How do I overcome a weight loss plateau?

MichelleSilverleaf · March 2018

Nope. Skipping meals does not affect your metabolism and starvation mode in this context is not a thing.

malibu927 · March 2018

wchull wrote: »

First, the 2000 Cal included in my first post was a typo. I do spend a at least an hour per day on an elliptical machine and according to the readouts on the machines that are pretty consistent from machine to machine I'm burning about 600 Cal's.

Perhaps I didn't explain the advice given in regard to skipping lunch. The explanation was that skipping meals can mess with ones metabolism and can trigger the body to go into starvation mode and prevent weight loss. This behavior is referenced on the internet so I don't think it's bad advise. The advice given was that eating meals vs. skipping a meal will help prevent the body from experiencing starvation mode and eating instead of skipping helps prevent overeating whenever you do eat again.

The point is that regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the advice I was given it worked as started to lose weight again after struggling to lose and seeing no progress no matter how few calories I consumed or how hard I worked out in the gym.

Except starvation mode doesn't exist. https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/

Bottom line is whatever you did put you back into a calorie deficit.

try2again · March 2018

wchull wrote: »

The point is that regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the advice I was given it worked as started to lose weight again after struggling to lose and seeing no progress no matter how few calories I consumed or how hard I worked out in the gym.

The thing is, you don't know that the *advice* worked, you just know the scale started going down again, which it was likely going to do anyway. What people are telling you is that, from a scientific standpoint, what you were told is inaccurate.

Nonetheless, congratulations on your progress!

diannethegeek · March 2018

This behavior is referenced on the internet so I don't think it's bad advise.

Read that line again. I don't know about you, but they taught my generation not to trust things referenced on the Internet.

I think the disconnect here is that you asked for advice, got some really good answers, ignored them for two months, and then came back to respond in a way that makes it clear you had no interest in engaging with this community. There are two really good posts in the "must reads" sections that cover the starvation mode myth thoroughly and at least two more plus the flow chart that are meant to help out with plateaus. I don't know about anyone else, but if you were just going to ask a trainer at the gym (who may or may not have any nutrition credentials) why ask here and ignore the responses?

Either way, I'm glad you found something that's working for you. You can report the thread and ask the mods to close it if you aren't interested in discussion.

diannethegeek · March 2018

Just dropping these here and then I'll see myself out.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1077746/starvation-mode-adaptive-thermogenesis-and-weight-loss/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/761810/the-starvation-mode-myth-again/p1

SCoil123 · March 2018

wchull wrote: »

First, the 2000 Cal included in my first post was a typo. I do spend a at least an hour per day on an elliptical machine and according to the readouts on the machines that are pretty consistent from machine to machine I'm burning about 600 Cal's.

Perhaps I didn't explain the advice given in regard to skipping lunch. The explanation was that skipping meals can mess with ones metabolism and can trigger the body to go into starvation mode and prevent weight loss. This behavior is referenced on the internet so I don't think it's bad advise. The advice given was that eating meals vs. skipping a meal will help prevent the body from experiencing starvation mode and eating instead of skipping helps prevent overeating whenever you do eat again.

The point is that regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the advice I was given it worked as started to lose weight again after struggling to lose and seeing no progress no matter how few calories I consumed or how hard I worked out in the gym.

If starvation mode worked like you’re describing anorexics would be overweight. You’re losing again because weight loss isn’t linear. Even if you do everything right consistently without error you will have weeks with no loss and weeks where you lose more than expected

https://leangains.com/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked-major-update-nov-4th/

Edited to add - lost first 25lb with intermittent fasting eating only 2-10pm

ryant618 · March 2018

wchull wrote: »

Perhaps I didn't explain the advice given in regard to skipping lunch. The explanation was that skipping meals can mess with ones metabolism and can trigger the body to go into starvation mode and prevent weight loss. This behavior is referenced on the internet so I don't think it's bad advise. The advice given was that eating meals vs. skipping a meal will help prevent the body from experiencing starvation mode and eating instead of skipping helps prevent overeating whenever you do eat again.
.

