Down 40 pounds at week 34, trend line flattening

Nice work — 40 lb and 6 in off the waist is the kind of data I trust more than scale noise. When my trend line flattened around a similar point, the culprit was mostly water/glycogen after adding a second leg day: scale flat for 18 days, waist down another 0.75 in. Are you using a 7-day rolling average or weekly averages? And are you taping at the same spot/time? I’d also be curious if your lifts are still progressing. If strength is holding and measurements are moving, I’d treat a flat scale for a couple more weeks as less meaningful.

Nice work — 6.1 lb last month then flat isn’t failure. Question: are you tracking non-scale stuff weekly? Around week 30 I had a 3-week scale plateau, but waist dropped another 0.5 in and my top squat set added 10 lb. If lifts and waist are still moving, I’d trust the scale trend less. If both stalled, what happened to steps/NEAT? My weekly average steps fell ~1,800 when work got busy, which basically erased a small deficit. Are you logging weekly step averages and sleep? That’s where I’d look before changing anything.

For what it's worth, empty-nester here too, and week 34 was where my trend went flat for almost a month. What moved it wasn’t a big overhaul: I started weighing the cooking oil and nut butter I’d been eyeballing, and added a 15-minute after-dinner walk. Only ~120–150 calories/day plus more steps, but my 4-week average finally ticked down again. Lifting water still masks individual weeks, so I stopped reading too much into those. Have you checked whether your weekly intake average has crept up since your walks and cooking habits got more comfortable? Mine definitely had.

Fellow regainer here — those waist/pants numbers are the real headline. A two-week flat scale after a 6-lb month could just be water/inflammation masking fat loss, especially with 3 lifting sessions. What changed in the last two weeks besides the scale: sleep, stress, daily steps, soreness, sodium/carb timing? When my trend flattened around a similar point, my waist kept creeping down while the scale sat still for ~18 days, then dropped 3 lb over four days. I’d compare 4-week averages, not 2, and same-day waist measurements. Are you still losing inches but not pounds, or have both paused? That distinction would tell me more than the trend line right now.

40 lb and 6 inches off your waist is huge. I hit a similar flat patch around week 30: scale didn’t move for 18 days, but my belt notch moved and my squat reps went up. Turned out a training bump had me holding water. I switched to a 10-day weight average plus monthly photos, and the “stall” was mostly noise. What’s your weekly average weight doing compared to four weeks ago? If it’s still down even 0.2 lb/week, I’d hold course and let the tape measure vote.

I hit a similar wall near week 34. What actually moved things for me wasn’t cutting more — it was changing lifting rep ranges (8–10 to 5–8) and adding a 20-minute post-dinner walk. My scale stayed ugly for three weeks, but the waist kept creeping down. Question: are your main lifts still adding weight or reps, or has progressive overload stalled too? If training progress is flat, I’d look there before touching intake again.