How long will my stall last?

I have been bouncing around the same three pounds since the beginning of the month!  This is ridiculous!  I got way too spoiled with massive weight loss in the first two months.  Now that my rant is done...

I did a search on stalls here on OH, and someone suggested splurging to boost the metabolism and getting out of a stall; pizza was what was in the post, and two others said they had done the same.  Doesn't make sense to me, and kind of scary thinking about slipping into bad habits.  Does anyone disagree or agree?

You are most likely losing inches. Did you take any before surgery? I only weigh evry two weeks. My clothes have told me how I am doing so far. When I hit my goal weight or close to it I plan on investing in a good scale. But no sooner. karen

Dan,

I would respectfully suggest that you not use pizza to jump start your metabolism. It is absolutely normal, frustrating, but normal to be experiencing the type of stall you are dealing with right now. As my Dr explained it to me, our bodies are in a war with us to retain those precious fat stores we are working so hard to rid ourselves of. Generally you can expect to experience a drop, followed by a stop (aka a stall) and then begin the decent again. If the stall lasts more than about 3 weeks, you should be logging your intake and activity and meet with your Registered Dietician to see what needs to be done. Sometimes our activity has stepped up and is creating too much of a deficit, in which case they will make adjustments in your intake and activity balance.

My program said that based on studies, the body will effectively lose weight on a caloric intake of about 800 to 900 calories. Below that point, our bodies will start to drop into a metabolic starvation mode where it begins to function at a more 'efficient' rate on less calories. We don't want that to happen because we want to be able to maintain the weight loss we achieve and still be able to eat ;-) Of course these are based on broad studies and might require some fine tuning from one person to the next, depending on your own activity level, your muscle mass, etc... that is why it's important to log your intake and activity. I suggest you use an online system such as www.mydailyplate.com or www.sparkpeople.com.

Also, you should know that there are multiple measures of success and when the scale isn't moving, often the tape measure is showing the progress that you are making. If you haven't done so already, I suggest that you take comprehensive measurements and then update them once a month; as I mentioned, you are likely to see movement on the measuring tape when the scale is holding out on you. The measuring tape will also help you 'see' some of the changes that your eyes may not visualize.

Wishing you continued success,

Pizza to boost metabolism??? Can't imagine what that is based on.   I think your hunch about slipping into bad habits is a good one. 

Someone said they eat different calorie totals each day to keep the body guessing.  I think that could make sense.  Eat more protein calorie dense foods for a couple of days then switch back to what you are doing now and see if that works.

I've also read people stalling for three weeks and then losing again by changing nothing.  You probably just lost so much at first that your body  needs a break before it starts losing again.  Frustrating, I know, but very common.  (I had my first stall at two -three weeks and I fully expect to have more.)  

I think pizza is fine later on for occasional use, but I wouldn't do it this early on.  Think of all the "addicting"  carbohydrates in the crust. 

I am in a current stall at the 3 week spot and only loss 2 lbs in last 8 days which sucks..
I plan on only adding an extra protein drink of 180 cals and drinking a bit more water...as much as I love PIZZA its a bad choice...period!!
I also know this is temporary and I need to stay focused and on track!!
I think stalls are muscle building and fat burning...I work out everyday.

Changing your calories up to keep your body guessing is the ZigZag diet and while you may lose some weight I doubt that it is based on any real science.

The theory is that if you need 1000 calories a day you would take the 7000 calories a week and spread them out differently across the week

Sun: 1000
Mon: 500
Tues: 1200
Weds: 800
Thurs: 1500
...
...

The problem I see with this is that your metabolism doesn't have a brain so you can't really keep your metabolism guessing  also being on such a low calorie diet I doubt it makes much difference if you get 800 today and 900 tomorrow.  Your body has a minimum number of calories that it requires to function as these calories become less available your metabolism will slow down, think of a bear in hibernation.  The reason that upping calories works is that you are giving your body more calories than it was getting so it will start burning fat again and breaking the stall.

Now obviously Pizza isn't a great choice but some things that are slightly higher calories, healthy choices and easy to control protion sizes are things like nuts or something similiar.

Now maybe ZigZaging over long periods of time would work but over the short term I don't see the value.

One thing to remember if you exercise and depending on the intensity and volume of exercise you may reach a point where you aren't exercising to burn the calories you ate today, but you will be eating to fuel the exercise you are doing tomorrow.

Pizza will probably boost your glycogen stores before it does your metabolism meaning you would actually gain some water weight.

During stalls focus on inches and how things fit.  Your weightloss won't be a straight slide down but more like a series of steps.

Keep the faith and follow your protocol. 

Somethings that may affect it are massive workouts on low calories.

What are you avg daily calories?  Are you getting sufficient protein water?  Execercise?

Paul C.  What would you say the avg daily calories should be for someone 1-3 months out?  I know it varies; just looking for a ball park.   How much would that change for someone who is working out and someone who isn't. 

(i'm not at the moment, but there is a new gym opening up nearby in a couple of weeks and I'm going to join that)

honestly at 1-3 months out you probably really shouldn't focus on calories but rather Protein and Fluids.  I was at 800 calories until probably 7 months out and was already doing pretty decent workouts.

As for working out it could be as little as a couple hundred calories based on your workout.  The more intense you workout and the longer you workout obviously it may change.  I have had my RMR tested and when I am training hard 1 hour cardio and 1 hour weights OR LONGER then I eat 300-400 beyond what my RMR is.  I don't offset calories until I am at a 2000 or greater deficit for the day.  So if I o a long run and burn 3000 calories Hell yeah I will eat all freaking day.  If I run 4 miles and do weights which for me will total about 1200 calories then I don't worry about it and just shoot for my RMR, granted on last testing my RMR was pretty decent so I do get more calories than I typically eat just based on that.

if you focus on the 65grams of protein for your first few months you probably won't have room for additional calories and if you are selecting quality protein sources then you will be getting the calories you need. 

I've been pretty good right out the gate at getting my protein and fluids.  I use Jay Robb or unjury twice a day and fluids is pretty easy too.   I started clocking my calories just for informational use. Then  when I went into my own stall, I didn't change anything.  (it lasted about 8-9 days)

Right now I'm getting about 700-800 calories on average.  I don't think I'll start out working out at a high level so I sound like I'm where I should be.  The RMR sound interesting, I will find out more about it.