Starvation mode is a myth, and you can't mess up your metabolism by skipping meals. There is no way your metabolism can change except for in extreme life or death cases.

wchull · March 2018

You people amaze me as it seems that all you want to do is tell me that the advice that I was given was a bunch of false information and myths apart from the fact that the advice this trainer gave me did work in my opinion. Sure you can say that it's all coincidence and that I would have started to lose weight after being on a plateau for about 10 days but it's certainly strange that after receiving advice from this personal trainer on how to end my plateau I started loosing weight again and since I've continued to follow that advice I've continued to lose weight. Perhaps there's more here than meets the eye as in my opinion, one has to look at the effect of a change in behavior and take it at face value. Perhaps for some, this change would not have been effective however for me it was and in the end that's all that really counts.

MichelleSilverleaf · March 2018

Correlation is not causation. 10 days is also not a plateau.

ladyhusker39 · March 2018

wchull wrote: »

You people amaze me as it seems that all you want to do is tell me that the advice that I was given was a bunch of false information and myths apart from the fact that the advice this trainer gave me did work in my opinion. Sure you can say that it's all coincidence and that I would have started to lose weight after being on a plateau for about 10 days but it's certainly strange that after receiving advice from this personal trainer on how to end my plateau I started loosing weight again and since I've continued to follow that advice I've continued to lose weight. Perhaps there's more here than meets the eye as in my opinion, one has to look at the effect of a change in behavior and take it at face value. Perhaps for some, this change would not have been effective however for me it was and in the end that's all that really counts.

I totally get what you're saying. However, it's important to understand what actually worked vs what was just coincidence. This is particularly important when you inevitably hit the next "plateau" so that you know what to do to work through that one.

I'm glad you've started seeing progress again.

d12m17s · March 2018

I say if it works continue to do it no matter what anyone else thinks.

wchull · March 2018

ladyhusker39 wrote: »

I totally get what you're saying. However, it's important to understand what actually worked vs what was just coincidence. This is particularly important when you inevitably hit the next "plateau" so that you know what to do to work through that one.

I'm glad you've started seeing progress again.

Thank you, I'll keep your reply in mind next time I run into an issue. That being said my immeiate need was to lose 25 pounds in 100 days otherwise my doctor was going to put me on blood pressure meds which I didn't want ot be on. When I told him I would get the weight off he gave me this look that said "Fat chance bucko" but my weigh-in is Friday with the doctor and in the last 90 days I've lost 35 pounds.

Sorry if I seem a bit put off by some of the replies but it seemed that they were just a bit too quick in telling me that the advice given was just a bunch of BS. During that 10 day period which I'll refer to as a plateau, I was hitting the gym every day and even with the calories I gained back from my workouts and consuming far fewer calories than my allotment and was still stuck at the same weight. With the so called "poor advice" given somthing did happen and I started losing again and the only real change was eating lunch, which meant I had to compensate for those calories at dinner and the strength training has undoubedly added muscle mass which probably means that I'm buring a few more calories per day to maintain that muscle mass. Even if some consider it to be "poor advice" I say "so what, it worked and continues to work for me".

nndarden · March 2018

Congrats on your progress to date. It's better and faster results than I managed.

But, after a year in a diabetes prevention / mitigation class (i.e. [affectionately called] Fat Class), I've come to believe that weight loss at its simplest is calories in < calories out. And, if you reach a plateau - and you will, to get back on the path you have to eat less and / or exercise more.

After about a year of weight loss, I found out one possible reason for a slowing down in the rate of weight loss. I had failed to up date my weight in the MFP app. Once it recognized I had lost about 50 pounds, the program recalculated my calories / day and exercise / day goals. I'll let you know in another 18 months if the revised goals are working as I hopefully approach target.

PAV8888 · March 2018

Fast rates of loss can be great confidence boost but they do have their own sets of issues and are not always the best for everyone.

