How long is a real plateau?

Three to four weeks of no movement in the weekly average with honest consistency. A flat week or two is usually water, salt and timing.

Should I cut calories harder?

Rarely. Big cuts cost muscle and energy, and both work against you after forty. Small adjustments you can hold beat aggressive ones you cannot.

Can muscle gain hide fat loss?

Yes, especially early in training. If your waist is shrinking and your strength is rising while the scale sits still, you are recomping, and that is a win.

Answers

Why am I not losing weight?

Short answer

Three things usually explain a stall: you are lighter so you burn less, the early water loss has ended, and your habits have drifted. Track one honest week before changing anything. Most plateaus are drift, and drift fixed restarts progress within a fortnight.

By Dai Manuel, CrossFit L2, HYROX L2, Precision Nutrition, NeuroChange Practitioner. Last reviewed 27 September 2026.

Who this is for

This is for the man whose first month went well and whose scale has now stopped. You have not failed, and the plan has not stopped working. It needs its first service.

Why the stall happens

Your lighter body burns fewer calories doing everything. The flattering early weeks, when water and gut content leave, are over. And almost everyone drifts: portions creep, weekends loosen, steps drop.

Check the drift first

Spend one week measuring before you change the plan. Weigh food a few times. Count the weekend properly, drinks included. Compare your steps to week one. In my coaching experience, drift explains most plateaus on its own.

If it is not drift, adjust gently

Trim a couple of hundred calories a day, or
add one weekly session, or
push daily steps up by two thousand.

Make one change, hold it for three weeks, and judge the weekly average, not the daily noise.

Common questions

How long is a real plateau?: Three to four weeks of no movement in the weekly average with honest consistency. A flat week or two is usually water, salt and timing.
Should I cut calories harder?: Rarely. Big cuts cost muscle and energy, and both work against you after forty. Small adjustments you can hold beat aggressive ones you cannot.
Can muscle gain hide fat loss?: Yes, especially early in training. If your waist is shrinking and your strength is rising while the scale sits still, you are recomping, and that is a win.

Sources

Keep going

Where Dai has talked about this

Episodes (32)

Episode · jump to 0:08
Top 5 Reasons You're Not Releasing Weight and What You Can Do About It
We're talking all about the top five reasons you're not releasing weight and what you can do about it. Trust me, it's not just about cutting back on the midnight stacks, though you know, if we're honest, that's probably a good start. And you might be wondering what do I mean by releasing weight? Why not losing weight? Well, here's the little thing Now. It's psychological, but it's intention of language and you guys know I'm really big on language, especially that self talk, that voice that's in our head. Well, here's the idea when we lose something like losing our keys, what do we want, subconsciously and consciously?
Episode · jump to 1:49
Top 5 Reasons You're Not Releasing Weight and What You Can Do About It
Well, for one, it's not losing, it's releasing 20 pounds, and as much as we wish it, we're not in a fairy tale. Setting achievable goals is key. Aim for something realistic like releasing one, maybe two pounds per week, because it's slow and steady, wins the race and ultimately keeps the weight off. Number two fad diets. Aim for fad diets. Listen, we've all been down that path. Sure, the only eight purple foods on days with a full moon diet sounds intriguing, but let's stick to science. Fad diets can often lead to quick weight release, followed by even quicker weight gain. Instead, focus on a balanced diet with a mix of nutrients. Remember, variety is the spice of life and it's also pretty good for your diet too. Number three underestimating sneaky snacks. Those sneaky snacks yeah, I'm looking at you midnight cheese raiders.
Episode · jump to 3:32
Top 5 Reasons You're Not Releasing Weight and What You Can Do About It
And it's not really about one over the other. It is about that balance or harmony between the two, because they're both important, because cardio is great, but the muscles are our friends in the weight release journey. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, because your metabolism it's revving up higher when we have more muscle on our body, even while watching your favorite TV show. So let's embrace the weights. They're not just for bodybuilders, okay. Number five sleep and stress. Now, this is the tough one. Don't underestimate the power of some Z's and the peace of mind it brings. Poor sleep coupled with high stress can lead to weight gain. It's like your body's way of saying, hey, I'm tired and stressed. Let's hold on to this weight, prioritize sleep, manage stress and watch your body, thank you.
Episode · jump to 12:28
Breaking Free from Diet Culture: Lisa Franz's Journey to Nutritional Enlightenment
And both of these things I have had to learn the hard way that that is not true, because often, if we under-eat and over-exercise, especially at some point, our body is just going to say nope, no more. We might, you know, break down in one way, shape or form. If this is adrenal fatigue or whatever you want to label it, or if it's just simply your body not releasing weight anymore because it's learning to be so stubborn, it's like nope, you're not treating me well, I'm holding on to that lower body fat for my life because it's my main job to keep you surviving.
Episode · jump to 6:41
The #1 Fitness Tip That No One Is Talking About (Yet!)
Believe me, I've got days, weeks, even months at times where I feel like I'm not seeing a lot of progress at the gym. And it's tough. We all hit plateaus from time to time, and even at times we sometimes regress, we actually move backwards before we can move forwards again, and definitely when you're training consistently, especially for a sport at a competitive level. This is common and I used to really struggle with that right, but inevitably when I really became a keener with logging my workouts. So I use an app called Wattify. It's something that we use at the gym as well, that I train and coach at, and I find it a really great app. It allows me to track all my workouts but also compare how I've done with similar workouts in the past, so I can see oh, last time I did this, I did X amount of weights. You know like I can be like. Oh, my bench press.
Episode · jump to 1:45
Top 10 Burning Health & Fitness Questions Answered by a Pro Trainer!
For example, set a specific goal, like running a 5K charity race for a cause you're passionate about. Running a purpose can be a powerful motivator, also a great way to keep you accountable. Now question two what's the best diet for weight release? You understood, I didn't say weight loss, weight release. Why do we release weight? Because we say bye-bye, bye-bye weight. I don't want me coming back, because when you lose stuff, inevitably you try to find it again. Right, think about losing your keys. Everyone hates losing their keys. So, subconsciously, we're so used to losing stuff and wanting to find it again. So remember weight release. So what's the best diet for weight release? There's no one-size-fits-all answer. Think of it as assembling a puzzle. A balanced diet with a calorie deficit is like finding the perfect piece.
Episode · jump to 1:44
Stress Eating Debunked: The Real Reason You Reach for Junk Food
More importantly, what I've been doing to manage my cortisol levels more effectively, which has had a really big shift, especially on how much fat I retain as well as inflammation I retain in my body, and so if you want more on that, I'll include in the show notes the link to the cortisol episode. So if you want to do more of a deep dive on that, I definitely invite you to go check it out, because when we're stressed, your body releases cortisol, which triggering effect of cravings for, like sugary, fatty and often salty foods. These comfort foods temporarily make us feel better, usually by boosting some of those chemicals I was referring to serotonin, dopamine. These are like the feel good chemicals in our brains. Imagine your brain as a thermostat trying to maintain a comfortable temperature.
Episode · jump to 8:45
Embracing Health After 40: Philip Pape's Guide to Fitness, Food Freedom, and Mindful Living
So it ties into a bunch of other myths that ultimately lead to the restrictive diets, whether it's keto, carnivore, high-fat, high-carb, whatever, the idea that eating, the different composition of things is going to cause you to gain or lose weight, when really it does come down to energy balance. And the composition affects many of the other things not related to energy balance, like your hunger, like your metabolism, things that ultimately then come back to energy balance. So that's the big one that ties into all of the other myths, I think.

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