.
3) Have you checked weight/inches/pictures/clothes? Sometimes, we zero in way too closely on our weight, which is understandable. But if you're still seeing progress in your inches, pictures, or how your clothes are fitting, you're not in a plateau even if the scale says you are. Picture this—if your weight on the scale never read a different number, but you looked exactly the way you want to look, would you care what your weight was?
4) How is your sleep/stress/hormones? These can all affect how your weight looks in any particular week.
Sleep: If you aren’t getting enough sleep or your sleep cycle is inconsistent, your weight is going to look like it is all over the place. You are going to retain more water if you aren’t sleeping well.
Stress: You will retain more water if you are more stressed. This will make your weight look higher than it should.
Hormones: Hormones can affect your scale weight drastically, especially for women around their cycle. Expect your weight to raise a couple pounds (sometimes up to 5!) the week before and/or during your period.
When you actually are plateaued
A plateau is eventually expected when you are dieting. This is due to a phenomenon called “Adaptive Thermogenesis”, which you can read more about on my previous blog post. To summarize it though, it’s basically your body trying to adapt to the calorie level you are giving it, higher or lower. So, naturally, when you are dieting, your body will eventually adapt to the lower calorie level you are feeding it.
If you are plateaued, you will have asked yourself the questions in the checklist above to be sure you are actually in a plateau. You won’t have seen progress in any way for 3-4 weeks. Don’t panic! This is normal! No need to take drastic action. Pick only one of the two options below. You don’t want to do too much too fast.
1) Decrease calorie consumption
It may make the most sense to decrease your calorie intake. This would be appropriate if you aren’t already on super low calories, aren’t starving all day long, or would rather eat less than move more (due to preferences or time constraints).
If you are going to decrease, only decrease by 100 calories at first. Take your calories from carbs and/or fat, not protein (you need more protein the lower your calories get).
2) Increase calorie expenditure
It may make the most sense to increase how much activity you’re getting. This would be appropriate if you would rather not eat less, you enjoy movement and want to do more of it, or you can’t drop your calories any lower for health reasons.
If you are going to increase you expenditure, you have a few options:
Increase steps by 2,000 per day (this is usually the go-to option)
Add 30 minutes of cardio to your week (either 30 minutes on an extra day or distributed across a few days)
Add an extra strength training day to your week
In conclusion…
Don’t be too aggressive or eager when losing weight. You don’t want to make a change to your program if you don’t need to. You also don’t want to make too drastic of a change to your program if you do need to change something. Be smart, be patient, and you’ll be successful!
