What Happens in Our Bodies During a Stall in Weight Loss

Many of you may already have read this, but I came across it recently and thought it was very informative and helped to alleviate the frustration we all may feel when we experience a stall. 


As Posted by Diana Cox:

A "stall" at this point is inevitable, and here is why. 

Our bodies use glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, but it is stored in our muscles for quick energy -- one pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs of water to keep it soluble, and the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs. So, when you are not getting in enough food, your body turns first to stored glycogen, which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of glycogen, you also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it -- voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of a diet.

As you stay in caloric deficit, however, your body starts to realize that this is not a short term problem. You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue and burning fat for energy. But your body also realizes that fat can't be used for short bursts of energy -- like, to outrun a sabertooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, and rebuilding the glycogen stores. And as it puts back the 2 lbs of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, your weight will not go down or you might even GAIN for a while as you retain water to dissolve the glycogen that is being reformed and stored.
 

WOW!!!! that is very intersting!!! Thank you for sharing this hon!

Your right Aaron, that is very interesting!  Thanks for sharing!

Teri

I thoguth it was really interesting.  I had not known about this and I like to know the 'whys' of things.  So when i saw Diana posted this I saved it to remember for later. 

Thank you so much for sharing!

Thanks for posting this! I am only 3 weeks out and I am in a brief stall--but, I am losing inches--thank goodness!  Even with the great explanation, it still doesn't seem logical that some weight doesn't come off, even if we're losing inches!!

Thanks, again!

I hope you get through your stall very soon.  They can be frustrating! I haven't seen your face here before.  it's nice to see new faces.  I hope to see you posting here more often. 

Thanks for your kind words! I weighed myself this morning and I dropped 4 pounds--I really wasn't in a panic about it; I've been reading a lot of posts from people who have been through the whole weight loss journey and decided that my body is playing "catch-up"!  I will add that I was very pleased to see lower numbers on the scale this morning!!

Thanks, again!

Helen