I’ve been hovering around the 221/22lbs (just over 100kgs) for over three weeks now, which represents my first proper plateau. I’ve had “setbacks” in the past where I’ve put weight on after losing it, but that’s always been with a clear explanation. A business trip, a birthday, Christmas etc. A plateau, for me, is when you are doing all the usual things (or think you are) and still manage to stall. Not necessarily putting on weight (maybe the odd 1 lb or less), but not losing either.
Generally speaking, when you experience these types of plateau it’s generally for one of the following reasons.
- Water retention
The most common, which we’ve seen through my blog, is that your body is simply holding on to water. We’ve discussed the mechanism before where fat cells can prove to be tenacious. Your body doesn’t want to just drop them entirely because creating new fat cells to store more fat when needed has a higher metabolic cost. So instead of dropping them it temporarily uses them to store water instead of fat.
As you persist with your fasting and low-carb protocol, your insulin levels eventually drop low enough to signal the fat cells to release that stored water. This is what I call the “whoosh” effect. Nothing happens for a while, and then “whoosh” a big chunk of weight is gone. Persevering through these temporary delays is simply something you need to get used to. - Weight loss triggers BMR adjustment
A second cause, albeit less common, is it can be a signal that you’ve reached a weight where your base metabolic rate (BMR) has reduced due to your successful weight loss to date. As we’ve long established, weight loss is fundamentally a function of a consistent calorie deficit, which we calculate based on your body’s metabolism.
How much energy does the system need to keep it going through the day? As you lose weight and are maintaining a smaller frame, your BMR will drop. Not hugely, but potentially enough to stall your progress. It’s certainly worth revisiting the BMR calculator and just checking that your food intake isn’t outpacing your metabolism.
Of course, this doesn’t happen every week – it’s usually something that happens after you’ve lost 20-30lbs or more. And usually your BMR hasn’t changed hugely – it could just be just a few hundred calories difference per day, but this adds up week by week and reduces your deficit, thereby potentially causing a stall or plateau. - A NEAT trick
If you aren’t seeing an obvious change in BMR, it may be you are experiencing Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, also called NEAT. When you are in a deep caloric deficit (like in my 36-hour fasting cycles), your body automatically becomes more “efficient.” You subconsciously stop fidgeting, sit more often, or move less during the day to conserve energy. This can account for a 200–500 calorie difference that won’t show up on a BMR calculator. - Stress and cortisol
Stress can also lead to a plateau. When you are stressed, cortisol – the stress hormone – floods the system. Think of cortisol as a paranoid metabolic accountant. When you’re chronically stressed or underslept, this hormone convinces your body that a crisis is imminent, triggering a “lockdown” on your energy stores.
Even if you haven’t eaten a single carb, cortisol triggers gluconeogenesis, where your liver creates and dumps glucose into your bloodstream to prepare for a “fight or flight” moment that never comes. This phantom sugar spike forces your body to release insulin, which we know is the storage hormone, that effectively locks your fat cells.
You simply cannot burn body fat while insulin is busy policing a stress-induced sugar surge.
Furthermore, cortisol is notorious for causing water retention and signaling the body to hoard fat specifically around the midsection to protect vital organs.
You might be doing everything right in the kitchen, but if your internal “Emergency Accountant” thinks you’re under attack, it will override your progress to keep the vault closed. - Physical damage repair.
I recently had a tooth extraction. This is another type of stressor that comes with its own challenges for weight loss. Repairing the site of the tooth removal requires increased blood flow, which in turn requires water. Your body will begin to store excess water to prepare for the “reconstruction”. Once the repairs are complete, any excess/unused water will be dropped.
In addition, for diabetics, especially those of us taking supplements like Benfotiamine and ALA for neuropathy, a similar thing occurs as our nerves repair and blood flow improves to previously hypoxic tissues. Hypoxic just means deprived of oxygen – think of it like a kink in a garden hose. When the hose is “unkinked” there can be localized inflammation and increased blood volume. While ALA is generally weight-neutral or slightly helpful for loss, the process of metabolic repair can cause systemic water shifts that mask fat loss on the scale. - The “Pseudo-Plateau” of Body Recomposition
Since exercise is an important part of my program, with swimming three times a week and running two to three times, I am also likely experiencing body recomposition.
Muscle is almost 20% denser than fat. As I gain lean muscle mass in my legs from running, and shoulders and back from swimming, this will counteract some of the effects of losing fat. Even though muscle mass takes longer to build than fat does to lose, the scale will sometimes stay static while my visceral fat – which is the driver of T2D – is actually decreasing.
This is why tracking your waist-to-height ratio and blood pressure is more important than the scale. If my BP is improving or waist-line is improving, the “plateau” is a lie and my health is still improving. - Hyperinsulinemia – stuck in fat storage mode, not fat burning
There is another specific plateau that diabetics need to be aware of: Hyperinsulinemia. Even if your dietary carbs are zero, your body may still have high baseline insulin levels due to existing insulin resistance. Insulin, as you will recall, is the fat storage hormone and it literally prevents the breakdown of fat.
Until your fasting insulin levels drop significantly (which lags behind blood glucose improvements), your body remains in “storage mode.” You might be “stalled” simply because your body is finally clearing the internal “clutter” (liver and pancreatic fat) before it’s willing to burn peripheral body fat again.
Even though I have successfully dropped over 38lbs through a consistent calorie deficit my baseline insulin levels (fasting insulin) may still be significantly elevated, even though my blood glucose has improved substantially. Weight loss and blood glucose improvements usually happen faster than the reduction of insulin resistance.
As a serial yo-yo dieter, hyperinsulinemia is the mechanism that has most likely stalled previous attempts at weight loss so it’s the one I need to be most aware of.
My current plateau experience
For me, I think I’ve experienced potentially a combination of a few of these plateau causes.
I’ve been stressed due to my recent redundancy, the “logistics” of which have dragged on, and I am now facing temporary unemployment and the stress of job hunting.
At the same time, I’m still recovering from my tooth removal last Friday. I think I’m now over the worst of this, which may help account for my progress this week – more on that in a second.
Of course, as a result of my tooth removal, I had to miss a few swim and run sessions, which would have temporarily lowered my metabolic needs, so even eating the same as I always have would result in a smaller calorie deficit, which can potentially stall weight loss.
At the same time, just before that, I had seen significant improvements in my swimming and running, as I consistently was able to increase speed and/or duration/distance. I can also see in the mirror and feel in my trousers that my midsection has toned up considerably. I now look quite buff from certain angles! 😊 So there is undeniable evidence of body recomposition.
Dealing with plateaus
The key to dealing with plateaus is twofold.
Firstly, be patient. Most plateaus resolve themselves naturally in a few weeks of consistent behaviour. You just need to trust the process. Certainly, it won’t hurt to review your portion sizes and see that you haven’t gradually been creeping up or adding things.
If a few weeks don’t start things moving, then generally the answer is to look at your calorie deficit. It may be that your weight has adjusted, or your body has become more “efficient” to the point where you need to lower your calorie intake in order to get to that next level.
Remember that it took many months and years of habits to get to your diabetes diagnosis. It will take a while for your body to recover. Give yourself time and have patience.
You’ve got this!
Leave a Reply