Plateau after losing 20kg - halfway to ideal weight

[Nothavingfunrightnow]

Hi, Everyone. I'm surprised to have reached a weight loss plateau after having lost almost 20kg over 5 months. I'm not eating excessive calories (though I think I will measure and record just to be certain), and I'm exercising 4 to 6 hours a week. Has anyone else had similar experiences? When did the weight start dropping again? Thanks.

Congrats on your loss so far! It is no small feat!
Can you clarify what do you define as “plateau”? How long has it been?
It is normal as we lose weight to also go through periods of maintaining. The body needs some time to adjust to the new normal; it gets used to the not-so-new-anymore routine of exercise and calories. Usually sticking with it does it, you just have to ride it out. It will re-start on its own. I’ve seen a lot of people share that a few higher calorie days also gets things moving again.
Also note that exercise will help you lose fat but will also build muscle, and so you may not see the numbers going down, because of that (which is a good thing!).

Thank you for your reply. I've been hovering around the same weight for 4 or 5 weeks. I'm just worried I've reached the end of the line and won't lose more!

You could be me! I've lost similar over a similar time and have also hovered about the same weight for about 4 weeks.
I've just increased my dose, am rotating my injection sites, trying to get in my protein, drink more (not gin!) and am just hoping the consistency will eventually triumph.
I don't know if it's a coincidence but about 1kg lower than I am now is the lowest weight I reached on my last major weight loss attempt so I wonder if this is something of a set point for me and I need to try to press through it

I’m not surprised that you reached a plateau after losing 20kg. That’s a lot of weight and your body might be subconsciously shocked at what’s going on. One day you were obese and then suddenly it has to adjust to a significantly lower intake of food and a shrinking figure and lower fat deposits etc. Your body isn’t to automatically know that this is happening because you want to lose weight.

Weight loss plateaus aren’t an exact science.

I am quite short and have hit a mini plateau after every 6-7kg lost. I only had 17kg total to lose overall, so just losing 6-7kg was enough to throw my body off balance. It took around 2 weeks each time for my body to adjust to my changing weight. During these weeks I tend to maintain my weight. Then the weight starts to decrease again. My diet/exercise isn’t the trigger behind this, eating more or less doesn’t do much. I still have appetite suppression after all so wasn’t overeating. I genuinely just think my body needed a chance to catch up and adjust to being smaller.

It might be time to recalculate your TDEE and reassess your calorie allowance.

One of the few shitty things about successfully losing weight is that as you get smaller you need less calories to power your body as. It's carrying around less weight and having to work less hard to just exist so you have to reduce your calorie intake in line with that.

I'm in a similar position though haven't lost quite as much (17kg since mid May). I've lost just over a pound in the last 7 weeks though did gain a bit during a holiday then relost it. Recalculated TDEE and tracked calories etc so should be in a deficit. I do think, as others have said, that sometimes our bodies just need time to readjust. I'm also older so that may be something to do with it.

The scales have edged ever so slightly downwards in the last 3 days so I'm hopeful. The main thing for me though is, with mj, I'm able to continue eating healthily whereas previously at this point I would have been absolutely ravenous all the time and, after weeks of no movement on the scales, would have thrown in the towel.

I'm in a similar position op, 6 months in with a 50lbs weight loss I've been struggling to loose 2lbs a month now for two months. Ive only recently started on 5mg but can't go up just yet as the side effects are too much for me to handle. The appetite suppression is ok for about 3 days then I'm starving again. I know realistically I need to reduce my calorie intake and do some exercise but finding the motivation is hard. And I'm fed up of being constantly hungry when I try to diet.

Thank you for all the replies. I'll look at my calories again and just keep at it. I'm on 12.5mg and have a few side effects. Due to go to 15 next week.

I would maybe think about taking a short break between injections. I got so disappointed with my plateau on Ozempic last year I'd lost a little over 3stone from March to July and then the whole of August lost and gained the same 2lbs for the whole month. I don't know what made me do it but I waited 10 days for my first injection in September and seemed to kick the losses switch back on for me. We must build tolerance to it.