Plateaus: A necessary evil?
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BABetter1
Posts: 618 Member
I experienced a plateau with a different WOE a couple of years ago, and it lasted so long (6 months) I got very frustrated and threw my hands up. I am doing well since starting this WOE, and I am so excited that it seems so much more sustainable. I am losing at a steady, healthy pace (just under 2 lbs per week), and I was pondering the estimated date of reaching my goal weight based on that rate of loss (according to Trendweight dot com). Then I thought about the very non-linear reality of weight loss, and faced the fact that there might be a plateau or two along the way to push back that date. But is there always a plateau? Does anyone get through a weight loss journey of more than 20 pounds without a plateau or stall? If not, why not? If we're keeping our metabolism up and not severely under eating, why do we have to have plateaus?
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If there were no adversity, one would never learn to overcome challenges.
That being said, I've only ever hit one once. It lasted for about four months. I was angry in the face, but just kept on with what I was doing that worked.3 -
I don't think there is a plateau every time. I lost 40 lbs and my weight loss only stopped because I stopped counting calories and started eating more.
That being said, my weight loss wasn't linear. Some weeks I lost 7 lbs and others I lost nothing, or even gained, but the overall trend was downwards.1 -
See, I got very frustrated because I was counting every crumb, exercising, etc. I tried many different fixes to break the plateau. I stopped eating back exercise calories. Nothing. I upped my calorie intake a bit. Nothing. Lowered calories. Nothing. Started an even more intense workout routine. Nothing. And after 6 months, I wanted to scream. I was working so hard and getting nowhere. So, I stopped . . . . everything. I was just going to take a couple of weeks vacation from logging and trying so hard just to get my head straight. And then I was going to go back at it . . . . except I just didn't . . . . It makes me hopeful to see that someone made it through without a plateau, nvmomketo. I hope I can too.0
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I don't think there are ever plateaus if you continue doing the same thing that produced results in the beginning.
Weight loss by the measure of the scale is not the be all, end all of progress measurement.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10353600/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-stall#latest
Weather or not you think you've plateaued depends on what method you're measuring success by.1 -
Ok. Should have added, at the time I plateaued previously, my body did not change or recomp and I did not lose any clothing size. I even took pictures and compared. I seriously just . . . plateaued. Progress measurement depends on the goal, of course. I wanted to lose weight. That was the goal.
This time around, the only difference is my WOE. I am still very focused on losing weight as my primary goal. My secondary goal is to be able to maintain it for life. And I'm still in the early stages of this change in my WOE. So I'm all optimistic and feeling like I won't get frustrated and tired of tracking and logging and being careful about what I eat. But . . . .1 -
Yes, of course. Life lesson, yada, yada, yada. But, the second part is the important part of what you said. You just kept doing what you were doing. And that was the biggest regret I had from my plateau experience. Instead of continuing, I got angry and just quit (after 6 months of no progress). Still kicking myself to this day because 170 pounds for the rest of my life would have still been better than starting back over at 215. Ultimately, I am hoping and praying for no stalls this time. But, should I not be so lucky, I at least hope I can remember this frustration of starting over and how I kick myself every day.Gallowmere1984 wrote: »If there were no adversity, one would never learn to overcome challenges.
That being said, I've only ever hit one once. It lasted for about four months. I was angry in the face, but just kept on with what I was doing that worked.
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If it makes you feel any better, I bloated back up to almost 200 by this past November. A combination of apathy and sheer laziness got the best of me. Around January, I finally got sick of looking at myself again, and decided to go back into cut mode. Getting back down to sub-170 was actually far faster and easier this time, than it was the first.3
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Gallowmere1984 wrote: »If it makes you feel any better, I bloated back up to almost 200 by this past November. A combination of apathy and sheer laziness got the best of me. Around January, I finally got sick of looking at myself again, and decided to go back into cut mode. Getting back down to sub-170 was actually far faster and easier this time, than it was the first.
