When does a plateau become "finished losing weight?"

Muscle weights nearly threee times as much as fat, so if you are embarking on a new form of exercise youmaybe increasing your body mass. You can also lose cms and nothing shows on the scales for a while and then bam it has dropped. As you get closer to your goal weight the loss can slow down. Water intake and obviolusly food intake makes a difference. If you are having too little that can stop the loss. Of course the other way can too.

Your weight goes up and down during the day and from day to day. If you weigh in once a week you get the average of this activity.

If loss has slowed or stopped, make one change at a time i.e.

increase your exercise

if you are too little calories, increase

cut out a treat you are having (if any)

speak to the dietician to get a balanced view



Last year I went up a couple of kgs but my measurement had decreased. My dietician said who cares what the scales say if you are losing cms. (of course I was at goal)

You have the great tool to help you, use it to your advantage.

Bump

Such an interesting thread ... glad I found it, as I brought up the exact same topic with my dietician a couple of days ago.

She assured me that it's common for our bodies to go through a bit of a weight loss lull at this point. Apparently fat works in layers of density - the fat that's been there the least amount of time is easiest to shift, however it gets more challenging as the 'density' increases. Hmmm, not sure if my description makes sense, but hers did - PROMISE!!

And the fat/muscle ratio is absolutely spot on. I was dissapointed to report back to my dietician after 3 months having 'only' lost 8kg. When she did my body analysis, none of this was muscle loss - a great result. If you were actively trying to bulk up/increase muscle mass it shouldn't be surprising to see the scales moving up. She also suggested a more realistic weight loss goal of 0.25-0.5kg per week from now on. Manageable ... I hope!

All in all I totally agree with the sentiments that plataeu vs. weight loss completion is more of a mindset than anything. If you don't feel like you're at goal weight yet then perhaps it's time to take action to help your body along. It stands to reason that if you increase your excersize and decrease your calorie intake that your scales are eventually going to start shifting in the right direction once again.

Ive been told 2 things about weight loss this week
1st one was..... if you have a lot of weight to lose, after you lose a big chunk of it your body needs time to get use to being at that weight before it starts losing again.
2nd one was.... what ever calories you put in, you must take out if you want to lose weight.
????????????????????????????????????????
Hmm 2 completely different things
I dont think either are right or wrong our bodies are all different, we are all going to eat different, lose different, exercise different - so who knows

Gee,

I wouldn't even think it was a plateu if I was still minimising intake and exercising.
I know when I have been eating to much or not exercising..... I weigh every morning and if the scale is not moving or goes up a bit I sort of take it from there.
I have been in this new body long enough now to recognise what I need to do for it.
Am only half way to my goal but weight is still coming off slowly.
I eat like a person without a weight problem now.
AND....... that was another of my goals. To be able to think thin!!

Good Luck!
Linda :)

janelou29 wrote:

I am in that stage now, joined the gym a few weeks ago, have upped my exercise but i am stuck!

I wonder too if thats it, that my body is happy now and can maintain it's weight with the amount I am taking in, it would be good to hear whay others think too!

One thing to remember is that muscle weighs more than fat so you may be losing fat but gaining muscles. This may show up on the scales as a weight gain or no loss. Watching your size rather than your weight when working out is sometimes a good way to go.

Donna

I think your attitude determines if it is maintenance or a plateau. If you like where you are - maintenance. If you don't- plateau and as Emily suggest you can always do something about it.

Impatience might be the sleevers' middle name- it's understandable. Most of us have waited many many years to loose this weight.

Sarah74 wrote:

Say, you lose 25 kgs and then stop, could it be that your body has adjsuted and can now exist on the calories you are putting in.S :)

Then you need to try putting less in, or putting more out in terms of exercise. Of course the body adapts as it is a very efficient weight-maintaining machine; it has to be for survival. I think we have to accept that at some point we need to put the effort in if we want to lose more.

After 5 months I had lost right around 30kg but the last 2-3 months was only about 2.6kg per month loss. That's still good, but I wanted more - so I've switched my diet around, got back to the gym and doing a lot more cardio and a little weights. I lost 1.2kg this week.

It's funny, people keep asking me now how I'm doing it, as though I have some magic secret - and it's been almost 6 months so it is natural to eat what I eat and I don't feel like I am doing anything special. Then you remember.. oh yeah, I did have my stomach chopped off, that's helping!

This is a great question and I have been interested in the replies...

Over the last 3 mths I have struggled to lose ... 6/7lb since mid Oct! Now I am wondering if my body is happy where it is... gotta say though, my head isn't...lol

Hey! I'm a 2+ years sleever....

I suppose my weight never really stopped for long.... I've found its easier to lose weight than put it on since the operation.

As you can see by my little calculator thingy, I've lost 10 more kgs since I reached my goal... But I should mention that I had a baby about 6 months ago and I only gained 8kg during pregnancy... (despite having a healthy 6 pound 10 baby girl)

I was back at my goal weight 2 weeks after my daughter was born and have dieted (without exercise) and lost another 10kg recently.

My advice.... Stick with it and you should lose the weight.... Maybe you might have to do a little more exercise during the week... Dunno... I never really had huge problems losing the weight intially, probably lost 30 kgs in 3 months.... (but I was sick too)

Hope your all achieving goals, even if they are small!

interesting topic...I think that if I 'let it' my body would happily maintain at my current weight. I am determined that I want to reach my goal and anticipate that I will want to go a bit further and maintain once I get to around 70kg.

I am still eating between 800-1000 cals a day (protein based) but to keep losing I exercise most days burning between 350-400 cals and this seems to do the trick.

I too am interested to hear the experiences of longer term sleevers :-)

Coco x

Intersting topic Sarah!

I am in that stage now, joined the gym a few weeks ago, have upped my exercise but i am stuck!

I wonder too if thats it, that my body is happy now and can maintain it's weight with the amount I am taking in, it would be good to hear whay others think too!

Janelou

I certainly don't know the official answer to the question but I would imagine the body sometimes hangs on to weight for a reason, then all of sudden lets some more go. I am seeing my dietician next week, so i will ask her to see if I can shed some light on the subject. Till then, I'd say, if you appear to have plateaud stay calm keep up your exercise level, if it is not at its highest limit, increase it slightly when you can. A hard thing to do, relax and enjoy your success, the rest will come in time.

What is the differnce between maintenance and a plateau, to me it doesn't appear any different, just how we choose to look at it.
Agree - if you are happy, maintain. If you are unhappy, ramp up the exercise, kill the carbs and move off that plateau!

Once we are in average BMI, I imagine its much harder, but athletes (and actresses) seem to be able to drop a few kilo even when they are at a "perfect" weight.

If we are happy and healthy, a plateau can turn into maintenance. Though Ive heard of people stable for a year or two dropping more weight unexpectedly. We've all been on the opposite side of that (suddenly putting ON weight!). Im not one of those that believes our body is "happy" with some weight we had in the past. Others may disagree.

Hi Sarah....

what a great question! I have no idea what the answer is but, for me, I hope it's at least 4kgs away :) (Want to get to my secreat goal of 60kg -- or hovering just under).

Am sure Caz and some of the others who've been sleeved longer may have an answer.

S

Hi all,

going reading about plateaus on the forum, and it got me thinking:

- some people will post they have been on a plateau for 2 months, 3 months etc, how do you know it's a plateau, what if you have just stablised and finished losing weight - I mean, what if thats it?

Say, you lose 25 kgs and then stop, could it be that your body has adjsuted and can now exist on the calories you are putting in.

What is the differnce between maintenance and a plateau, to me it doesn't appear any different, just how we choose to look at it.

What does everyone think?

S :)