The plateau effect: why does weight gain on a diet and what to do about it?

Decreased metabolism or poor diet?

Although at the beginning of any low-calorie diet a person loses weight, one day he encounters a plateau when the weight stops falling.
The reasons often remain unclear because many claim to continue to strictly follow the diet. Therefore, the question arises: has the body adapted to losing weight and slowed down the metabolism so that a person has stopped losing weight even on a diet, or do people still break the diet without noticing it? Scientists also studied the causes of diet plateaus, which often occur around the 6-month mark (), and developed two mathematical models based on the first law of thermodynamics. One model must determine the extent of metabolic adaptations. This is the decrease in metabolism that must occur for weight loss to stop during a calorie deficit.

The second model is to determine the number of dietary violations that lead to a plateau. It took into account random (random) increases in caloric intake based on modeled behavioral reactions. These models were confirmed by four large and long-term studies:

• The US NHANES 1999-2004,
• Comprehensive Assessment of Long-term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy (CALERIE) weight-loss study
• The Bouchard Twin overfeeding study
• The Minnesota Starvation Experiment

It turned out that periodic diet violations are the main cause of the plateau:

“The evidence presented in the study shows that even unrealistically large decreases in metabolic rate in response to dieting (as metabolic adaptation to energy deficiency) do not influence early weight loss plateaus. Seemingly harmless, minor dietary irregularities are one of the main causes of commonly observed weight loss plateaus.”

Thus, the main reason for the lack of progress is non-compliance with the diet, as simple as it may sound. A person does not follow his diet and exercise regime as well as he thinks. I used to comply, but now, imperceptibly for myself, I relaxed, began to eat more, which led to a stop in losing weight.

There are two ways to break your diet: consciously and not. With conscious overeating, everything is clear: the person is tired of the diet, regularly overeats, but is aware of this. For example, uncontrolled cheat meals or even cheat days can easily reset your total weekly calorie deficit. It doesn’t matter that you followed an ideal diet all weekdays if on the weekend the deficit accumulated during the work week is completely canceled out “with the help” of high-calorie foods and alcohol.

The situation is much more complicated when someone losing weight is sure that he is on a diet, but in fact he is not. It’s difficult to track, but this is precisely the most common problem of stagnation. Many studies show that over time, people who lose weight begin to eat more without realizing it.

A good example is the “From A to Z” study (). Participants were divided into four groups, each following a different diet: Atkins, Zone, Ornish and LEARN diet. The purpose of the study is to determine where people will lose weight faster. As for the kilograms lost, there was no difference between the diets - all diets gave the same result, provided the correct caloric intake was observed.

But at the same time, scientists discovered interesting things. It turned out that diet compliance in all four groups gradually worsened over 12 weeks. And this was especially noticeable in groups with a stricter diet. Interestingly (but expectedly), participants in the more “loose” Zone diet showed smaller deviations from their protein, fat, and carbohydrate intakes by the end of the study.

Moreover, about half of the participants on the two most restrictive diets, Ornish and Atkins, quit them before the end of the study. On other more flexible diets, 35% did not reach the finish line.

And this is not the only study that shows that any diet that is not the stupidest works equally well, as long as there is a real calorie deficit. But what really matters is adherence to the diet, the ability of the person losing weight to stay on the diet long enough to achieve their goals.

Unconscious diet violations are well described in the scientific literature using the example of people's self-reports about their diet. Many studies show the same thing: obese people underestimate the number of calories they eat and overestimate their activity level.

Thus, participants in one of the studies tried different diets before the study began, but did not lose weight, despite the calorie deficit. They blamed slow metabolism and genes. But after checking by scientists, it turned out that the participants, even during a controlled experiment, unconsciously underestimated their calories by 47% and overestimated their activity by 51%, although they were sure that they were eating little and moving a lot. Read more about these studies here.

How long does the plateau effect last?

When the weight has stopped due to the plateau effect, it can be very difficult to maintain the mood to continue working on yourself. This stage of weight loss, depending on the reasons for its onset, can last from three weeks to three months. The most important thing during this period is to continue to adhere to the correct diet (or switch to it from a strict diet if it caused a plateau), continue to train and ultimately ensure that the extra pounds begin to disappear again.

