How long do you have to stay at a weight for it to be a plateau???

Hi I was wondering what constitiuted a "plateau" when trying to lose weight? Do you have to stay at the same weight 2 weeks -3 or 4 even?

bump.....................anybody???????

I don't know what it is for everyone else, but I considered it a plateau when I had been losing steadily every week, a pound or so and then it stopped. I would do all the same things...log food, exercise the same way...but nothing would happen for weeks. I plateaued twice (actually, I am at a plateau now) and each time it lasted 3 or 4 weeks. Ugh. I tried zig-zagging my calories and exercising a little bit differently and just keeping on and it finally broke. Just don't give up and don't starve yourself...I think it's just your body adjusting to a new place. Hope this helped.

Agreed. If weight was steadily dropping and stopped even though all else stayed the same, I consider it a plateau. I upped calories and added another 30 minutes of exercise three times a week  to jog it loose after I plateaued for two weeks. When it happens again(and it will) I'll try something else.

I'm currently on my 2nd plateau, my 1st lasted 3 weeks, and I am in week 5 of my 2nd.  Although I think it is breaking since I lose 1lb this past week :).

sorry about the plateau problems but I AM SO GLAD TO HEAR IT!!!! I have lost from 166 down to well 140-143-144-142-141- and have tayed in this up down lb or two for at least 3 weeks now. I started in December and continued to lose a lb or 2 a week and now its just this stand still so to speak. I have stuck with the dieting but oh boy is it getting discouraging these days but I will keep up my plan! GOOD LUCK to all of you.

That is SO me right now, I'll lose a couple and think whoo hoo, back on it, then 2 or 3 days later, there it is again. Then it's gone, then it's back !! I'm about to the point of my neighbors are going to get to see me and my scales rolling around out in my front yard in an all out fight.  GRRRR...

When I reach a plateau, I tend to want to throw in the towel and give up.  Really, all that I need to do is keep on doing what I was doing before and eventually I start losing.  Usually once I begin to lose again, it is by leaps and bounds.  I agree with mrsj that it's your body adjusting to a new place.  Just don't give up!

Ok pepe I mean stinkycat (if u r old enough to remember peppee le pew) however you spell it when I saw your name stinkycat it made me think of that cartoon of years ago!!! I will try and stick with it and I will consider all the help everyone has offered and will definitely let everybody know how its working. I had upped my calories yesterday and fiber and actually went up a lb but its probably more water weight.I swear I will not give up this time until I lose these last 10-15 lbs! LOL Haave a great weekend everybody!

don't you just hate that word..PLATEAU...ugh..since I started my diet in Jan. I have had two..just came out of number two...first one lasted almost 2 weeks, this second one was three weeks, and i know what you mean about battling it out with the scale, I friend ask me last week how much I had lost i replied I do not know my scale and I are no longer friends...LOL...but i realize they are apart of the process, and I keeping chipping away at it and try to stay positive...they will eventually break and you can smile at the scale once more

The best way to break a 'plateu' is to change your exercise routine, after a few weeks your body becomes accustomed to everyday routine exercise. Therefore your body works against you in order to sustain your weight, as our biological instinct is to maintain a weight high enough to survive and still expend energy.

By usng muscles your not used to it will burn more calories, aiming to do some body movement (that is very different from your norm) daily or even weekly stops the plateu effect. Hope that helps. Good luck! Xx

umm all feel stupid ??

but what a plateau

It is when one has reached a period of noooooo progress, something we're all fighting at one time or another ! Once your body gets used to a certain 'rhythm' or routine, say the same amount of calories, or the same exercise(s), it seems to knooow it and thus stops responding ! You have to 'rattle it's cage' so to speak sometimes to get it back to losing.

Sorry guys, but it's nice to know I'm not the only one facing this and I can have some support. I went from 150 lbs to 130 lbs in about 1 year just with working out and eating a little better. On March 11, 2008 I changed my work out routine and I started the calorie counting. I am at 126 lbs. and I want to be at 115 lbs. by my wedding which is August 2nd of this year. I just hope I can do it! I worry that the change in my work out routine is gonna stop the weight loss. Well thanks for listening!

My first plateau was at 150 about a year ago and I decreased my calorie intake, very unwisely, to get down to 130 by Aug. Back at 142 in Dec of '07, I've been at 138-140 since then for second plateau, now at 4 months, but eating properly along with adjusting intake for exercise.

