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Fixing A Weight Loss Plateau

Or Slow Down

Hey Friend,

I put up a post a few days ago about a client of ours named Ashley, who is just a couple of pounds away from crossing the 200 pounds lost milestone 🤯

Naturally, the first question people ask is: “How are you doing this?!”

Most assume the secret has to be nutrition, workouts, or maybe some magical supplement or medication.

But more than anything, what has allowed Ashley to succeed through 200 pounds and counting really comes down to just two things:

1. A commitment to keep going — literally refusing to quit when things get hard.

2. The ability to recognize what’s causing a stall in progress and fix it so she keeps moving forward.

And that second point is what today’s Tuesday Deep Dive is all about.

Because at some point everyone hits it:
👉 the dreaded plateau — that stall or slowdown that sucks the joy out of the process and makes you want to quit. (And honestly, most people do quit at this stage.)

So whether you’re stuck right now…or you know you will be in the future…this is the exact process we use with our clients at Healthy & Whole to diagnose and fix plateaus.

Let's dive in...

Real Plateaus vs. False Plateaus

The first step is to figure out whether what you’re experiencing is a real plateau or just a false plateau.

Here’s how we define 💪🏻it:

• Real plateau: 4+ consecutive weeks without a drop in average weekly weight.

• False plateau: Any stall shorter than that.

Why 4 weeks? Because the body has built-in stress responses that can mask progress temporarily.

When you’re in a calorie deficit, you are burning fat…but your body can hold onto water weight for up to 2 weeks at a time. So the scale doesn’t move even though fat loss is happening.

We call this the Stair Step Pattern.

• Weight drops.

• Then it bounces up and holds (water retention).

• Then comes the release we call “The Whoosh” — and suddenly you see the new low you’ve been earning all along.

For women with an active monthly cycle, there’s an added layer of hormone-driven water retention (about 2 weeks each month). If this overlaps with a false plateau, you can see 3–4 weeks with no visible progress before the whoosh finally shows up.

👉 Which is why we don’t panic until we’ve gone 4 full weeks without a new low.

The key takeaway: Short-term stalls are not true plateaus. Stay consistent, keep working your habits, and the whoosh will come.

But if 4+ weeks pass with no progress? That’s when we know something in the calories in vs. calories out equation has shifted. Time to troubleshoot.

Side note: This is why I highly recommend daily weigh-ins. One weigh-in a week simply doesn’t give you enough data to see trends. With daily data, we can track the lowest lows and draw a clear trend line that tells the truth:

• Flat line: maintenance (no deficit).

• Downward slope: in a deficit (rate depends on slope).

• Upward slope: surplus (gaining).

That trend line across the lowest lows is what we care about — not the temporary spikes.

If you need a super simple way to track your weight on a daily basis without much effort, here is the Wifi scale from Withings that I use at home.  I stand on it every morning after going to the bathroom and it logs my weight, body fat, etc. in an app on my phone automatically...super easy.  

Now that we've established what a real plateau is vs. an annoying false plateau, here's the 3 step process we use as coaches to assess a real plateau and how to fix it...

Step 1: Assess Your Daily Activity

We always start troubleshooting with activity (calories out).

Why? Because if activity has slipped, the only other option is to cut food intake — and I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather keep eating and move a little more 😂.

Our sustainable targets are:

• 8,000–10,000 steps per day

• 3 strength training sessions per week (30–45 minutes)

If you’re below those numbers, that’s the first fix. And we don’t recommend pushing above those numbers just to speed things up — that leads to burnout.

So ask yourself:
👉 Am I consistently hitting 8–10k steps?
👉 Am I lifting 2–3 times per week?

If not, fix this before touching food.

P.S. if you aren't yet tracking your steps on a daily basis, this is the very first thing you should fix.  I use an Apple Watch because they last forever and don't break down easily, but a Fitbit, or literally any other brand will work, I just recommend making sure you are tracking them. 

My personal experience with trackers is that you get what you pay for.  I've seen a lot of clients go through 2-3 cheap trackers that broke after 2-4 months before they invested in one that would hold up.  

Regardless of what tracker you choose, a lack of daily activity or inconsistent daily activity is one of the #1 plateau causes we see as coaches.  But you can't fix a problem you aren't seeing.

Step 2: Assess Your Food Intake

Now that we have addressed any issues with a lack of daily activity or strength training and we’ve made sure the calories out part of the weight loss equation is where it needs to be…we can now focus in to see if there are any issues with food intake aka the calories in part of the equation.

Here we are essentially asking 2 questions:

1. Is there anything glaringly obvious that we can or should address first aka emotional eating, binge eating, excess alcohol intake, vacations, etc.

2. What one or more smaller shifts could be adding up just enough to take you out of a calorie deficit, but might be less obvious.

If there are obvious things like frequent cheat meals or emotional eating, then it goes without saying that we confront those and tackle those things first.

If there is nothing super obvious or glaring then we start to explore to find smaller things that might be adding up.

A few examples might include:

• You are eating out more frequently than you were and the higher calorie content of restaurant meals is adding up to be an issue.

• You switched from lean proteins like chicken breast to fatty cuts like steak, salmon, pork, etc. and the extra fat calories are eating up your deficit.

