Reached a plateau

food
#17

It would be huge for me (the fact having the benefit, at least), it’s about the biggest deficit I ever could do long term (counted from fat-loss, my body is simple like that. I surely didn’t lose much muscle)! I was very happy with that.
But it’s not for everyone. I experienced absolutely nothing. I ate the same on keto and stalled the same (and I knew for a fact that I can’t keep my body with less energy. I mentioned my body being simple regarding these things, it’s helpful). When I started to eat about 200 kcal less and much more carbs, I immediately started to lose fat after not losing any on keto and it continued for long. Later I went back to the original intake on keto and never lost fat, not even when my weight became the same again.
It’s very difficult and I have little data and only one not always exactly the same body but as far as I can tell, my energy need is the same when I am in or out of ketosis (my activity is usually the same, my weight is usually the same and my body loves its fixed numbers). I have little info about me on extremely low-carb but it seems it is the same. But I will need stable fat-loss to figure it out, hopefully it will happen in the near future (but as I am not the same person as in the past, I would need to lose off keto too). Oh whatever, I am not even sure I will keep tracking.

My body does waste energy when I overeat (I’ve read it’s genetic, not super uncommon but most people don’t have that. maybe it’s different on keto, the genetic thing works on any diet. it definitely did on high-calorie HCHF for me), that’s why I ate a ton on high-carb and very very slowly gained. Once I tried it out, I raised my calories by 1000 kcal for a month (not intentionally, I was hungrier then), well it’s a short time but nothing (and no more activity or diet change). It’s nice but it can’t help me at fat-loss, sadly. And I suspect it changed its policy lately and I gained when I went a bit off, nothing like in the past when I gained nothing. Oh well, human bodies, all are different and subject to change!

Sorry if I got carried away or if it’s not for this topic, I can’t even decide it now.

#18

Returning to the original question. I reached my current/last plateau in September and was stable until this week. I was extremely stressed and ended up unexpectedly in about a 20 hour fast. It dropped quite a bit of weight and only a few of the pounds have returned. I don’t know if I am able to plan and carry out a fast without the overwhelming work load I was under but I would like to try again in a month or so.

#19

This is absolutely normal and necessary, even. You have lost a lot of weight very quickly. It is recommended that you lose no more than 2 lbs/ wk, and you have out paced that. If you want the weight to really stay off, a slow and steady loss is best. Remember, you didn’t put the weight on that quickly (no one does) and so losing it too quickly can cause problems, too.

Just keep doing what you are doing and don’t weigh yourself more than 1x per week - 1x per month is actually better, but most of us perpetual dieters can’t do that.

If you seem to be hitting a real plateau - one where the scale doesn’t move for weeks or even months - just check to make sure you’re not eating too many carbs and that you’re getting in enough fat. Then just relax and feel good about the weight loss you’ve already had. Have faith in the process.

(Keith) #20

I did exactly the same as you… ended up doing day fasting :blush: it seems to have done the trick!

(Keith) #21

Thanks! Just not weighing myself and that feels quite liberating.

#22

Take a look at this post I wrote:

(Mg ) #23

Just went through this. Not a quarter of a pound in four long weeks with around 23-25-30 carbs a day AND low calories. It was brutal,
I just lost six. It’s amazing to see the old doctor scales that you have to move yourself… keep moving back. ALL worth while. Do not stop! No matter what.

(Keith) #24

I won’t be stopping… 100% focused :grin:

#25

You’re severely over estimating your calorie burn man.

(Keith) #26

Why is that?

#27

How physical is feeding the animals? Heart rate way up sweating unable to talk at a normal rate? Takes that for at least 20min to burn 300cals on average. Almost 400 cals on a 2 mile (walk)? Weights burn very little calories vs cardio, but there’s an after burn effect which cardio doesn’t have, with that said most people doing weight training only burn around 150-200cals in a 1.5-2hr lifting session. 400 cals on a bike is clearly possible but that’s a real good pace at respectable resistance for 25-30min.

I can believe farm work throughout the day hitting 700-800 calories assuming lot of manual work.

What’s giving you those numbers?

