Hello. I've been wondering if there is a typical time during weight loss that a plateau may be reached... for example, after a certain number of days or a certain number of pounds, it may be typical for a stall to occur. I've noticed a lot of people on this site have lost a great deal of weight, then suddenly hit a plateau with a good chunk of weight loss to go and no significant changes reported. I've observed that myself--I think my body is getting used to LC and likes the status quo.

Thus I've wondered if using Induction long term reduces its effectiveness... perhaps to address the pattern of stalling, would it be better to continue through OWL, then when one hits a stall to gradually go on to pre-maintenance, then maintenance, then after being on maintenance for a while, drop back down to induction?

I know that a carb creep can certainly occur, as well as falling off the exercise wagon, etc., but the pattern that I'm seeing from the posts seems to be irrespective of that--more like a roller coaster (I've read about the whoosh effect, and that makes sense).

The exciting part of LC is the rapid weight loss at the beginning, but regardless what type of weight loss a person does, it seems as though metabolism goes funky after a while--I guess our bodies realize that we are depleting our stores.

Getting it ratcheted up in a healthy fashion can be a tricky business. I look for the quick fix, and it's not always that simple.

I also wonder if we have a programmed "healthy weight or status" in our bodies which triggers some sort of protective maintenance reaction. I wonder if sometimes our goals (usually based on BMI) might be too tight for our own individual constitution. I watch my BF levels, but I'm not sure what truly is ideal... there appears to be a wide range of acceptable BF, and the measuring tools vary to a certain extent and their results as well.

As an aside I think that we often fall into the trap of being more concerned about the weight loss than the health improvements and long-term commitment to this WOE (and truly I think that LC is more about better health than weight loss--the WL is the fringe benefit to improving health).