Motivation - weight steadying

[tinamc]

Hi, I have been healthy eating and combining exercise now for about 10 weeks and have lost 1 stone 3 points. I'm feeling great and have dropped a dress size, but I still want to lose another 4lbs, but my weight has not moved for 4 weeks. Does anyone have any ideas as I'm losing motivation!

[gingernut49]

That happens sometimes and it is frustrating, but keep calorie counting and the scales will start to move again. I lost three stone in six months on the 5:2 diet and still had weeks where the scales didn't shift - and then they did! It's because you're so close to your goal weight now. Have you recalculated the amount of calories you actually need to be eating less than to lose weight? You can work this out on MyFitnessPal or here thefastdiet.co.uk/how-many-...

[tootsiepops]

Hou can fool your body, make it think the famine is over by upping your calories by 100/200 daily, for a week. Your body will think the famine is over, then go back to your usual calorie allowance. This worked for me when ever I stall....

[Zenette]

Maybe reduce your calories slightly (the smaller one gets, the fewer calories you need for weight loss), say by 100?

Or add some extra activities that would burn 100 cal a day (or a combination of slightly fewer calories, and 30 min or so of extra exercise).

[returner]

Hi tinamc,

The more body mass you have, the more calories your body requires to 'maintain' that amount of body mass. Therefore, as you lose weight, on say 1400 kcals a day, that will represent less of a daily calorie deficit for you than it did when you started.

Also, as with training regimes, your body kind of gets used to / adapts to your new eating and exercise / activity regime. I'd suggest slightly dropping you calories and / or altering your exercise / activity a bit.

Don't let it demotivated you or knock you off course - it's quite common for weight loss journeys to have their blips, spurts and plateaux. Often, these things resolve themselves and are caused by temporary factors - such as stress, sleeplessness, your body dealing with an infection - causing your hormones to be distracted from dealing with the fat storage / burning functions.