When progress stalls for weeks: what simple checks do you try before changing everything?

This happens to me all the time — steady progress, then crickets for a month. A few quick things I check before I panic and change everything: - One week of honest tracking (food + drink). I usually discover calorie creep or “small” snacks adding up. Be strict about portion sizes. - Switch from daily weigh-ins to weekly morning weigh-ins + a tape measure or photos. Clothes fit and tape changes are less noisy than the scale. - Look at training logs: did I stop adding weight/reps or lose intensity? If workouts have flatlined, that’s the easiest fix. - Sleep/stress/steps check — a lousy week or two of sleep or ramped-up stress kills progress more than people expect. - Consider water/carbs/sodium (big meals, salty days, or PMS can mask fat loss). If things look weird, give it a week. Usually the strict tracking + the training log tells me whether it’s a real plateau or just consistency/retention noise. What kind of program are you doing now? That might change which check is most useful.