Why has my weight loss stopped?

Plateaus are normal. The usual causes are gradually eating more than you think, reduced daily movement, water retention from training or stress, and a genuinely lower calorie need at your new lighter bodyweight. Track honestly for two weeks before changing anything drastically.

The most common explanations

• Portion drift: Measured portions become estimated ones, oils and spreads go uncounted, and small tastes add up. Weighing food again for a week usually settles the question quickly.
• Less spontaneous movement: People move less when energy intake is restricted, often without noticing. Step counts frequently fall by thousands.
• Water retention: New training, high sodium, poor sleep, stress, and the menstrual cycle can each mask several weeks of fat loss on the scale.
• A lower maintenance level: A lighter body genuinely burns less. The deficit that worked at the start may now be maintenance.

Is it actually a plateau?

Three or four weeks with no change in weekly average weight, waist measurement, or photographs is a plateau. Two weeks of a flat scale while your waist is still shrinking is not, and reacting to it usually makes things worse.

What to do first

Before cutting calories, restore accuracy and activity. Weigh food for a week, count everything, and get your daily steps back to where they were. That alone resolves a large share of stalls without any further restriction.

If it is genuinely stalled

Reduce intake by roughly 150 to 250 calories a day, or add activity of similar size, and hold it for two to three weeks. Small adjustments preserve training quality and are far easier to sustain than dramatic cuts.

Consider a break instead

If you have been in a deficit for several months, one to two weeks at maintenance often does more good than another cut. Hunger settles, training improves, and adherence recovers, all of which make the next phase more productive.

If weight loss has stopped despite consistent, accurately tracked effort over a long period, or you have other symptoms such as fatigue or changes in mood or menstrual cycle, it is worth discussing with your doctor.