This.0 -
Sometimes there's still progress in health in some way that you're not aware of. The body takes care of itself when we do the right things. If it needs to keep the weight, it will. If it needs to add weight, it will. But it doesn't mean progress isn't being made. But, you're right, it depends on what your goal is.
I am one that discourages making scale weight your primary goal. So, I'm very biased in these discussions.
looking for body changes is a better goal imo.
The only thing that would make sense that no body changes were observed either is that you were eating at your maintenance. Or, that the places changes were made were small and not areas you would notice.
I bought a new watch a couple months ago, and just noticed this week the stupid thing is getting too big on the notch I've been using. I mean, really?!? I have a very small wrist as it is, why the heck would it be getting smaller?!?! So dumb!
Anyway, you may have to look a little harder for the subtle changes or buckle down on eating or get more active.
I actually think how often we eat is very important. Even if you're eating the right foods, eating every 3 or 4 hours can be counter productive even if you're calorie counting. Allowing your body to tap into the stored fat between meals by going longer, could help a lot.0 -
I've coined a name for them, "Healing Pauses". My experience has been that they always happen, and I've allowed them to derail me from many diets in the past! I didn't realize the healing that was going on then, as I do now. I've hit stalls after every new low on the scale, without changing what I put in my mouth with this woe!
It's not the same for everyone! Some people are able to lose without them. I'm not one of them. I've accepted that even though I may never know the healing that my body is working on, but accept them, and keep on trucking! Yes, they can mess with your head, but the scale doesn't deserve the power to dictate food choices!
Hang in there!
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I have worked really hard to change my mindset. This WOE is more about taking care of myself from the inside out than it is about the scale. There is no getting off the "diet" - I'm in maintenance and it takes as much vigilance as losing the weight did. I am also at the point where I'm reevaluating my macros to fine tune what my body needs as well as my workouts. About the time I have it all really dialed in, menopause will strike and I'll have to fine-tune some more!
I've been LCHF/Keto for nearly 2 years. I keep doing more research and it commits me even further. Though I'm in maintenance, as in I hit my goal weight, I'm still working on body recomp and really trust that it will come along if I just take care of myself.
Two things that have really helped me: I have a list of trigger foods I won't go near, and I never eat off-plan in the house. In 6 months, I have had two off-plan meals that were planned and wonderful, so I will do that sort of thing on occasion. My house is my safe zone, even though I live with carb eaters and have lots of packaged naughtiness in my pantry.
As for your question about plateaus... I lost 70 lbs with Jenny Craig in 1993 in 6 months with no plateau. It was the most horrific time of my life. I would go to bed and cry I was so hungry. I gained almost all of it back and yo-yoed up and down 30 lbs for a few years. I invested myself in running and other athletic events which kept my weight a little more stable, but I was fighting the Triscuit monster in my pantry HOURLY. My trainer introduced me to LCHF and it has pretty much overhauled my life. I hit a stall last June because I was eating a handful of almonds here and there and not tracking as honestly as I should have. So the stall was in my hands, but I allowed it to affect my emotions and I ended up head-first in a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos (now on the trigger food list). Sometimes you do everything right and the scale stops moving - agree with @Sunny_Bunny_ that other magic is happening inside your body or perhaps you need to alter your intake or output a bit.
