Plateau's

Help! I've reached a plateau

Our take: Look, you’re in this thing for the long haul, right? So don’t let one week change your outlook on your overall progress. Besides, chances are you haven’t hit a plateau—you can’t base that simply on one week. You’re probably doing great, but in case you don’t believe that, here’s how to know for sure: figure out your average weekly loss since you joined, excluding the first three weeks. If your average is between a half pound and two pounds, you’re fine—no plateau. If you’ve determined you’re at a plateau, don’t panic, there are two very possible explanations: You’re actually burning fat instead of the glycogen stored in your body because the glycogen is gone (used up as a result of your reduced caloric intake). Fat doesn’t hold water and requires twice as much energy to burn, so your weight loss seems to be slower. Most plateaus are caused by a relaxed adherence to the plan. As you continue on the Plan, you become more adept at following it. Sometimes that makes you believe that you no longer need to weigh and measure your food or track. Even if you aren’t aware of the subtle changes, the scale is. Don’t sweat it—this is a learning process. With time and experience you’ll figure out exactly what you must do to achieve weight loss on the plan.

What you can do about it today

Go back to basics.
Consistently use your measuring spoons and food scale to make sure that you are consuming the right number of PointsPlus values each day.

Look at what worked for you in the past and do it again.
Use a week of eating from one of your first weeks on plan. Pull out an old tracker or print up a week from your online tracker and follow it to the letter for a week. It helped you lose weight the first time and probably will again.

Turn to the Simply Filling technique.
Do so for a week or more. This can shake things up and introduce you to new and interesting meal ideas.

Don’t fall into a rut.
Boredom can be one reason for relaxed adherence to the plan. Keep it interesting by trying a new recipe or two. Browse these subscriber favorites for something to make this week a success.