why did i reach a weight loss plateau?

When losing weight, hitting a plateau is normal. It means your body has adjusted to the diet/exercise you have been giving it and you now need to increase the execise or decrease the food a bit. Try adding an extra 15 minutes of daily exercise and change up the type of exercise you are doing. I find at least fo myself, exercise does far more than dieting.

Good luck!

When your body weight is stable (on a “plateau”) it means you are eating the same number of Calories per day as your body is “burning” in maintaining your basic life functions and in doing various tasks like moving round and exercising.

To lose weight you might reduce the number of Calories that you are eating (by going on some sort of diet) but keep just as active as before, or better still increase your activity rate by exercising more, so your body has to burn body fat to supply the calories over and above what you are now eating.

As you lose weight, your body uses fewer Calories because you are moving less personal body weight round as you move around.

If you hit a “plateau”, but still wish to lose more weight, you have no option but to reduce the amount of Calories that you are eating, so that your body continues to burn fat, or increase the amount of exercise you do, or both.

Now the bad news: You think you have lost 10 pounds in 3 weeks, but infact you have been dehydrating yourself. It is nearly impossible to lose more than 2 pounds of body tissue (mainly fat) per week so at least 4 pounds of the apparent weight loss is down to weighing “tricks” that you have inadvertently been using, like weighing yourself soon after you have been to the toilet, or while you are thirsty and are really in need of a drink to keep up your natural hydration level.

You would be well advised to set a realistic target and aim to lose say half a pound per week - which will typically require you to increase your current “dietary deficit” by 290 Caloriers per day. To do this you should either exercise more vigorously and/or eat less:

e.g. An extra hour of brisk walking or dancing per day without changing the amount you are eating; or by only half an hour of that exercise together with a reduction of the amount you are eating - perhaps by replacing high calorie foods, such as chips biscuits and wine, by lower calorie foods such as baked potato fruit and skimmed milk.

Good luck, and don’t get disheartened. Sadly it is easier for those who are overweight to put on extra weight than it ever is to lose it again.

– Majikthise.