This is long-winded. Weight loss is such a mental battle as well as a physical one. I've been on a diet since I was about 7 years old and someone said I should lose 10 lbs... All this to say that we are here for you ❤️
Erin
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I would just like to say that I'm inspired every time I read a post like this. Thank all of you for helping each other. It's so wonderful and accepting here. 3
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Thank you all for the added perspective. You all make valid points. I will try to keep these in mind if/when I hit another plateau. I just don't want to feel like that again, like I'm working so hard at it for nothing. I just want to be doing that thing that I can do for the rest of my life (not a diet). And LCHF feels that way, not like a diet but like something I can just get into a habit with. Long day, and I think I'm rambling. Just had the memory of that plateau hit me today and it produced some unexpected, probably unwarranted, anxiety for my WOE future. Hope that makes sense.2
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I read somewhere on MFP a storey about plateaus or stalls. Its like running up a multi storey building's stairs. Unless you are one of the rare extremely fit we all will run up a few flights, then slow down and walk or stop and rest to re-coup and then continue further up in another sprint. Thats what our bodies are also doing with shedding weight. When i know ive done my utmost with eating and movement, but i have a stall, i now know that my body is just taking a rest or a breath getting ready for the next sprint. And with this thinking, im not stressed and have moved forward to further losses quicker than i originally thought. Ive now shed 85lb in 12 months with 5 stalls when you look at my graphs.1
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For me, cycling the fiber I get thru veggies and exercise make the body fat keep deciding to move away.
Exercise can make you sore and hold water for days and think
You are on a fat loss plateau.
I would say that weight loss is too nebulous of a term for what is happening.
There is some fat being burnt off, some muscle added, water comes and goes, glycogen stores come and go. All of those things pull in different directions on the numbers on the scale.
If I eat a bit more carbs and store glycogen and water it is still possible to lose body fat, so the scale moves up a little bit still I lost body fat
Lots of people say look at weekly results and monthly trends so those little plateaus don't demotivate us when we are actually doing well and making steady progress
I agree
As long as you are doing the right things your actual progress is linear. Looking at the scale only is an incomplete picture. If that is how you gauge results then that can be frustrating.
Keep on. It will work.3 -
Normally, I pre-plan meals. Last night, I spent several hours in the emergency room with one of my children (no worries, she's ok). Got in bed really late. Woke up super tired, could barely even think straight. Barely got myself to work on time, and realized that I not only didn't plan anything for breakfast or lunch but also didn't even grab anything I had on hand as had briefly crossed my mind during the mad dash. Options at work are very limited, and generally not keto friendly. So proud of myself. I grabbed a premade salad that had chicken, cheese, pepitas, cabbage, romaine and carrots. I picked out most of the carrots and had that salad for breakfast! Probably do the same for lunch later if there is still another salad left in the vending fridge.5
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Normally, I pre-plan meals. Last night, I spent several hours in the emergency room with one of my children (no worries, she's ok). Got in bed really late. Woke up super tired, could barely even think straight. Barely got myself to work on time, and realized that I not only didn't plan anything for breakfast or lunch but also didn't even grab anything I had on hand as had briefly crossed my mind during the mad dash. Options at work are very limited, and generally not keto friendly. So proud of myself. I grabbed a premade salad that had chicken, cheese, pepitas, cabbage, romaine and carrots. I picked out most of the carrots and had that salad for breakfast! Probably do the same for lunch later if there is still another salad left in the vending fridge.
While it's not for everyone, things like this are why I am glad that I have easily adapted to IF. Whereas before, if I would wake up a bit late, or anything would go wrong, I'd be scrambling to throw stuff together and try to get out of the door on time, or I'd end up eating barely acceptable crap from a local vendor. Now, so long as I can manage the time to throw BPC together before heading out, I know I am good until that night. The speed that a Bunn coffeemaker works is amazing, and I'd recommend them to anyone.2 -
I don't think everyone gets plateaus, but I've definitely had them. I've not had any with low carb yet, but I suppose it is possible.
My longest was about 6 months also and I got very frustrated. After 2 months, I changed to a version of IF in hopes of causing a whoosh. This ultimately led to a huge calorie surplus (on average, about 3K calories per day surplus, though some days were a 2K deficit and other days were more like 8K-10K surplus). I did that for 6 weeks - saw a lot of fluctuation from day-to-day, but no sustained gain or loss (because as you probably know, during a true plateau, even the huge surplus will not lead to a gain nor will a deficit lead to a loss). That didn't work after 6 weeks, so I returned to a small daily deficit. Still didn't lose for 2 more months. Finally, in a few days, I lost several lbs. and that loss sustained (i.e. the whoosh that follows a plateau).
