It inevitably happens at some point. Your weight just won't budge. You keep hitting the same number then gaining a few pounds back and even when you lose those, you can't get past a certain number. There are many causes for this and a few things that work to break through a plateau.
Reasons:
1. You Aren't Counting Calories Correctly:
There is a high chance that you aren't counting every calorie you intake, or that you are miscalculating them. Do some google searching and find out the real caloric values of everything you eat. Don't forget to count things like cream and sugar in coffee/tea; gum, mints, diet soda, butter, seasonings, oils that food is cooked in, and condiments. You could be simply leaving out up to 250 calories each day. This won't stop you from losing weight completely, but it can explain why you're losing slower than you should be. Also, measure things out at least once so you know what a portion REALLY looks like. Eyeballing and using certain bowls or plates doesn't control how much you're really putting on that plate.
2. You Are Counting NET Calories as Intake:
Firstly, you should understand that calories from food are not immediately absorbed and ready to be burned off. It takes about 4 hours for everything to be moved out of the stomach to where everything is really absorbed, and 12 hours for it to have been absorbed and converted to energy. Second, exercise burns your blood glucose stores, not fat. It takes hours of intense activity to reach pure fat metabolizing. That isn't something that calisthenics and cardio do. You are burning yesterday's calories today. Don't expect doing the "1000 calories work out" from instagram to burn everything you ate today {cause it really only burns around 250 calories}. If you are consuming 1800 calories but counting the calories burned by sleep and walking and studying and every little thing you do, AND adding your BMR; to total something like 400 Net Calories, you will not lose the same amount as consuming 400 calories and sleeping all day. Do NOT count purging as exercise or reduce the amount of calories consumed because you threw it up. Almost NO ONE can purge more than 80% of what they eat. Just don't purge in the first place, it doesn't help anything.
3. Water and Waste Weight:
The average body can hold up to 15lbs of water weight at any given time. Water is stored in muscles, the intestines, and your dermal layers of fat. Your body will hide this water from you. You may not even know how much until you lose it. If you suspect you're holding onto a lot of water weight, get a sweat going and work it all out! But don't forget to replace fluids lost through sweat. It won't be automatically put back as stored water weight. You should also watch your sodium, but don't try to cut it out. Salt is essential to human function. If you are constipated, you can have over 10lbs of poop stuck in you! Have a black coffee and go for a walk, it will get things going. I would tell you to avoid laxatives, but it's a personal choice to be addicted and risk shitting yourself in public. If you still think they're a good idea, google "rectal prolapse".
4. Metabolic Decline:
It is EXTREMELY RARE to have your metabolic rate decrease by more than 10% and only happens in extreme cases of inactivity and starvation. You will not be able to gain on less than 1500 calories unless you have a disorder such as PCOS which you will know about. Your doctor will figure it out pretty easily. So few people legitimately can't lose weight on less than 1500 calories, you probably aren't one of them. If you are, you knew that before you read this page.
How to Break the Plateau:
1. Increase Activity:
The easiest way to break a plateau is to increase your activity. As you lose weight, you need less calories to maintain your weight, and to counteract this, you should increase your calories burned everyday. Do more walking, add in an exercise routine if you don't have one already, or switch from one you've been doing for a while to a new one. It's simply scientific that increasing the energy out without increasing energy in will create a larger deficit and therefore a larger loss.
2. Change the Foods You Eat:
If you eat low carb, go high carb low fat. If you eat at the same time everyday, change the times. Switch up your food routine and eat things you don't normally have. There isn't really a theory behind this, but eating new foods will make you more cautious of the calories and probably count them more precisely. Your body could also be deficient in something, and eating new foods gives a greater chance that you'll get the things you've been missing. When you aren't deficient in any vitamins, your energy level will increase as well.
3. High Calorie Week:
Having one high calorie day WILL NOT BREAK THE PLATEAU. It does almost nothing to your metabolism. Keep in mind that your metabolism has no consciousness and is not aware of anything that you do. All it 'knows' is that energy is important and when it doesn't have enough, it won't use it up as freely. If you're eating below 500 calories a day, change to 800-1000 for ONE WEEK. Do more exercise if you're so worried about eating that much. Anything below 1200 is still considered a starvation diet. If you eat 400-800, get it up to 1300 or so. It takes more than a few days for your body to be willing to expend energy (calories) freely. It will only do so if there has been a steady and safe supply of energy long enough for it to adjust.
4. Fast Day:
Fasting for more than 48 hours puts the body under a lot of stress. You will feel this stress. There is no additional benefit for fasting longer than 48 hours. In fact, 24-36 hours is the most beneficial length for a fast. This should be your LAST resort, not your go-to solution. Eating a restrictive diet makes fasting even more dangerous because you already have deficiencies. You are more prone to dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, fainting, and sudden cardiac arrest than anyone eating a medically recommended diet of 1400-1800 calories for weight loss. (Yes, this is what normal dieters eat. Really.) Fasting for one day will help you break a plateau, but you should only do this if eating more for a week or any other method listed above doesn't work.
5. Detox/Cleanse:
If you have suffered intermittent constipation for a while, its safe to assume you have some toxins and waste that isn't being cleaned out in a timely manner. Doing a juice cleanse or detoxing by eating only fresh fruit and vegetables for 3 days to a week will help you get rid of those things. You could lose weight (break your plateau) because: 1) you can lose waste which has been delayed in emptying, 2) you can lose water weight since the body holds extra water when there are toxic things that aren't being removed, and 3) restricting your diet to juice, fruit, and/or veg will make having a deficit really easy since it's hard to intake more than your TDEE on those things alone. And when I say juice, I mean no sugar added, not sweetened, and not in massive quantities.
6. The Whoosh: An MPA Theory
This isn't something I've personally noticed but I figured I would add it here.
As you take energy from your fat cells, they replace the mass with water as a "place holder" for it to be put back. After you have been losing for long enough, the body let's go of the water and the fat cells collapse in a "whoosh" of loss.
