What is a good suggestion to stop the plateau effect on weight loss?

[markconger]

I have bottomed and I am maintaining a 4000 out <2000 in calorie deficit , but I can get my weight to drop anymore after having lost 52 pounds. How do I do it without going on a starvation diet?

[Heybales]

Take a reasonable deficit, not extreme.

If you take extreme, your body will adapt as you have witnessed and slow down - metabolically efficient.

You would have indeed have to keep cutting calories. Studies have shown a max 20-25% suppression, so eventually you will start losing again.

The problem at that point is - can you adhere eating 20-25% less calories to keep losing weight, and will you be successful at maintenance when it's 20-25% less than it could be.

And if exercise is a big part of your daily burn, what happens when sick or vacation and can't exercise that much, now how low is the daily burn, with your actual burn being 20-25% less.

So at this point the Fitbit estimates are on a healthy full-burning body - not what you got.

So the math is all wrong. If you take 20-25% off what Fitbit says you burn, and that includes manual correction of non-step based exercise, is that indeed about the level you are eating?

If eating is still a tad below, you may just be inaccurate enough with logging to make up that slight difference.

The solution - slowly come out of your suppression and let body burn fully. Once it's done that, take a reasonable deficit so it doesn't do it again.

And about every 6-8 weeks, take a diet break and eat at maintenance for a week.

Slowly increase calories by 100 extra daily for a week at a time.

If you gain 1-2 lbs quick eating a mere 100 extra daily for a week, then you know you were very suppressed, and you just topped off some very depleted carb stores with attached water in your muscles. Never fear, that increased your LBM, and your metabolism.

Because literally eating 100 more than true maintenance, would take 35 days to see a slow 1 lb gain. So a fast 1-2 lbs is water weight.

Each week, add 100 more, until you are eating at what Fitbit says is your maintenance. If you started losing at some point prior to that, just eat there a week.

If you did not, stay there a few weeks and totally unstress body.

2000 cal deficit was rather extreme, and hopefully you don't mind how much muscle mass was in that 52 lbs lost - you'll want that later.

[LewWagner]

I have lost a lot of weight over the past 8 1/2 months (114 pounds) with about 16 more to go.  I have experienced the same flattening out (plateaus) you have along the way.  Some of it was due to me "slipping" (birthday / anniversary dinner out), being sick and not exercising, or just holding poop.

In any event, I would bet back on track, do my exercising (mostly walking about 6-7 miles a day), and stick to my nutritional intake plan (originally 2K calories, 65 fat, 300 chol, 2400 sod, 150 carb, 25 fiber, 90 sugar, 50 protein but now around 1,100-1,300 for calories).  I'm getting in around 21K in steps each day.  My walking rate is steadily getting faster (now around 3.33 with peaks of 3.66 for a 3 mile walk on uneven trails).

So, if you are stuck on a plateau for a longer time, perhaps review your nutrition, exercise, and sleep patterns now to see if possibly lower nutrition values (if higher than what I stated above), take some Fiber Con or Dulcolax, and/or exercise so that you burn around 3K calories a day (this latter is what I am seeing from Fitbit) against a 1,300 calorie intake.  Smaller food portions possibly (3-4 ozs of protein vs. 8-10 and less complex meat like fish and skinless chickent thigh/breast).

Not saying my way is the best or only way for others.  Just offering it if it provides any value add to what you're trying to achieve.  Good luck and kudos on the loss so far! 

Lew Wagner