If anyone has been following my WOL stories you will know that I'm having trouble going below 291. I get close and I go up again. I've lost inches but its weird its like my body wants to keep its weight... I was wondering... How long does a body have to get used to its weight loss and when will it let itself lose more weight... Anyone with experiences like this?

Wow, Leesara! According to your stats, you've lost 30 pounds since August 19th! That's phenomenally quick! I would give it a little more time (after all, what are the options?). I'm sure weight loss will pick up for you.

Are you exercising? Even just walking will help build muscle, which is denser than fat, so weight loss on the scale might not show up, but you'll lose inches, look better, feel better - and be healthier!

Rachel

Lessara, it was explained to me once that the weights you tend to stall at are the ones you spent a long time at while gaining. You body does seem to 'remember' or 'like' a certain weight. It has been suggested that breaking through that weight by 4 or 5 lbs is what is needed to get back to losing again; you may actually have lost the fat but your fat cells are holding on to the water in an effort to stay where it is comfortable. You keep doing what you've been doing and eventually it will let go. If the stall or plateau lasts longer than 6 weeks with no inches or weight loss then you can use a stall buster to get things rolling again; to force those cells to let go of that water.

Keep drinking your water, you will convince your body that you know what's best for it and that it is not going to end up regaining what it has given up.

Nat

Yep! And I think it's psychological as well as physical. You may also have food sensitivities. They make themselves apparent very quickly on this WOL.

The more you worry, the worse it is. So, don't worry about it. Keep refining your WOE. Weight loss is not steady. It comes in fits and starts.

Karen

We learned about "set points" in my psychology 100 class. Apparently if your body has stayed at a certain weight for some time, either going up or down, your metabolism remembers it and it takes a bit more effort to break through it.

You can break through though, I think that is the thing to remember.

Holly

Lessara breathes a sigh of relief...
If its any consilation... I am worry about it less and less.

You were born with certain weights as set-points. When you lose 10% of your body weight, your metabolism slows 15%. When you increase 10% of your body weight, it increases 15%. Thats assuming you weight was stable. This is the reason doctors don't talk about weight loss with patients, because science says it can't be done. This is also the reason a lot of people feel exausted when they lose a lot of weight. The theory also implies that a person cannot lose beyond 10% of their body weight without making themselves ill. We know this isn't true, and that it can be done. No surprise Weight Watchers sets their goal at a 10% loss. There are NO studies referencing what happens at higher percentages of weight loss. The general concept on a plateau is that if there if there is a deficit of 1000 calories, and you have constantly lost weight at that deficitand you plateau, that you need to increase that deficit significantly (maybe 1500). a couple days to break the plateau. THen you can move back to 1000, and will continue losing. Its possible that staged set-point can hold your metabolism back until you break the entire range. This is actually tought to R.D. but with calories. Same concept when it refers to low-carb. My strategy is to stay at the plateau until I get unbelievably motovated, and then workout like crazy for a few days or fat-fast. Or do one, then the other.

My first stall was at 155. I figured that was one set-point. I had been at 155 for at least a few years.

So yeah, I think it does. My fat was comfortable where it was, but I wasn't comfortable with it.
A size 12 (right now [3/22/03] size 7/8 and going down!) is not too pretty on my 5'1" small frame.
Neither was 179, come to think about it.

How enlightening!
I have been stuck at 180 for a few weeks now....NOTHING lost. Not even inches. But, I had also been at this weight for 4 years (prior to a gain after I was diagnosed with RA and was in immense pain with tons of joint swelling) With that under control fairly well, I've decided to whip my act into shape and be as healthy as I can be.
So, I am working walking a few times a week and a light upper extremity workout into my life. Slow and steady addition of activities...it has to be that way or MAJOR flare up.

Cher

I was once reading this article that suggested that when you lose 20 pounds or 10% of your body weight (whichever is more), you should try to maintain that weight for between one and three months. If you are below 175 pounds, the number drops to 10 pounds. It is supposed to help your body decided to let go of -that- weight without slowing your metabolism. This does seem to make sense to me, although that would seem painfully slow, and I'd never have the patience.