Why weight loss stalls even when you're in a deficit

First, is it actually a stall?

Daily weight bounces 1–2 kg from water, sodium, and food still being digested. A single flat week — even two — can be noise. Before troubleshooting, confirm the trend is genuinely flat over three weeks, using a weekly average rather than any single morning.

The causes, in order of likelihood

1. Intake has drifted upward. This is the most common cause by a wide margin. Un-weighed portions, cooking oils, drinks, and "bites" add up; a deficit you think is 500 calories may really be 150. Re-tighten tracking for a week before concluding anything else.

2. Water is masking fat loss. New training, high sodium, stress, or hormonal shifts can hold water and hide real progress on the scale. Measurements and how clothes fit, tracked over a month, see through this.

3. Your maintenance has fallen. You weigh less now, so you burn less — the deficit shrank as you lost. Plus a modest metabolic adaptation. Recalculate and trim a small amount if the trend is truly flat.

What it's almost never

It's almost never a "broken" or "starvation-mode" metabolism. Metabolic adaptation is real but small — on the order of 100–150 calories for a typical dieter — not enough to erase a sensible deficit. Read more on the methodology page about how that figure is derived.

The fix

Audit intake first. If tracking is genuinely tight and the trend is flat for three weeks, recalculate your target and reduce by ~100–150 calories, or add a little activity — not a drastic cut. The tracker can tell you whether your real maintenance has actually dropped, so you adjust based on data rather than panic.