They certainly increase the risk for gallstones for example. More lean mass may get lost as compared to losing at a slower rate. The risk of malnutrition and of developing disordered eating related ideations increase, particularly with large deficits.

While there are no clear-cut research answers that favor a slower over a faster rate of loss, most research to date has concomitantly included a substantial amount of follow-up and continued dietary intervention for the people in the fast loss category.

Most of the people on mfp are providing their own intervention and counseling and as such I have formed the personal opinion that spending the time to develop a maintenance arsenal while losing weight can only help me achieve ultimate success. There is also the issue of avoiding or at least minimizing, I should say, long term adaptation, which to me appears to be a worthwhile goal.

And doings these things takes time which is made available with a not exceedingly fast weight loss.

A least problematic rate of loss appears to be achieved when deficits do not exceed 20% of TDEE (25% while obese). This usually translates into a loss rate of between 0.5 and 1% of body weight per week.

While a loss rate of 1% to 1.5% is probably not going to create too many issues for someone who has energy reserves compatible with being labeled morbidly obese, slowing down a bit when approaching the high overweight category is probably not a terrible idea.

Of course one treats the complete person and people and their doctors have to evaluate relative risks.

The state of medicine today is such that doctors tend to counteract issues as they come up and postpone for the future issues that have not yet come into play.

As such the relative weighing (ha, ha) of maintaining your weight loss versus the speed of your weight loss may differ between your doctor and yourself.

You have made an excellent start. Start working on extending that start into something more long-term by making choices you think you can live with long-term.

CharlieBeansmomTracey · March 2018

wchull wrote: »

ladyhusker39 wrote: »

I totally get what you're saying. However, it's important to understand what actually worked vs what was just coincidence. This is particularly important when you inevitably hit the next "plateau" so that you know what to do to work through that one.

I'm glad you've started seeing progress again.

Thank you, I'll keep your reply in mind next time I run into an issue. That being said my immeiate need was to lose 25 pounds in 100 days otherwise my doctor was going to put me on blood pressure meds which I didn't want ot be on. When I told him I would get the weight off he gave me this look that said "Fat chance bucko" but my weigh-in is Friday with the doctor and in the last 90 days I've lost 35 pounds.

Sorry if I seem a bit put off by some of the replies but it seemed that they were just a bit too quick in telling me that the advice given was just a bunch of BS. During that 10 day period which I'll refer to as a plateau, I was hitting the gym every day and even with the calories I gained back from my workouts and consuming far fewer calories than my allotment and was still stuck at the same weight. With the so called "poor advice" given somthing did happen and I started losing again and the only real change was eating lunch, which meant I had to compensate for those calories at dinner and the strength training has undoubedly added muscle mass which probably means that I'm buring a few more calories per day to maintain that muscle mass. Even if some consider it to be "poor advice" I say "so what, it worked and continues to work for me".

since a lb of muscle burns like 6-10 additional calories you arent going to be burning a lot more calories. if you are also in a deficit its harder to build muscle. and Im not trying to offend you but you look like an older gentleman,its going to be even harder to build mass due to lower testosterone among other things,and you dont gain muscle that quickly even in a surplus(aside from maybe some newbie gains which isnt going to be a lot and tapers off after time). as for working out more and eating less your body will retain water to repair muscles so thats why the scale didnt move, or why it went up in the first place. so if the scale is going down again its probably because the water you were retaining was flushed out, could be some fat loss too.

ptrcmcc6 · March 2018

Hey, if it's working for you, stick with it. If you should plateau again (and you probably will), you can cross that bridge when you come to it. I've been losing/gaining the same 1-3 lbs. for over a month now. It gets frustrating but I just keep pushing on. Eventually, the scale will start going down again and I'm in no rush because, the way I am eating is the way I plan on eating from now on. I'll admit, sometimes I have bad days but I always try to get back on track the following day.

How do I overcome a weight loss plateau?

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