(Keith) #28

:thinking: The farm work is VERY physical! Carrying bales of straw and hey around sheep fields gets your heart rate up to 130 to 145 bpm, carrying 25kg bags of pig and other animal feed is very hard and time consuming (I don’t use machines or mechanical assistance) the morning farm tasks take up to 1 and a half hours early morning and the same evening. Not just walking around throwing bits of corn to the hens! :joy:
I wear a Apple Watch to track calories, (all day everyday) heart rate, steps, mileage etc
My bike work is minimum 45 mins at a good speed and cadence and do HIT during this time (heart rate up to 165 with an average of 135 to 140 bpm during.
The walk… I live in north Wales and surrounded by mountains so the 2 hour walk EASILY smashes 300 to 400 cals.
Like I said, I don’t do weights and cardio every day as need rest days since starting my vo2 max has really improved upto 47! and loads more energy.
Recommend any fitness watch as its been a fantastic tool for me and keeps me very focused and lost a lot of weight since. 4stone (56 pound) in 4 and a half months is a result in my opinion.
Took the advice of Edie, PaulL and robin and not weighed myself for a couple of weeks but my belt has had to have another notch put into it
so loosing weight again.

(Keith) #29

Just another thought Ifod… ****Known as the afterburn effect, this process is said to rev up your metabolism and torch calories for up to 24 hours after exercise. It’s a theory many HIIT -based studios tout as a major health benefit of their workout, promising you’ll reap the rewards of their one-hour workout for days.

#30

I’m aware of farm work burning a lot, but ultimately it’s all a guess because you’re RMR isn’t taken into acct and that can vary HUGE, Your watch has zero clue what your exertion levels is, it only knows your stats and heart rate, like BMI it’s making pretty huge guesses. I track mine as well, but not resistance training. It’s pretty known that there’s not an impressive calorie burn, that’s including seriously intensive heavy workouts.

If you didn’t get that v02 max from running on a treadmill or on a bike with a face mask on, with a machine measuring your respiratory weight, than ignore it. That’s the only way you’re getting it. No different than when a macro calculator makes blind assumptions on your RMR.

And that’s why ignoring weight is a bad idea. Weigh daily, watch trends. Flipping out over normal water fluctuations is crazy but you need to spot a bad trend in progress. For me that’s +/- 5lbs. More than that somethings going wrong and I need to act. Less than that and I let it work itself out.

It’s true HIIT (and weight training) have an afterburn effect, but it’s not what people want it to be. Building muscle mass has the largest since maintaining more muscle is metabolically “expensive” because it raises your RMR. That’s why strength should always be a huge goal, it gets you the fat loss, raises RMR and for me the best part… let’s me eat more while maintaining or loosing fat.

(Keith) #31
(Keith) #32

A company like Apple couldn’t get away with such an inaccurate tolerance like you suggest Ifod, yes I accept there will be a +/- tolerance (everybody is different) but it wouldn’t and couldn’t be massive imagine the law suits the research and trials done on these units have bee mind blowing.
Before I started on my weight loss & fitness journey, I tested everything from blood glucose monitoring over a number of days, including fasting, before and after food & exercise.
My current (then) RMR and my current now RMR 1867 cals.
I have always been a fit and active person, I’m ex armed forces until a bad injury put me out for a good few years and that’s when my weight rocketed. Also not helped by the “poor me” feeling sorry for myself! After a number of surgeries and extensive physio I’m now fit and back in the saddle and my weight loss over this 4 1/2 months has been pretty big and i for one is very happy with it! 0.43 pounds a week calculates = that my watch calculations are pretty bang on in terms of numbers, so again I’M VERY HAPPY WITH THIS.
Regarding my vo2 max I’m really not stressing on numbers either way as I know by how I feel when on the bike that the cadence in watts, speed and torque are also good.
Don’t go into motivational speaking Ifod…

#33

Whatever you want to believe man, anybody that’s been in the gym, or fitness trained knows that you don’t burn those level of calories doing what you’ve described. Pretty sure your plateau is backing that up. The are far more accurate watches like the Garmin’s that are designed for that specifically and although they more closely reflect real numbers, when it comes to thing like any resistance training it’s near impossible to calculate with consumer grade trackers. I see gym grade Life Fitness elliptical telling the older lader beside me that she burned 400 cals barely walking for 25 min while reading a magazine. OK! That thing probably cost $8k. Apple Watch’s aren’t fitness trackers, they’re smart watches that can do some other things as well. You could do worse, you could do a lot better, but ultimately there’s certain things you can more or less go by, and many thing you don’t.

Not sure where that came from as I don’t do that. Think you should probably get over yourself. But don’t worry, you’re definitely doing everything right though… enjoy that plateau.

(Keith) #34

Correction** not 0.43 pounds a week, 0.43 pounds a day average loss!

(Keith) #35

See above… plateau only lasted a week :grin::+1:

(Keith) #36

Well the numbers speak for themselves! And the scales don’t lie!
Like I said, I’m more than happy with the progress… so far