stalled for 5 weeks but scared to move up

Five weeks at 203 after a 21-lb drop isn’t a mystery, it’s data. Zero-sugar soda won’t offset a midnight snack if it’s calorie-dense. For the next 7 days, log the late-night stuff accurately—weigh it if you can—and take a waist measure plus 3 morning weights averaged. What’s your average protein and step count?

Those are the two levers I’d check before assuming the medication stopped working. Also, are you eating back exercise or “good queue” calories? That’s usually where my stalls live.

Fellow hotel-airport gremlin here. That 5-week stall might be travel math: airport sodium, trash sleep, and late ranked nights can hide fat loss on the scale.

I started weighing only under same conditions—home, morning, post-bathroom, pre-coffee—and tracking waist plus how a 14 actually fits. My scale once sat for 6 weeks while my belt went in a notch.

Sharp Q: is that 203 always at home, or are you comparing hotel weights too? If it’s random, try a 10-day no-scale streak and use jeans/photos.

Also pre-portion the midnight snack you actually log—popcorn, jerky, pickles—so queue rage doesn’t become mystery calories.

The jeans drop from 18 to 14 is a huge non-scale win, so please keep that in view. When my scale froze for several weeks, switching to weekly averages and taking waist/hip measurements every Sunday helped me see progress the daily number was hiding.

I also set a “kitchen is closed” alarm and pre-portioned a snack I actually liked—Greek yogurt with berries or edamame—so late nights did not become grazing sessions. Are you tracking weekly averages and measurements, or mostly the daily weigh-in? If the daily number is

Tbh Congrats on the jeans—18 to 14 is a huge non-scale win. When my scale froze for about a month, I noticed my late-night snacking was the tell: it wasn’t hunger, it was queue rage/boredom.

I started logging what I actually reached for (usually salty/crunchy) and whether I’d had a real dinner. Are your midnight snacks more salty/carby?

For me those can bump water weight and hide fat loss. One thing that helped: keep the zero soda/sparkling water, but have a protein-ish snack earlier and a big glass of water before you queue. Not a fix, just my n=1.

How are your measurements/jeans feeling during the stall?

Question: are you tracking the midnight snacks, or just eyeballing? I had a similar 5-week freeze and the culprit was unlogged bites/handfuls after bad queues—added up to ~250 kcal/day. Zero-sugar soda is fine, but it didn’t change the snack math.

Also, daily scale weight is noisy; I only trust a 7-day rolling average. What’s your weekly average trend over those 5 weeks—flat within 0.5 lb, or still creeping down?

That distinction changes whether it’s a real stall or just water/glycogen masking fat loss. I wouldn’t panic-change anything until the trend line is actually flat.

Scale twin—mine sat at 203 for 4 weeks too. The thing that cracked it wasn’t the sodas, it was the post-midnight “just a bite” while queuing.

I logged those nights for 2 weeks: 4 nights/week, average 380 cal, mostly cheese/crackers. That’s ~1,500/week I wasn’t counting.

Once I pre-portioned a 150-cal snack and set a hard stop after 1, the scale moved in 10 days. How many nights a week are the midnight snacks happening?

If it’s 3+, I’d track exactly what and when before anything else.

Fellow ranked night owl here. The 203 freeze might be less about the scale and more about the 1am queue snacks — are you actually logging those, or is it a few bites here and there?

When I stalled, I swore I was barely eating at night, but I started pre-logging my snack before I queued. Turns out my “just a handful” was closer to 400 cal, and five bad queue nights a week erased my deficit. Also, how’s your sleep? Short sleep makes me way hungrier and holds water.

Not trying to be preachy, just the two things that actually moved my stall.

Tbh hi, total newbie here (day 5), sorry if this is obvious. When you say midnight snacks after bad queue nights, are you logging those?

I finally weighed my “little” bowl of crackers and it was like 3 servings, which was humbling. I started pre-portioning a snack into a small bowl before I sit down to game so I’m not mindlessly reaching into the bag.

Also, how’s your sleep on ranked nights? I notice I’m way snackier the next day when I stay up late. Anyway, rooting for you!

