New Study Reveals: Plateaus are NOT real...

rml_16

I have not. Have you? I guess that at least half the time the "plateau" is a result of losing motivation to lose weight.

Don't people often plateau for over a month at a time?

I plateaued for more than a year because of hormonal issues due to birth control. There is more to losing weight sometimes than getting the correct calorie deficit. In perfect conditions, and maybe for the vast majority of people, that is all it takes. But you need to consider that there are imperfect conditions and many exceptions to the rule.

DBiddle69

bump

mmckee10

bump for when i'm more awake

cybercpa

Post spreadsheet to an MFP post in this forum. Folks can copy it into EXCEL using Paste Special, then use Text to Columns ...

cybercpa

What does "bump" mean?

geebusuk

Bump is usually done to bring a thread to the top on forums (for instance a for sale thread), but here is used just so you have a post registered in the thread so it shows up under 'my topics'.

HeidiHoMom

I also have months and months of data tracked and I had a 3 month long plateau where I tracked diligenty, every single bite.

The scale did not move.

Thankfully my measurements were changing though.

I think many people think they are on a plateau but are only using the scale as a measure of success which is rarely the best method.

cybercpa

Spreadsheet design is a unique talent. There is no one "way" to design a spreadsheet. LOL.

cybercpa

And the point is...?:flowerforyou:

kittyraj

The body does it's thing. We are all different. To make sense out of water weight and fluctuations will lead you to inconclusive and incorrect assumptions. Just let it go, let your body do it's thing. Have patience. If you gain weight over time you are eating too much, and if you don't lose weight over a long period of time you are likely eating too much. If you lose weight too fast or have problems with too much of a calorie deficit you are not eating enough. You can always notch things up or down by 100. If you have a lot of fat on your body you will not starve. There is no such thing as starving fat people. Look around the world, have you ever seen a starving fat person? If you are not sure just ask your doctor but if you need to lose weight, and you are not, either give it a bit of time and/or eat less. The reason we all got fat in the first place is eating too much. All you have to do is eat less to lose weight. It is that simple. But you have to be patient. The body does it's thing. Having to lose weight is not fun. It's never fun, even when you maintain you fluctuate, life happens, holidays happen, social events happen, stress happens, at some point you have to reign it in again and get back to business. All the skills you learn when you are losing weight comes into play when you maintain. It's not ever easy. It is fun when it happens, it motivates you too keep going, it snowballs when you are motivated, but there is nothing easy about it.

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

She's right!!! That's what happened to me!! I stopped losing for about 3 weeks (not an ounce!) and then suddenly on week 4, I lost 2lbs in a day! I was getting frustrated and so during that final week I weighted myself every morning to make sure my scales were accurate.

I've since continued to lose steadily at 1/2 per week at 1-2lbs per month. It's very slow but I don't feel like I'm on a 'diet'. I figured I'd lost about 2 stones in a year!

SairahRose

No harm in trying, I guess. If it doesn't work as well as it could, I can always go try something else.

Florawanda

Thanks, OP, for circulating a tool that may be helpful for some. Many of us use longterm measurements, weight etc, and while I haven't done a similar spreadsheet to yours, I know in my heart of hearts that the pounds I have been playing with for the last 8 weeks (182 - 178) are down to me... not quite recording every mouthful accurately (and that is another issue that calculating cals is always an estimate, not an accurate measure, unless you need to be ultra careful and weigh everything), being over-optimistic about just how much additional exercise I have taken (maybe I need a Fitbit for Christmas).

At the end of the day, the longterm trends are down in both scale and tape measure, and I am happy with that. I am learning a new lifestyle, and I don't want to be reliant on scales and machines to monitor my every breath... just learning to moderate my intake and keep up a moderate activity level. Slow but sure.

And yes, after a hectic autumn, I am now back on track and almost down to 177 which I have only seen once before this century on this particular journey!!! And I have learned that I have to handle social events and food, by not grabbing every sausage roll in sight like there was no tomorrow!! Free food = no loss, unless you control that hand reaching out for yet another goodie!!

So good luck one and all!

ArroganceInStep

If you eat fewer calories than you burn over a long period of time, you will lose weight. Period. There's really no debating this, unless you also want to debate the Law of Thermodynamics.

While the OP was off base in assuming that 'long period of time' would be a month for everybody, I think people should look beyond that to the actual point of the argument. If the post gets people to start looking at weight loss in a long term perspective instead of freaking the f*** out every morning they see a couple pound jump (never mind that their sodium and carb intake the day before were high as hell) it's a good thing. Less aggravation for me when stalking the forums at least.

ravengirl1611

ok - have to throw my 2 cents worth in

1 - people get a freaking grip on things - the OP has presented 1 tool that works for them - NO WHERE does the op say that this is the only thing to do, no where does the op say that this tool will work for everyone - in fact they make a point to stress that this TOOL will probably NOT work for everyone. All they are saying is that IF you are into crunching numbers, and IF you think you are on a plateau then MAYBE you might want to try tracking your numbers in a different way to see a bigger picture than the one that your little lowly scale is showing you. Blasting someone that is trying to help is rude, ignorant and more importantly amusing.