I've had some other plateaus, though what I described was the longest. I keep thinking back that if I hadn't become so frustrated and switched to the IF which ultimately caused a surplus, I would have lost much more. It's tough to keep going when you're not seeing results.
Because I foresee questions, the IF plan was at a huge surplus because it was based on serious restrictions on calories at times (not a total fast, but pretty close) and then no calorie restrictions (i.e. a free-for-all) at other times. I think it was designed with the idea that people only have the capability to consume a certain amount of food over time and have limited appetites regardless of how long it has been since they have eaten. If that were true, then I would be at a small surplus during the feeding time and at a huge deficit during the fasting time, which would net to a huge deficit. I've found that my appetite and ability to consume is unbelievably large. In fact, I've consumed 13 days of TDEE in a single day. That is why the plan won't work for someone like me, but I didn't expect it to cause weight loss or weight gain... I was just hoping it would end my plateau and give me the loss I had already achieved.0 -
erinseattle wrote: »I have worked really hard to change my mindset. This WOE is more about taking care of myself from the inside out than it is about the scale. There is no getting off the "diet" - I'm in maintenance and it takes as much vigilance as losing the weight did. I am also at the point where I'm reevaluating my macros to fine tune what my body needs as well as my workouts. About the time I have it all really dialed in, menopause will strike and I'll have to fine-tune some more!
I've been LCHF/Keto for nearly 2 years. I keep doing more research and it commits me even further. Though I'm in maintenance, as in I hit my goal weight, I'm still working on body recomp and really trust that it will come along if I just take care of myself.
Two things that have really helped me: I have a list of trigger foods I won't go near, and I never eat off-plan in the house. In 6 months, I have had two off-plan meals that were planned and wonderful, so I will do that sort of thing on occasion. My house is my safe zone, even though I live with carb eaters and have lots of packaged naughtiness in my pantry.
As for your question about plateaus... I lost 70 lbs with Jenny Craig in 1993 in 6 months with no plateau. It was the most horrific time of my life. I would go to bed and cry I was so hungry. I gained almost all of it back and yo-yoed up and down 30 lbs for a few years. I invested myself in running and other athletic events which kept my weight a little more stable, but I was fighting the Triscuit monster in my pantry HOURLY. My trainer introduced me to LCHF and it has pretty much overhauled my life. I hit a stall last June because I was eating a handful of almonds here and there and not tracking as honestly as I should have. So the stall was in my hands, but I allowed it to affect my emotions and I ended up head-first in a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos (now on the trigger food list). Sometimes you do everything right and the scale stops moving - agree with @Sunny_Bunny_ that other magic is happening inside your body or perhaps you need to alter your intake or output a bit.
This is long-winded. Weight loss is such a mental battle as well as a physical one. I've been on a diet since I was about 7 years old and someone said I should lose 10 lbs... All this to say that we are here for you ❤️
Erin
Awesome.
I was at 200 pounds for the last year staying in ketosis about 99% of the time eating just under 50 grams of carbs daily and none for added sweeteners of any type or from grains. Calories were about 2500 daily;.
About 5 weeks ago bam out of the blue my body seem to be saying cut back on the high fats and eat some carbs from whole foods. I am down 10 pounds with that change. Still no counting or fretting over my macro. I did make some changes in my supplements but not sure if that was a factor or not. I still try to get back into ketosis a few times each week.
In the meantime I am just paying attention to any health changes but so far no pain has returned. As a guess I am in the 100-150 grams of carbs on my "Hi Carb" days.
Again Dr. Peter Attia going back to 100 grams of carbs daily did get me reading more on the subject but the desire to eat more whole carbs was real.
Without a question LCHF was key to me getting back into life's game and will be part of my eating plans for life.2 -
Here's a great article on this matter that pretty much says everything that has been said above, but it's nice to find supporting info outside of our bubble.
https://www.ketovangelist.com/4-reasons-your-stall-might-not-be-so-bad/3