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Plateau: understand and accept

In fact, the plateau is not as bad as it might seem. Weight loss is not a linear process. It is more like going down steps, and the plateau is one of its steps. When a person sets big and long-term goals, periods of stagnation are inevitable. People should be aware that there will be several plateaus along the way to their goal, and each new one will likely be longer than the previous one.

Plateaus are usually discussed in a negative light, but this is a good thing because the ultimate goal of any weight loss is a long, lifelong plateau at your new weight. So intermediate plateaus are an opportunity to test your ability to maintain weight. So you can treat it as consolidating the achieved result, albeit an intermediate one.

What causes weight loss when losing weight?

The first appearance of the plateau effect is possible 3-4 weeks after the start of restrictive measures. If the diet is long-term, more than 3-6 months, this condition may recur regularly.

The plateau is one of the most difficult psychological stages of weight loss. Continuing to limit themselves and not seeing results, many people lose faith in success and stop fighting. This turns into a rapid gain of extra pounds. In some cases, against the background of the return of excess body weight, depression and increased anxiety develop, and in particularly severe situations, bulimia and anorexia.

Why did the weight stop while losing weight:

1. Metabolism has slowed down. When you change your usual diet, rich in fats and proteins, to low-calorie foods, the body begins to actively burn fat reserves. And when they run out, the brain receives a signal about a lack of resources. This is accompanied by the body's attempts to provide at least a minimum supply of fat through a decrease in metabolism.
2. Hormonal pathologies have arisen. An imbalance in the body can be suspected if all attempts to lose weight turn out to be failures. In this case, the reason may lie in thyroid disease, decreased or increased production of sex hormones, or the development of diabetes mellitus. This situation cannot be avoided without the help of an endocrinologist.
3. Physical activity has decreased. Even the most strict diets do not work without the help of basic physical education. A sedentary lifestyle and low mobility nullify all dietary efforts.
4. Dehydration developed. Fluid deficiency leads to disruption of all vital processes, and active fat burning is accompanied by increased sweating. If there is not enough water, the metabolic process slows down.
5. The body is under stress. This state can be physical, when the body is subjected to intense training against a background of prolonged fasting, and mental, in which the brain sends a signal to the systems to mobilize all resources to conserve energy sources.

Age plays a big role: the younger a person, the easier it is for him to fight excess weight, and the less likely he is to hit a dietary plateau.

Another common reason why weight loss stops is mistakes made by the person losing weight. These include:

• eating foods that are too high in calories;
• addiction to dishes containing a lot of vegetable and animal fats;
• alcoholic libations;
• unsystematic weight loss;
• unbalanced diet with minimal calories.

Having firmly decided to lose those hated pounds, you need to carefully approach the selection of diet, counting calories and physical exercise, then the risk of encountering a plateau effect will be minimal.

How to overcome a plateau

First, you need to honestly evaluate your diet for hidden calories. It's a behavioral fact: the longer the diet, the more careless people eat, especially if they've lost a decent amount of weight and look good.

It is also necessary to evaluate the level of activity - many, even with regular training, are far from being defined as an “active person.”

If your workouts have not become less frequent or less intense, and the amount of food has not increased, you need to recalculate your calorie intake for the new weight and make a deficit based on the new figure. Then there are three options:

• Eat less (reduce calorie intake)
• Move more (increase consumption)
• Combinations of both

If your goal is to resume weight loss, then you need to re-look at your training and nutrition program. If people are not sticking to their exercise and/or nutrition program, we need to understand why. Most often, a plateau is exactly about this. How much room is there for increasing the intensity, duration, or frequency of your workouts? How much room is there for cutting calories? How radical and urgent is the goal that the person sets for himself?

How to get your weight off the ground

You continue your diet and training, but are stuck in the plateau effect. How to make your body lose weight again? First of all, review your diet. If the menu is too meager and you get fewer calories than you burn, then your metabolism needs to be artificially accelerated. This can be done in several ways, which will be described in more detail in the next section of the article.

