How to tell if you’ve hit a real weight loss plateau and then get yourself back on track
The first few weeks of a new diet are the best because you’re seeing a lot of quick progress. You feel like you’ve finally found the secret to life and weightloss success! But after a few weeks, the two-plus you were losing a week starts to slow down to just one pound a week. Then it slows down to maybe just half a pound a week. It slows down even more and you stay at the same weight for a week or two. You start to believe that you’ve hit a weight loss plateau and that things are broken, or worse that you’re broken.
When you feel like you’re starting to plateau you go into problem-solving mode. You think, maybe I’m overeating, so you cut calories. Then you think you must not be pushing yourself hard enough in the gym, so you do longer, more difficult workouts. But things stay the same.
The truth is that most likely, you haven’t plateaued. It’s normal for your weight loss progress to slow down as your body gets used to having more or less food. However just because the scale doesn’t seem to be moving doesn’t mean your body still isn’t changing.
What constitutes a real weight loss plateau?
Most people think they’ve hit a plateau if they step on the scale for a week and get the same number every day. It’s easy to think you’ve plateaued if the same number pops up on the scale day after day. However, your daily weight isn’t nearly as important as the weekly or monthly averages.
Your weight is going to fluctuate from day to day for so many different reasons: you drank more or less water than the previous day, where you are at in your menstrual cycle, you ate foods that were higher sodium, etc. We can’t depend on our daily numbers to know our true weight. It’s better to look at our weekly average to determine where we’re at.
From there, you can look at how your weight is averaging from week to week. It’s best to look at a full month or two to get an idea of if our weight is going up or down.
A real weight loss plateau means that you haven’t seen any changes, scale or measurement changes in four to eight weeks. You might see your weight go up or down a pound a two over those two months but anything outside of that would be a loss or gain.
To determine if it’s really a plateau, we need to look at all aspects of our body composition. If the scale isn’t moving, but you’re dropping clothing sizes, then you haven’t plateaued. If you’re packing on muscle but staying at the same weight, then you haven’t plateaued.
If you’re dropping half a pound to a pound a week, you’re actually on a great path! Slow weight loss means that you’re actually losing body fat. Plus you’re losing it in a healthy way that helps increase the chances that you’ll keep it off long term! Sustainable, slow weight loss is always healthier than a quick fix!
Acknowledge your scale and non-scale victories
Now that you know how to determine if you’re in a real weight loss plateau, or just progressing at a slower pace it’s important to realize that not every weight loss victory is based on the scale.
Whenever I start with a client, I encourage her to look for non-scale victories during her weight loss journey because eventually, the scale might not tell us what we want to hear but we need to still acknowledge the progress we’re making.
There are so many different ways we can see our health improve that have nothing to do with the scale! A few of the non-scale victories I’ve heard from my clients lately include:
Sleeping better
Increased sex drive
Going down a pants size
Not needing a bra extender
Better gut health
Feeling comfortable in a bathing suit
Having more energy
Being able to breastfeed for longer
Smaller measurement numbers
Prioritizing her needs
Of course, we all want to lose weight when we’re on a weight loss journey, but the reason we lose weight isn’t to be skinnier, The reason we lose weight is to become a healthier version of ourselves and that is going to manifest in different areas! Don’t forget to look for any and all signs of a healthier you.
You should celebrate the scale and non-scale victories throughout your journey! You’ve put in a lot of work to reach those milestones, after all what we celebrate we replicate!
If you feel like you’re stuck in a run with your health and weight loss and want help getting back into a sustainable weight loss plan, then let’s talk! Schedule a free discovery call with me and we’ll see if the Macros Made Easy Program is a good fit for your needs!
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