2 - The attitude that I've lost more than you and that doesnt give you any right to tell me what to do just freaking sucks - get over yourself. It doesnt matter if someone is here to lose 5 lbs so they can fit into a new outfit for the company christmas party or they want to lose 600lbs to live a few years longer than they otherwise would. All of us are here to track what we eat, track how much we move and get some info and support along the way - quite a few of us are also here willing and able to share information we've learned along the way to help others maybe have an easier journey than we maybe did. Using someone's ticker to determine how much weight they've decided they want to lose is just dumb. Not everyone sets their ticker to the whole goal to lose weight - most people set it in smaller increments

3 - Everyone on this site is over / under estimating what they are eating - and yes I can say everyone - because everyone that uses the food database has errors - even if you religiously weigh and count every micro gram of everything single thing that goes into your mouth and enter that information into the food tracker you will have errors because a lot of the information in the database is wrong - for example - search Kraft Whipped Peanut Butter Dip - then look at the serving sizes - there are 3 choices for serving size - option 1 - 13g or 1 tbls, option 2 - 1g or 1 tbls or option 3 - full container. The reality is that 1 tablespoon is 15g - so no matter which option on the site you pick they're all wrong - Measure what you eat and make sure the options you choose when you enter are as accurate as you can get or plan you're meals based on the measurements on the system. - Adjust accordingly

4 - Everyone that uses the exercise tracker and has ever read a forum post knows that MFP either under or over estimates the calories burned - if you track on this site then again - make sure you have another way of tracking that is more accurate (and HRM for example) then when you enter adjust the entry to reflect a more true number - eg - you walked on a treadmill for 30 minutes @ 2.5mph - the treadmill says you burned 150 cals, your HRM says you burned 150 cals but when you enter into MFP it says you burned 250 cals - adjust the time on MFP until it also says 150 cals - even if it 'looks' like you worked out a lot less than you really did - which matters more - what strangers on your friend's list think about how much time you exercised or that you exercised and you know how much time you spent doing it.

5 - So many people make things way way way more complicated than they need to be. Eat less Move more - pretty freaking simple. How you track how much you eat and move is completely up to you as an individual - one person weighs themselves twice a day everyday, one person maybe steps on a scale once a month, one person measures and writes down every micro gram every meal, others may only track part things every once in a while - it is YOUR CHOICE not mine, not his, not hers - only your choice how you track, eat, exercise, sleep, shower - whatever choice is a gift use it wisely. But dont ***** when what youre doing isnt working and someone who has a tool that works for them offers to let you use that tool to try and help you.

I guess in the end it's true - opinions are like *ssholes - everybody's got one

End of rant

WendyTerry420

Great post. I have been entering my data into a spreadsheet as well. I completely agree with this post.

UsedToBeHusky

2 - The attitude that I've lost more than you and that doesnt give you any right to tell me what to do just freaking sucks - get over yourself. It doesnt matter if someone is here to lose 5 lbs so they can fit into a new outfit for the company christmas party or they want to lose 600lbs to live a few years longer than they otherwise would. All of us are here to track what we eat, track how much we move and get some info and support along the way - quite a few of us are also here willing and able to share information we've learned along the way to help others maybe have an easier journey than we maybe did. Using someone's ticker to determine how much weight they've decided they want to lose is just dumb. Not everyone sets their ticker to the whole goal to lose weight - most people set it in smaller increments

Not sure who you directed this at, but my post was specifically addressing the fact that everyone comes here, manages some success, and immediately assumes they have all the answers. I know... I did it too. The reality is that the first six months at a calorie deficit is completely different than the first two years at a calorie deficit. Just like a week at a calorie deficit isn't comparable to a month at a calorie deficit. Honestly, I suspect that the OP is working with too great of a calorie deficit, but I didn't bother to extrapolate the math. Actual scientific studies have proven that muscle loss occurs at a daily calorie deficit of greater than 300 calories below TDEE. If the OP is netting 1500 calories below TDEE, then he most surely is losing muscle mass which will inevitably slow his metabolism... and then guess what happens... A PLATEAU! Of course, I didn't want to type all of this out for him because I know that odds are he would completely disregard the greater amount of experience and knowledge that I have at this so I didn't bother. I just merely said that I was certain he would eventually change his mind.

And the reason that the OP got blasted is because he made a definitive, sensationalistic claim in his thread title to get attention, then attempted to use his own experience to support it. Therefore, he was giving his method credence above all others.

Perhaps you need to relax a bit. I didn't read the entire thread, but what I did read, I did not find to be rude in the least. Giving the nature of the internet, you would think people would be a little more careful about the words that they choose. And when they choose their words poorly, be a little less surprised when people react to it.

Helloitsdan

I'm waiting for the under 1k calorie people to chime in.....
"So we can keep eating below 1k and still lose???"
Just stick to it under 1k eaters!
The weight will come off!!!!

rml_16

And the reason that the OP got blasted is because he made a definitive, sensationalistic claim in his thread title to get attention, then attempted to use his own experience to support it. Therefore, he was giving his method credence above all others.

This. If what he's doing works for him and may help others, I'm all for it. But to make the blanket statement that a "study reveals" that plateaus aren't real is ridiculous and insulting.

WendyTerry420

I'm not sure why people are offended or insulted by the idea of using a spreadsheet for long-term tracking. If you don't want to do this, then don't. I have found my spreadsheet to be truly eye-opening, especially what the OP said about finding your BMR. After about 5 months of tracking, I have found that my BMR is slightly higher than the calculators indicate. Some people might find theirs to be lower. This is a good example of how knowledge can be very powerful.

Captain_Tightpants

It may not be contributing much to the dicussion, but this Plateau is very real.