Although my the scale isn't changing, Body Fat% is decreasing and LBM is increasing so there is some progress but very trying on my patience.

Edited 4/09 to say I have been trying to break *the plateau* but from caliper measurement just performed, it appears that fat loss is occurring but is obscured on the scale by muscle gain.

Caliper analysis at the gym, which was compared to last time at 135# to 139.8 and for which a 4.8# gain, showed 7.1# muscle gain and 2.3 fat loss!

This helps to confirm Tanita data of LBM gain of 6.3#s while staying at the same weight since 12/31/07 with Body Fat decreasing by 4.5%, so I just have to be patient!

Calories were adjusted from 1300 to 1800, current and trainer suggests to stay put for next month.

I was just in a plateau for about 2 months! Nothing was shaking my cage! Not a spike in calories then a decrease, not a spike in exercise, nothing. Then I started logging my calories on cc and I started loosing again. Apperently I was under-estimating what was going in my mouth. I have been measuring and weighing everything also, not eye balling it.

I've been on a lifestyle change for a little over 2 years and I've lost 170 pounds! My favorite way to break a plateau is ordering pizza with hot wings, bread sticks, and a gooey dessert pizza! Sounds crazy but it has worked for me before, lots of times, except this time. But I think it's because I was under-estimating what I was eating on everyother day. I'm 30 pounds from my goal and I need to track every calorie now I guess. I weighed 360+ pounds now I weigh 189 pounds! My goal is 160.

Here is an article from CC regarding plateaus.

10 Reasons you're not losing weight

I find they have good advice on there as well. Essentially when you plateau your body has reached an equilibrium and sometimes no matter how hard you work you can't shift the weight. There are different techniques including zigzagging your calories but overall it means changing your routine.

We all get so obessessed with the scale and trying to keep losing weight that we sometimes don't give ourselves a break. Being on a particular diet is actually not normal life because our goal is weight loss. We are being strict with what we eat, how much we eat and how much exercise we are doing. So I think that occasionally it helps to just have a break. Just don't go too wild.

I find that on weekends it is harder to stick to my diet, specially on long weekends like through Easter. You are out and about and its not easy to get your usual diet food (for me its shakes etc) and so you end up eating out with family and friends. I control the portion size but do eat what everyone else is having. I've found that instead of having a negative effect this actually helps and my body starts burning fat again.

What our aim should be also is to lead a healthier lifestyle and not just diet and exercise like crazy to shift weight. There will come a time when you have reached your goal weight and want to maintain that. The best way to do this is to change your lifestyle. So imagine on days that you are not able to stick to the diet or having a break from dieting that you are at that stage.

I think jodypeavy is suggesting the same thing and I'd follow their advice :) Hmmm Pizza - I love that stuff. Though I am proud to stay I can't eat a whole one on my own anymore :P

Don't worry, you will get over it. Good luck!

I know it might sound crazy, and maybe it will not work for some, after all, we're all different and a diet or exercise program that works for one won't necessarily work for the other.

When I hit a plateau I usually increase my calories dramatically and then I decrease dramatically after a few days. Then I start losing again.

it seems unhelpful advice but when I was at a diabetic information program,when I asked about how much a very over weightperson should lose at a time, the dietitian seem to feel 10% of body weight followed by a plateau of up to a year. that sounded ridiculously long. but since the program has followed diabetic clients for with problems for years I suppose she may have some basis for thinking it works best long term. I still feel its way too long term. 10 years to lose half your weight seems to be not helpful even if you are just a newly diagnosed typeII with out that high a sugar problem.

Original Post by jodypeavy:

I was just in a plateau for about 2 months! Nothing was shaking my cage! Not a spike in calories then a decrease, not a spike in exercise, nothing. Then I started logging my calories on cc and I started loosing again. Apperently I was under-estimating what was going in my mouth. I have been measuring and weighing everything also, not eye balling it.

I've been on a lifestyle change for a little over 2 years and I've lost 170 pounds! My favorite way to break a plateau is ordering pizza with hot wings, bread sticks, and a gooey dessert pizza! Sounds crazy but it has worked for me before, lots of times, except this time. But I think it's because I was under-estimating what I was eating on everyother day. I'm 30 pounds from my goal and I need to track every calorie now I guess. I weighed 360+ pounds now I weigh 189 pounds! My goal is 160.

 

 Good job jody! :) Keep it up...you can do it.

Great advice everyone. I was starting to think it was just me that went through this. I'm very encouraged by what I've read here though...thanks.