Of plateaus and swooshes

lgfrie

Just a few words of encouragement for those finding themselves stuck in plateaus ...

So I've been at this for about 7 months, during which I lost an extremely consistent 2 lbs per week for 4 months, until I changed up the #'s a little for 1.75 lbs/week, which was also running like clockwork for a while.

And then right around Nov 1, my weight loss slowed to a total of 4 lbs lost over the next 6 weeks. Eating the same calories, doing the same exercise, with the exception that I had some sick time and a trip to the ER (mysterious unidentified virus) causing a couple weeks without exercise, and a few days that went south calorically (but not that many). Plus Thanksgiving, which was a food debacle of historic proportions.

Needless to say, being "stuck" was frustrating, especially in the last 3 weeks when I had NO weight loss, not one ounce.

Anyway, I got 6.6 pounds worth of swoosh over the last two days. Now that was fun! It brought my weight loss for the last 6 weeks to 10.6 pounds lost, which is 1.76 lbs per week, or exactly what it should've been during the whole six week period.

I've never been much of a believer in plateaus and stalls - always figured it boiled down to bad logging or getting sloppy with the caloric intake.

Anyways, I see the posts here from people whose weight is stuck and I just wanted to say, it looks like it eventually comes unstuck if you just plod along and don't give up!

etherealanwar

I've always heard of these 'whooshes' but never experienced them even after plateaus. Maybe it will happen now that I've upped my calories by 200 to 1420 and introduced lifting...my weight has stalled for almost 6 weeks now. A whoosh soon would lift my spirits up for sure.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

Your body really-really-really can and will adapt to a lower calorie intake. Many people have posted about it here. (Search on "adaptive thermogenesis.") I have seen it in my own cuts, where the rate of loss decreases over time, although I don't change my net deficit. It happens because your body is adapting to the reduced calorie diet. (I actually think you will be a bit less active and a bit cooler.)

My suggestion is to go on maintenance for a while, increasing both your intake and your activity level (meaning, get lots of steps, use the stairs, jog to your car, get a standing desk). I find that my body takes many months to stabilize at a new weight so KEEP LOGGING. Last time I dropped a few, I logged for 12 more months. (Many other times, I put the weight right back on, but this time I've maintained for several years, mwa ha ha!)

ahoy_m8

Thanks for sharing your experience, OP. I also experience the stall-whoosh effect over a 3 week period, although my goal is 0.5lb/wk. Hence, I'll see very little scale movement, just normal fluctuation, for 3 weeks then -- whoosh-- 1.5 lb down in one or 2 days. The math really does work out in the end if you stick with it and, as you say, plod along.

I have not experienced the adaptation mentioned above. ^^ However, my situation may be different from yours. I'm a long time maintainer and nip a gain at 5 lb, so my goal is typically 0.5lb/wk for 10 weeks. I can say that after 10 weeks, I do begin to feel a little deficit weary, even at a small deficit. A maintenance break every 10-12 weeks sounds really sensible to me.

NovusDies

It is kind of amazing that you have gone 7 months before this happened to you. I am not sure what to think about you assuming because it had not happened to you everyone else was being sloppy.

In any event you are spot on. Fat can be lost linearly but it will often not show up on the scale that way. For me it is actually more seldom now that I see a linear week. I know myself well enough that I can "game" one but that is a stupid way to live imo.

This is why I trust the food scale more than the bathroom scale. If I am in a deficit my losses will ALWAYS show up eventually on the bathroom scale. The main way I know I am in a deficit is logging my intake accurately.

Danp

I haven't experienced an unexplained plateau in my 2 years of managing my weight. Something for which I am truly thankful.

My rate of loss has naturally fluctuated during this time with the amount lost each week being slightly larger or smaller than expected but on the whole and excluding perhaps 2 or 3 anomalies where my weight increased slightly for 1 week my loss has been pretty constant. I just think I've been really lucky in that regards that I've never had a period of longer than a week where the scales didn't move.

That said there have been times where my weight has remained unchanged for several week or even a few months but these correspond with times where I've 'taken my foot off the pedal' so to speak and relaxed my tracking to the point where I was likely eating at or around maintenance so the 'plateau' wasn't really a plateau.

I've still got a ways to go with 51.3kg (113lbs) lost and 23.7kg (52lbs) to go so I am fully conscious that the possibility of experiencing one is on the horizon but reading stories on here leaves me utterly confident that I'll be able to handle it if (or when) it occurs.

lgfrie

Update: My 2-day 6.6 pound woosh has now extended to a 4-day 7.8 pound woosh!! This is so exciting and fun, and dare I say, worth whatever plateau type stuff I've had to deal with to earn this woosh. I've moved like half a pants size in four days!!

I'm trying so, so hard not to reward myself with a day off, but man it's pretty tempting after watching the scale drop so much so fast.

Long Live The Pleateau!

Gonna be so so sad when this has run its course, which I predict will be by tomorrow.

katsheare

I've never had a plateau (for whatever reason) but am hugely enjoying hearing about yours!

NovusDies

Just watch your electrolytes. Whooshes are fun on the scale but they can be a real drag on your energy or worse...

My normal whooshes are almost always 3 to 4 days. My abnormal ones are a fair bit harsher lasting close to 2 weeks.

mmapags

lgfrie wrote: »

Update: My 2-day 6.6 pound woosh has now extended to a 4-day 7.8 pound woosh!! This is so exciting and fun, and dare I say, worth whatever plateau type stuff I've had to deal with to earn this woosh. I've moved like half a pants size in four days!!

I'm trying so, so hard not to reward myself with a day off, but man it's pretty tempting after watching the scale drop so much so fast.

Long Live The Pleateau!

Gonna be so so sad when this has run its course, which I predict will be by tomorrow.

Congrats! But do resist the urge to reward yourself with food. Maybe something else that would feel like a reward?

LivingtheLeanDream

Ahh the old plateau, happens to us all and I think possibly more so as we get nearer to goal or are at a healthy weight - there's less room for error.

Good post OP You're doing great

katsheare

I've been thinking about this thread for the last two weeks: Happy Scale is currently 'meh' scale as my moving average has remained almost static in spite of 'doing all the right things'. Suffice to say I'm not freaking out, I'll keep doing what I've been doing and what I know (in a science works sort of way) will do the job in the long run. But still, meh.

Wendyanneroberts

katsheare wrote: »

I've been thinking about this thread for the last two weeks: Happy Scale is currently 'meh' scale as my moving average has remained almost static in spite of 'doing all the right things'. Suffice to say I'm not freaking out, I'll keep doing what I've been doing and what I know (in a science works sort of way) will do the job in the long run. But still, meh.

It seems to happen to many of us, as I've often read in these forums.

Personally, I lost my final 20lb in this way. Was aiming for 0.5lb a week. I would go 10 weeks, lose 5lb. Another 10 weeks, nothing. Then drop 5lb. Once or twice overnight, or within a couple of days.

So 40 weeks and 20lb. Bang on target weight loss. But long periods, throughout when nothing showed on my scale. Trusting the science works, hang in there.

kiwiroz

etherealanwar wrote: »

I've always heard of these 'whooshes' but never experienced them even after plateaus. Maybe it will happen now that I've upped my calories by 200 to 1420 and introduced lifting...my weight has stalled for almost 6 weeks now. A whoosh soon would lift my spirits up for sure.

Just to warn you when I started lifting weights it took 7 weeks for the whoosh to appear. But boy was it one hell of a whoosh! So just stick with it and if you are doing the right things the scale will eventually show that