Change your training program. Add jogging or daily walks outdoors to your gym routine. Do morning exercises - long-term heavy exercise is not necessary; 6-10 simple exercises or yoga poses immediately after waking up help greatly speed up metabolic processes. Add unusual physical activity: in the warm season, you can ride a bicycle to work, for example. Also, visiting a bathhouse, sauna or spa is great for accelerating your metabolism.

Changing your diet

If you can’t force your body to lose weight again, then you need to reconsider your diet. When the cause of weight frozen at one point is an overly strict diet, zigzag calories for weight loss can help speed up metabolic processes. There are several options here:

• “gluttonous” or fasting day - sharply change the number of calories consumed up or down to start accelerating metabolism;
• “food swing” - calculate your daily calorie intake and deviate from it by 200-300 kcal, either up or down;
• switch to split meals - frequent meals, snacks every three hours;
• please your body with something forbidden - once a week, scheduled, allow yourself to eat any of your favorite unhealthy foods - a piece of cake, a portion of fried potatoes, whatever you want.

Carefully monitor not only the number of calories, but also the percentage of protein, fat, carbohydrates and the amount of sugar. Drinking alcohol and sugary drinks is strictly prohibited. The number of calories you consume should always be re-evaluated in accordance with the stage of the diet and daily exercise, because as you lose weight and body size, you begin to need fewer calories to maintain vitality.

Restoring the body's water balance

Maintaining water balance in the body is equally important. Do not forget that limiting water consumption leads to stagnation and not elimination of fluid in the body. Therefore, the daily norm of at least two liters must be observed by you, and we are talking only about water, excluding tea, coffee and other liquids. Severely limit or completely eliminate salt from your diet, because it retains water in the body.

Changing the training program

To continue losing weight, change your usual exercise program. Alternate aerobic and strength exercises, or completely change the type of exercise. Alternate the treadmill with swimming, walking with cycling, aerobics with yoga. The main thing is to continue active training, because otherwise you will not be able to get out of the period of stopping the loss of kilograms and force your body to start losing weight again.

Why does dieting cause weight gain?

There are several reasons why extra pounds are in no hurry to leave us despite strict prohibitions and a meager diet:

• Activation of austerity mode - the less you give to the body, the less it spends and stores more. You feel dizzy, lose strength, your stomach is empty, but the weight is not decreasing - which means it’s time to change tactics and stop torturing yourself.

• Breakdowns under strict restrictions - if you forbid yourself something without finding a worthy replacement, later this forbidden fruit will be picked by you at the first opportunity - you will simply get tired of systematically depriving yourself of what brought joy and pleasure.

• With a lack of protein foods and sources of unsaturated fats, your appetite increases - the feeling of hunger will drive you crazy until you drown it out with something sweet. However, the way out of this situation is fundamentally different - a transition to a balanced diet, expanding the diet and including in it what is vital for the proper functioning of the body and normalization of metabolism.

The less we feed ourselves, the slower our metabolism. It turns out to be a dead end: if I eat, I gain weight; if I don’t eat, I also quickly gain extra pounds. Why, while on a diet, do we watch with despair as the weight does not go away, but increases? The point is the wrong strategy - you won't get far on fasting. And less than 600 kcal per day for women and 800 for men, monotonous, meager and irregular nutrition (for example, once a day) is a deliberate harm to one’s health, threatening hospitalization. Draw conclusions and switch to a balanced diet and safe methods - for your own good.

Why does weight stay the same when dieting and doesn’t go down: workout until you break a sweat

For some, the situation is a little different - they add a visit to a fitness club or other intense physical activity to their mononutrition. The mistake of those who hope to lose excess weight through training and long sessions in the gym is the inadequacy of the efforts made. Think about it: sweatshops only allow you to get rid of water, but not the weight of extra pounds. Even with grueling exercises performed daily, calorie consumption per day does not exceed 900 per hour. And this is only 100 g of fat.

And the state after a workout does not contribute to weight loss - you are tired, physical activity slows down sharply, but your appetite increases. So it’s not far from a breakdown.

Everything is good in moderation. Do you want to keep yourself in good shape? Then choose options that are safe for your health and gentle - swimming or yoga. If you decide to go all the way and every day, barely breathing, you return from training in the gym, do not be surprised that the weight does not go away - it stands still or inexorably grows.