• You switched up your menu and started eating different foods that are higher in fat like peanut butter, nuts, avocado/guacamole, cheese, etc. and the fat calories in those things are adding up and eating up your deficit.

• You stopped paying close attention to your portion sizes and your portion sizes have drifted to be bigger than they used to be.

• You have drifted away from a nicely structured day of eating 3 meals and a couple of protein-based snacks to just “grazing” all day and you’ve ended up eating more than you realize.

• You are having more or bigger cheat meals than you realize.

• You’re finishing your kids’ plates and snacks for them and not accounting for those in your daily food intake.

The goal is to get really curious and to put a magnifying glass on your food intake to see what you can discover that might be causing an issue with your calorie deficit, and then to fix those things.

Depth details that matter here:

• Protein Floor: Keep meals ≥35–40% protein; snacks ≥40% protein. This keeps hunger and grazing down and makes “portion creep” easier to resist.

• Restaurant Rule: Default to lean protein + vegetables; starch optional; fats on the side. Swap oils/creams for salsa, mustards, or vinegars.

• Alcohol Reality: 2 drinks can erase a hard day’s deficit—and loosen your food boundaries.

• Rebuild Your “Known Good” Menu: 7–10 meals + 5–7 snacks that you’ve pre-vetted for calories/protein. Eat those on autopilot during plateaus.

• Short Re-Log: If you’re truly stuck after 4 weeks, log everything (just 3–4 days) to re-calibrate your eyeballing.

Step 3:  Honestly Assess Your Consistency

Consistency is EVERYTHING when it comes to weight loss.

You’ve heard me talk a lot about the Weight Loss Equation, which is essentially that if Calories In – Calories Out = Calorie Deficit, then you will lose weight over time.

If you are being very consistent with your daily food intake, then you have a very consistent calorie intake number on a daily basis.

If you are being very consistent hitting your daily step goals and 3 strength workouts a week, then you will have a very consistent calories out number on a daily basis.

With these two things being very consistent, you’ll have laser consistent rates of average weekly and monthly weight loss for the most part.

But what if these things are not consistent?

What I see is that many people fall into one of three pitfalls:

1. They have very consistent daily activity aka calories out, but their food intake is all over the place, and therefore they are not in a consistent calorie deficit. They may be in a deficit one day, a surplus due to a cheat meal the next day, and then maintenance the next day.

2. They have laser consistent food intake aka calories in, but their daily activity and weekly strength workout consistency is all over the place. So 2-3 days a week they are active and they are in a calorie deficit. But the other 3-4 days they are less active, and either at maintenance from a calories in vs. out perspective, or they might even trend into a calorie surplus if they are a total couch or desk potato and don’t adjust their food intake.

3. Both their daily activity AND their food intake are all over the place, in which case their weight graph will look bipolar with lots of spikes up and down, but no downward trends and often a slight upward trend.

It’s important to be brutally honest when assessing how consistent you are with your food intake and your daily activity levels, so that you can cultivate real and genuine consistency, which will give you the consistent results you want.

👉 The goal = 80% consistency. Not perfection. But less than 80% often isn’t enough to see motivating results.

Putting It All Together

If you feel stuck right now follow this process:

1. Look at your daily weigh-in data to see how long your progress has been stalled.

   • If it is less than two weeks, tackle any obvious issues with your food and activity and just be patient. You will likely see a “whoosh day” soon.

   • If it has been more than 2 weeks for a male and 4 weeks for a female, then move on to step 2 and do a deeper assessment.

2. Assess your daily activity and weekly workouts.

   • The goal is 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day and 3 strength workouts a week.

   • If you are less than those numbers, fix this first.

   • We do not recommend increasing beyond these numbers specifically to increase weight loss rates…because you don’t want your results to be tied to unsustainable activity levels.

3. Assess your daily food intake

   • Start with the obvious “low hanging fruit” such as excessive cheats, emotional eating, alcohol.

   • Take a look at the smaller details such as portion sizes, the leanness of your overall menu, frequency of meals out at restaurants, grazing, going back for seconds, etc.

4. Honestly address your consistency

   • 80% consistency is what we strive for with our clients for excellent results.

   • Perfection is unattainable, but less than 80% for many people might not yield results motivating enough to keep going.

5. Get help

   • Coaches know how to read the data and how to troubleshoot plateaus faster. Clients like Ashley don’t get the kind of results they do on their own. They have a team of coaches to help them see what they are often not able to see.

   • A supportive community like the one we have at Healthy & Whole can give you the support and encouragement you need in the critical moment you need it the most to keep going instead of giving up.

Final Word

As always, remember it is a marathon and not a sprint. Plateaus are a normal part of the long-term weight loss journey.

They are an essential part of the learning and skill development process, so don’t be too hard on yourself if you find yourself stuck.

Just get the help you need, learn the lessons that need to be learned, fix what needs fixed and move on.

With the right help, patience, and perseverance, you’ll be at your goal weight sooner than you think.

And when that whoosh hits? Smile—you earned it.

— Matt

When you're ready, here's how I can help:

If you're looking to lose weight sustainably while building a flexible lifestyle that you enjoy, I can help.   Apply for coaching here in the Healthy & Whole Mentorship Program.  

Disclaimer: This email is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, and those seeking personal medical advice should consult with a licensed physician.