For what it's worth, one thing I’d track for a week: your actual after-midnight snacks, not just the calories. When my queue went bad, I’d graze standing up and it added up fast. I started keeping a cut-up apple + string cheese or a yogurt cup ready, and logging it before I ate it.

Are you genuinely hungry at midnight, or is it more mouth-boredom/tilt? If it’s real hunger, your daytime meals might need more protein/fiber.

If it’s boredom, changing the ritual—tea, shower, 10 push-ups during queue—might help more than white-knuckling it.

Fellow late-night queue person here. One thing that cracked my 6-week stall was actually measuring the midnight snacks instead of eyeballing them.

I’d grab “a few” crackers or cereal, log it, and realize it was 400–500 cals. Switched to herbal tea + cut-up apple with cinnamon after 10pm, and only eat at the table, not at the desk. Are you logging those queue-gone-bad snacks, or just estimating? That was my blind spot.

Random thought: are you tracking the midnight snacks by weight or just eyeballing? When I stalled, “just a few chips” was often 300+ cal and I only logged daytime.

The zero-soda swap saves a ton, but it’s easy to unconsciously eat some of that back at 1am. Also, at 203 your maintenance is lower than at 224, so the same calorie deficit gets smaller—in the trials that’s a common reason stalls show up after big losses.

One-week experiment: pre-portion the snack, log it before queue, and see if the 5-week flatline is actually a 100–200 cal/day creep. Not saying move up, just data.

I had a 5-week flat too. My spreadsheet showed weekdays were fine, but Fri–Sun averaged +1,800 cal/day from “just a bite” while gaming. I started pre-logging my night queue snacks before I sat down, not after.

Also weigh same conditions and compare 14-day averages, not daily lows. Question: what’s your 14-day average now vs five weeks ago? If it’s down even 0.5 lb, that’s a trend, not a stall.

If it’s flat, look at weekend calories vs weekdays. That’s usually where my stall lived.

Cafe owner here, so food is literally at my elbow all day. What cracked my own stall wasn’t the obvious midnight stuff—it was the “tiny tastes” I never counted: bite of scone, spoon of frosting, broken cookie.

I put a sticky note by the register and tallied every taste for a week. I was easily adding 200–300 cal before dinner.

Also, my scale sat still while jeans got looser, so I switched to waist measurements every two weeks instead of daily weigh-ins. Are your 14s feeling any different yet?

Hi, I’m brand new here (week one), so take this with a grain of salt. First, 18 to 14 is amazing. One thing I’ve noticed in my short time: when I stay up late gaming, I wake up puffy and the scale jumps even if I didn’t eat much.

Are your queue nights changing your sleep more than the snacks? Maybe for one week track bedtime and whether the midnight snack is salty/carby, plus waist or jeans photos, not just the scale.

The scale might be stuck while your body is still changing.

Fellow road warrior here. Hotel scales are absolute liars—if you’re weighing in different rooms, the same 203 could be three different 203s.

I started trusting one pair of “travel jeans” and only my home scale once a week. Also, airport/hotel food is a sodium bomb, so I puff up for 2–3 days after a trip even when I’m dong everything right.

Random question: are you doing any strength stuff, or just cardio? When I added 10 mins of hotel-room bodyweight before ranked queue, the scale still stalled but my 14s got looser. That

I feel the scared part. One thing I’d check before changing anything: is the scale truly flat at 203.0, or is it bouncing 202–205 depending on the

Numbers-nerd take: 3 Dews ≈ 510 cal/day, ~3,500/week, basically a pound. So the soda swap is already doing heavy lifting.

Which means a 5-week flat at 203 is probably something else hiding it — for me it was evening weigh-ins reading ~2 lbs heavy from sodium/water, masking real loss. Are you weighing at the same time daily, post-bathroom, pre-coffee?

My 6-week stall also broke when I swapped my queue snack from chips (~280 cal) to grapes + Greek yogurt (~150). Took about 10 days. The 18→14 is the actual scoreboard anyway.