Hi all

I am 8 months post surgery and have lost 5 stone (70lb) but the past month I haven't lost a thing and I'm getting really frustrated.. I have plateaued during the 4 month and 6 month period but then always started losing weight again but I feel like I'll never lose weight again!! I still need to lose another 3 stone so it's not like I'm slowing down as I'm almost at goal.. is this plateau normal? has anyone else been in a similar situation??

Thanks

Joanna

@joannaspanner Things that folks need to know to answer this question for you:

• Are you still tracking your food/Protein/Etc?
  • How many calories are you consuming?
• Are you still tracking your water intake?
  • How much water are you consuming?
• Are you exercising?
  • How often?
  • How much?
  • Cardio only or Cardio and Weight lifting?

Somethings to consider.
As we lose weight and get older, our BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) decreases. BMR is the amount of calories you need to exist, think in a coma, alive but not moving. You can check yours here https://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/bmr
As we get older and lose weight we need less calories, which means we need to either exercise more, or consume less. If you aren't tracking... start tracking again. The math is pretty simple, If you burn more calories than you consume, you'll lose weight.
Water intake, our bodies cannot process fat if we don't have enough water to do so. So if you aren't tracking your water or aren't getting 64-128oz of water, start tracking and increase.
Daily movement at work etc is great, but it's not really enough for weight loss, you should be in the gym at least an hour a day. And that brings me to muscle mass. Larger muscles burn more calories than smaller ones, so if you build some muscle, you will burn more calories the rest of the day than you would without larger muscles.

I like @Matt Z‘s answer a lot. I will say I’m 20lbs away from goal and it has been a fight. The only thing that’s worked for me has been to change something in my eating routine and add another weekly workout. I think what I’m technically doing is fasting for a day and then going back to my normal and it shakes things up a bit. Like 350cal vs my usual 5-6. So it isn’t super drastic. Bodies can get stuck in a rut, throw it off with a change!