Why Isn’t The Scale Moving?
I haven’t lost weight in over 2.5 weeks, but I'm doing all the right things. I’ve been in a fat loss phase for the past 10 weeks. Eighteen days ago, I hit a new low weight for this cut of 177.0. Since then, I have gone 18 days without going below that number (and I’ve only even hit it again once).
During that time, I’ve been in a calorie deficit & hit my step goal for 14 out of the 18 days. Three of the other four, I was right around maintenance. One of them was my birthday (and calories don’t count on your birthday). I’m doing everything right and, mathematically, I’m losing body fat. So why hasn’t the scale gone down?
Let’s break it down:
The first thing we need to consider is that we’re not doing everything right.
Let’s be honest with ourselves. We may be on track with our main meals, but then we have a glass or two of wine at night. And then on the weekend, we go out to eat and have an appetizer and a dessert. Then, at a barbecue, we have one or two (or seven) cookies. It’s not to say that we can’t have those things and still make progress, but are we taking them into account when we say we’re doing everything right?
We may be hitting our workouts everyday, but what does the rest of our movement look like? Are we just sitting at our desk all day and end up with 4000 or 5000 steps for the day? What does our sleep look like? Are we staying up late scrolling through Instagram or watching another episode of New Girl on Netflix for the 10th time? We have to look ourselves in the mirror and be honest about what’s actually happening. “Pretty good” isn’t enough to make substantial progress.
The second thing we need to consider is that our expectations aren’t realistic.
Luka Hocever, one of the best coaches in the world, who I’ve had the privilege of meeting & training with multiple times, said this the other day (I’m paraphrasing for length): It’s not that we have unrealistic goals. It’s that we have unrealistic timelines for those goals.
I started this mini-cut at 189.2. That means that the difference between my highest and lowest weight is over 12 lbs (and I hit that in 8 weeks). My average weight for week 1 was 187.5. My average last week was 177.5. That’s an average weight loss of 10 lbs in 10 weeks. “But the scale hasn’t gone down for 2.5 weeks - something must be wrong.” Nope, nothing is wrong. I’m doing the same things that got me here. I’m losing weight at a perfect pace (0.5-1 lb per week is a reasonable expectation).
Just because the scale hasn’t gone down in a couple weeks, doesn’t mean my progress is stopped or that the process is broken.
Imagine your kid started talking. And each day they said a new word for a month. Then, for a few days, they didn’t say anything new. Would that mean that something was wrong and they just stopped learning? That they’re broken and you need to get them help? Or maybe they’re just using the words they already know for a bit and, soon, they’ll pick it right back up.
But this is where we fail.
When we hit these *plateaus* and don’t see regular progress, we think that it’s not working anymore. So we change a plan that has been working. Don’t fix something that isn’t broken.
So this is the final thing to consider: is my plan working?
We need to KNOW we’re losing fat - regardless of what the scale says. I know I lost fat 14 of the past 18 days. I don’t care what the scale says (there are plenty of reasons why my weight wouldn’t have dropped during that time and almost all of them are water weight). How do I know I lost fat? Well, there are 3 things that we need to check off each day:
Was I in a calorie deficit? If I was, I lost weight. End of story - doesn’t matter what the scale says.
Did I eat enough protein? If I did, the weight I lost from my deficit was body fat.
Did I move enough to support my calorie deficit? If I eat 1800 calories, but don’t move from the couch all day, then I may not have been in a deficit. Your calorie allotment is based on you moving throughout the day. Most people should aim for a minimum of 7000-7500 steps per day (this isn’t the only metric for movement, but it’s the easiest one to track).
If I did those 3 things, I lost fat.
There are many other factors that come into play that are important on the journey (sleep, water intake, strength training, stress management, etc.), but those three things are the bedrocks. They determine the math of fat loss.
So, I want to be able to go to bed at night knowing that I lost fat that day. Then, when I weigh myself in the morning, it won’t really matter if the scale is up. Because I KNOW I lost fat. Then, instead of asking the question of “why isn’t the scale moving?” we’ll ask “what happened yesterday that could be causing me to retain water?”
That’s a very different question. And, honestly, it’s freeing. One final note: if you think you’re checking all 3 of those boxes at least 80% of the time (and not eating like a teenager at a sleepover the other 20%) and you’re still not seeing a downward trend on the scale or lower measurements after 4 weeks, then you’re not in a calorie deficit. Either the number you picked is too high for you, you’re not tracking accurately, or both. But there’s no escaping the math. Be patient. These things take time. Don’t quit.
I recorded an entire podcast episode on the importance of measuring your progress & how to properly track it.
