UH OH! The dreaded plateau...

DeguelloTex

BFDeal wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

cathipa wrote: »

OK then explain why she is not losing if in fact she is logging everything correctly? I can't believe with her activity that 1200 calories would put her in maintenance.

Could be retaining water. Could be stress. Could be any number of things. That's exactly why weight loss isn't linear even with a consistent deficit.



I was logging everything correctly and not eating at maintenance and my loss not only flat-lined for a short period, I actually gained weight. Why? Maybe stress from the end of a school year? I don't know. I do know that increasing calories wasn't the answer or it would always be the answer during a correctly logged plateau (not that this was long enough to be considered a plateau here).

But shouldn't there be an actual logical explanation for it? And at what point do you try something else? How many weeks/months?

Logical explanations have been given in this thread. The same logical explanation doesn't necessarily apply to every scenario for every person.

I think people generally say that if it's 6-8 weeks or more then it's probably not a question of fluid retention and what you're eating may actually be maintenance, even if it isn't logged correctly.

Unknown

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DeguelloTex

BFDeal wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

BFDeal wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

cathipa wrote: »

OK then explain why she is not losing if in fact she is logging everything correctly? I can't believe with her activity that 1200 calories would put her in maintenance.

Could be retaining water. Could be stress. Could be any number of things. That's exactly why weight loss isn't linear even with a consistent deficit.



I was logging everything correctly and not eating at maintenance and my loss not only flat-lined for a short period, I actually gained weight. Why? Maybe stress from the end of a school year? I don't know. I do know that increasing calories wasn't the answer or it would always be the answer during a correctly logged plateau (not that this was long enough to be considered a plateau here).

But shouldn't there be an actual logical explanation for it? And at what point do you try something else? How many weeks/months?

Logical explanations have been given in this thread. The same logical explanation doesn't necessarily apply to every scenario for every person.

I think people generally say that if it's 6-8 weeks or more then it's probably not a question of fluid retention and what you're eating may actually be maintenance, even if it isn't logged correctly.

But if you were in a deficit why would you suddenly not be in a deficit randomly for a few weeks? Then magically you were again. There has to be an explanation, assuming your logging was right.

You would still be in a deficit. Weight loss or gain, all the more so in the short term, isn't all fat or muscle. Reasons were listed for why weight doesn't come off linearly -- water retention, hormones, stress/cortisol -- and there are surely many others. If you don't like those reasons, that's fine, but they've been given multiple times in this thread alone.

TimothyFish

There are a number of things that can cause you to retain weight for a while. Eating more than normal, a change in exercise, too much sodium, constipation, etc. Without knowing what is causing it, it would be impossible to determine how to solve it. But keep eating at a deficit and give it time. Eventually, it'll go away and you'll probably find that you've lost as much weight as you would have anyway.

T1DCarnivoreRunner

BFDeal wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

BFDeal wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

cathipa wrote: »

OK then explain why she is not losing if in fact she is logging everything correctly? I can't believe with her activity that 1200 calories would put her in maintenance.

Could be retaining water. Could be stress. Could be any number of things. That's exactly why weight loss isn't linear even with a consistent deficit.



I was logging everything correctly and not eating at maintenance and my loss not only flat-lined for a short period, I actually gained weight. Why? Maybe stress from the end of a school year? I don't know. I do know that increasing calories wasn't the answer or it would always be the answer during a correctly logged plateau (not that this was long enough to be considered a plateau here).

But shouldn't there be an actual logical explanation for it? And at what point do you try something else? How many weeks/months?

Logical explanations have been given in this thread. The same logical explanation doesn't necessarily apply to every scenario for every person.

I think people generally say that if it's 6-8 weeks or more then it's probably not a question of fluid retention and what you're eating may actually be maintenance, even if it isn't logged correctly.

But if you were in a deficit why would you suddenly not be in a deficit randomly for a few weeks? Then magically you were again. There has to be an explanation, assuming your logging was right.

I read some research once that identified what happens with plateaus and whooshes. The results were that fat cells would become replaced with water as the fat energy was depleted. So basically fat cells were the same size they always were, but it was water contained within those cells. Eventually (I don't recall there being any consistency to help people understand how to trigger it), those cells would drop the water and one would see a "whoosh."

girlalmighty08

Couple weeks.

DeguelloTex

girlalmighty08 wrote: »

Couple weeks.

In that case, be more patient and see what happens. See my graph above, for example.

Azexas

Couple of weeks isn't considered a plateau. Usually if it's been 4 weeks or more it's considered a plateau. Give it a couple more weeks.

girlalmighty08

Thanks for the feedback. I know I may be premature calling it a plateau, but when you're use to seeing big numbers consistently each week, and know you're working hard and being on point with your diet, it can be a little discouraging to be at a stand still even if it is only a couple weeks. All part of that mental shift and looking at the big picture I guess!