Six weeks same weight, over it

six weeks at the same scale after 42 down usually means you’re either recomping or your maintenance moved down with your weight. Check 7-day average weight, waist, and main lifts.

If waist is shrinking and lifts hold/up, ignore the scale. If all three are flat for 2-3 more weeks, change one thing only.

Not calories and steps at once. Are you weighing at the same time daily?

Night shifts alone can hide 2-3 lbs of water.

Tbh Two kids here, so mealtimes are feral. When I stalled for 6 weeks, it was mostly the “mom tax”—crusts, Goldfish, spoonfuls of PB while packing lunches. I tracked it for 3 days and was shocked.

My snack drawer is now pre-portioned nuts/string cheese so I don’t graze while unpacking backpacks. Since your clothes are looser, I’d switch to a weekly waist/hip measure and hide the scale for 10 days.

Are you eating back your lifting/walk calories, or are those already inside your 1400–1600?

For what it's worth, random but concrete: have you checked your scale against a known weight? Mine drifted ~2 lb and made a stall look worse than it was.

I’d also look at water-retention noise—new/heavier lifting, creatine, constipation, a salty week—those can mask fat loss for 2–4 weeks even when your waist is down. What’s your 7-day average doing vs daily weights?

In the trials, scale weight is a noisy proxy; if the trend and tape are flat for another month, then I’d do a deeper tracking audit. Otherwise I’d keep the routine boring and let the whoosh come.

Six weeks is long enough that I’d check your 7-day average instead of daily weights. What’s your waist at navel doing, and are your main lifts still adding reps?

I lift 4x and when the scale parks, the useful signals are tape, gym numbers, sleep, and energy—not the morning number. Also scrub a few days for hidden oils, sauces, and bites while cooking; those sneak in fast.

If waist and lifts are flat too, I’d add steps or a 4th session before touching calories. Which is it: waist, lifts, or weekly average?

Do you log the bites while cooking? I stalled because I’d make the kids’ mac and cheese, eat the cheesy spoon, finish crusts, then only log my plate. Four days of honest bite-logging showed ~250 extra cals/day.

I didn’t change meals—just made myself sit with a small plate if I wanted some. Also, are you comparing a 7-day average or daily weights? My daily numbers were noise; the weekly average finally showed a drop.

Clothes looser is a real win, but that bite-while-cooking tax can keep the scale parked.

Empty-nester here, and I had a very similar flat stretch. What finally helped was changing the comparison: Sunday morning, same conditions, and I only look at 4-week averages.

Daily numbers were maddening; monthly showed I was still inching down. The other variable was sleep—when I was sleeping 5-6 hours, my morning weight ran 2 lbs higher and cravings were louder.

Once I protected 7+ hours for a couple weeks, the scale moved again. Have you tracked sleep or stress alongside your food/steps?

That was my missing piece when everything else looked consistent.

For what it's worth, what’s your sleep been like? I stalled at 187 for almost two months last year—same tracking, same 3x lifting—and the only thing I wasn’t logging was sleep. I was averaging 5.5 hrs with a toddler.

Started protecting bedtime like a weirdo, got to 7+, and the scale finally cracked about ten days later. Not saying it’s your magic fix, but it’s the variable I’d check next if food, steps, and lifting are already locked down.

Been here since 2022 and the six-week plateau thread pops up every few months. What got me at a similar spot was the gap between what I thought I was doing and the weekly averages.

My daily numbers looked fine, but weekends had crept up ~300 cal and my 8k steps became 4–5k on rest days. I started logging weekly totals instead of staring at daily weigh-ins. Also checked waist and how my gym belt fit.

If those are moving, I’d give it another 3–4 weeks before changing anything. If weekly averages have genuinely drifted, that’s your lever. Which one does your last 3 weeks say?

Classic sign you're recomposing, not stalling. Scale is a lggy proxy; use a weekly dashboard: waist at navel, thigh, and your top set on one main lift.

If waist is trending down and lifts are stable/up while scale is flat, you're winning. If waist and lifts are both flat for 3 weeks, then I'd audit the hardest-to-measure stuff: oils, sauces,

Your clothes and face changing is real progress, even if the scale is flat. One thing that helped me was switching to a true weekly average rather than daily weights, and logging a Monday waist/hip measurement.

During my own long flat stretch, my scale stayed within two pounds while my waist dropped almost an inch. If you have not already, it may be worth checking whether your 1400–1600 is a seven-day average, including weekends, oils, and small bites while cooking.

Are you seeing your lifts progress or your measurements change? That often tells a clearer story than the scale alone.

Have you checked your weekly average vs. your 30-day trend rather than the daily bounce? Mine sat at 184 for five weeks, but the 30-day line was still creeping down 0.15 lb/week.

Also, what’s your lifting progress doing? When my scale stalled, my squat and rows kept adding weight, which told me I was trading fat for muscle.

Maybe pick one tape measure spot—navel or thigh—and check it same time weekly. That broke the plateau obsession for me.

For what it's worth, at 42 lbs down, your maintenance is likely lower than it was—sometimes by 200–300 kcal. In the trials, plateaus often line up with the energy gap shrinking, not the med stopping.

I’d recalc current maintenance and compare it to a true weekly average intake that includes weekends; a 150-kcal/day gap can look like six flat weeks. Clothes looser plus lifting makes me wonder if you’re recomposing, too.

Are you tracking waist/hip/thigh measurements, or just the scale?