Why Do Stalls Happen: Part 1: Opening Comments

Has your weight loss stalled, peaked, and puttered out? Have you reached a point in your diet where the scale just won’t budge no matter how hard you try, even though you know you are doing everything right? If you’re anything like me, you’re probably so frustrated you’re ready to chuck your diet and scale out the window—I almost did. But if I would have given up, and not taken the time to learn why these things happened, I never would have broken my 8-month stall, and gone on to nearly reach my goal of losing 100 lbs. As of this writing, I’ve lost 94 lbs.

This blog post is a culmination of my journey to figure out why stalls happen, and what can be done to get the weight loss moving again. I had originally posted this information on the Atkins forum on a thread titled, Why do Stalls Happen: What I’ve learned. The thread became very popular, but it also became very long, and was soon embedded with so many comments that the post grew to over 240 pages. It wasn’t long before I got numerous requests from people to condense this information into one easy to understand post without comments. The original thread got so discombobulated that only the very brave, and perhaps foolish, took the time to sift through the post to get to the heart of the information. Thus, because of the requests I’ve had, I’ve decided to posts this thread on my blog, but not in its entirety. Therefore, if something seems missing in my blog post—it is, I left out the comments. Consequently, some of the information might seem out of place, and repeated often. In editing this, I did my best to keep the flavor of the thread without changing it much. But it is my hopes that you will find this information readable, and as useful as the many others who have used these techniques to break their stalls have—including myself.

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Why Do Stalls Happen Part 2: Introduction: Plateaus Defined, and The Truth about Ketosis

What you are about to read is my quest for understanding of why stalls happen. While most of this topic will be referring to the Atkins Diet. that I have been on, it is still relevant to anybody on any diet. When I first started Atkins, I was quite successful, I lost 70 lbs the first 8 months on the plan, but then the weight loss stalled for the next 8 months. During this time I didn’t lose any weight, and would go up and down the same 5 lbs. This became very frustrating, and I was on the verge of quitting. However, I was lucky, I had the Atkins forum members, my support system, who refused to let me quit. In addition, Colette Heimowitz, Atkins nutritionist, helped save me from myself. She helped me come up with a plan, tweak my program, and explained to me about stalls, plateaus, and set points. With her guidance, I was soon losing again, but I wasn’t satisfied with knowing how to make changes, I wanted to know why stalls happen. Thus, the journey began. I spent several weeks pouring through books, and countless web pages on this subject; the problem was I could never find a definitive answer in one place. Therefore, I had to piece the puzzle together, and as I did, I gained a clearer understanding about why the body eventually refuses to let the weight go, and how to get things moving again. This puzzle is by no means complete; there are numerous medical reasons for a weight loss stall that I won’t be going into.  Instead, I will be focusing on how set points affect us mentally and physically. In addition, I’ll be talking about the importance of knowing your Basal Metabolic Rate, (BMR), and the role these numbers play in helping reach your goals. Also, I’ll be talking a lot about starvation mode on the body, and why eating less is not always the right solution when it comes to losing weight. In addition, I’ll show how hunger and compensatory behaviors sabotage our diet. Finally, I’ll provide 25 tips and strategies that I used to help break my stall.

Living The Atkins Style

In the style of Gilligan’s Island

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,
A tale of a weight-loss trip
That started on the Atkins forum,
A board with many tips.

Atkins was a mighty fillin plan,
Good suppers that’s for sure.
The dieters signed up one day
For a weight loss assured
A weight loss assured.

The craving started getting tough,
The Atkins plan was lost,
Thanks to the food choices on this plan
The dieters showed who’s boss
The dieters showed who’s boss.

The tips they found on the Atkins forum
gave them all a smile.

Meet Grami Cin
And Georgie too
Here’s Jennifer and Fit 4life
A movie star
The moderator and
Adriane

Livin–the Atkins Style.

So this is the tale of the waste-a-ways, they’re here for a long, long time.
They’ll have to make the best of things,
Up through owl they climb.

The first-rate friends are chipper too,
They’ll do their very best,
To make you all as comfortable,
On the forum I like best.

No toast! No grains! No Demon Carbs!
Not a one thing sugary,
Slowing down the Glucose,
You’ll lose fat you’ll see.

So join us here this week my friends,
You’re sure to get a smile,
As you watch the weight melt off…
Livin—the Atkins Style.

As always, comments are welcome and encourage.

Terry (whyguy)

Fat, Bloated and Ugly: Maybe Not

I read a story about a woman, on the Atkins forum, whose weight loss was slow.  This woman mistakenly believed nothing was changing about her body.  However, when she tried on a dress that recently didn’t fit, she discovered that even though she hadn’t lost weight she had lost inches, and the dress fit beautifully.  This got me thinking of how we sometimes mistakenly believe one thing about ourselves when in reality who we are and what we look like is much different.

She Loves Me

I stepped out of the shower, and she wasn’t there. Still dripping wet, I grabbed my robe, and went searching. The house was silent and still—I knew we must be alone. I found her in the kitchen. She had been waiting for me.  I rushed to her, picked her up in my arms, and wiped the slightest smudge of jam from her beautiful face.

She was cold to the touch, but soon, I would remedy that. I thought about doing it right there in the kitchen, but I knew a better place, a  private place, one in which we wouldn’t be disturbed. I carried her gingerly through the house, past the dining room, where we had done it once or twice before;  past the living room, where the sofa was in the way the last time, and I even thought about stopping in the hallway, just for a quickie, but it was in the bedroom where we have had the most fun.

She didn’t speak, she didn’t have to, I could see it in her eye—she wanted this as much as I did. I gave her a gentle kiss, and placed her body, ever so delicate, on the floor. My body shivered in anticipation at what was about to happen. I dropped my robe and mounted her, and I could feel the warmth from my body enter hers. I waited for a moment before I looked at her, and before I knew it—it was over.

As she spoke to me with lust still in her eye I let out a scream of ecstasy and delight. “Yes, yes, yes!” I knew then that things between us would never be the same. I knew  that she loved me. On this day, she proved that love by telling me what I had longed to hear—you are you now 220 lbs.

I love my scale.

Terry Elkins (whyguy)

Update: I’ve now down to 168  lbs, and only 8 lbs from my goal.  She still loves me. And I’m still loving Atkins.