By Breaking the Plateau, Are We Breaking the Essence of the Primal Diet? page 3

[Owen]

I'm also in the middle of a plateau in terms of weight loss, the first 6 weeks were amazing for weight loss - it literally fell off of me, but now, 3.5 months in, its an almost imperceptible reduction each week, although Id still like to lose at least another 15 or so pounds. Its useful to read this however, particularly that the body sometimes needs to stay put for a while for other reasons, and I am still definitely noticing continued health improvement during this period, and also becoming physically stronger, so I'd follow other people and say just go with it, provided your diet is clean - don't worry. I haven't been exercising beyond a couple of light swims and some weight sessions each week, and it's a real relief to know that optimal health doesn't come from flagellating yourself in the gym and on interminable cardio sessions. If anything I don't midn remaining at the weight I am at now for a while and just relaxing, knowing that I won't gain any more, and, by this time next year, will probably be even leaner, having lost weight without compromising my health. Another thing I like about the paleo community is the emphasis on long-term thinking and realistic health strategies. Man, it really is exciting to be a part of this, like we in the western world have come to our senses for the first time in a long time - know what I mean?

[Omni]

A lot of people pointed out the possibility that I had reached my ideal weight. In my case also, I really doubt that's it. I'm 247 and 6'0. If I was at least 210 or 220, then ok maybe I'm close enough to the ideal weight where a plateau makes sense, but at 247, I'm still miles away from an ideal weight.

I'm encouraged by the comments recommending patience, but I wondering when that's going to run out. For Lent, I'm doing 40 days of no cheats. So far, it's day 26 and not a single pound lost. Before that I had 4 cheat days after 21 days of straight primal. 3 cheats before that and 14 days of straight primal.

So, in the last 68 days, 61 have been on very strict primal with plenty of exercise and I haven't lost a single pound. Also, it doesn't seem the cheat days are having that huge of an impact. When I get back on primal, I'm back to the 247-249 area within a few days. And then I don't budge from there.

Ok so on the face of it looks like you should be able to slip off another 20lb without too much trouble, theoretically speaking.
I do firmly believe the plateau does have specific value that we do not realise, I have seen too many frustrated posts from individuals to disregard it, all sorts of methods are tried and mostly to no avail, they seem to work a bit but then the body kicks back and packs it on again.

One thing to remember also as has been hinted at, your frustration at not losing any more weight may actually, through a convoluted signaling pathway, be sending stress messages which your body is interpreting as bad times and is holding the weight to ensure it has best chance of survival, so by all means play with a few adjustments, but try to let go of it emotionally if you can.
Ever heard of people trying to have a baby, trying so hard, measuring, timing, doing everything right, too right, all to no avail, then they give up and resign themselves to being childless and within months there's a "bun in the oven", stress can work in very strange ways.

Not sure if it was mentioned earlier, have you tried intermittant fasting(IF)?
IF can often help because it forces the bodies fat burning machinery to fire up every day, so you burn of fat during the fast period, then restock during the feed period, this cycling process seems to help move fat around better. I think we were designed to be hungry regularly and a daily IF will not be enough to put you into starvation response and may help you to shift a little more weight.

[magicmerl]

It kind of sucks when that point is still rather overweight. I *know* my body is not normal. I am 5'6 and 173. I have not weighed this little since before puberty. So yes, I have excess fat that is not healthy, yet my body has not been this small since starting my period.

I think you look great.

There are two parts to body recomposition: losing fat and adding muscle. People who focus on their weight are subtly undermining the 'adding muscle' part of the equation.

So, it seems like that even though this might break the plateau, you lose everything that's great about the primal diet. Anyone have thoughts or feeling on this?

I think that people plateau for two possible reasons:
1. They are at their bodies healthy weight (although it doesn't sound like this is the case for you)
2. They are eating too much (made more complicated by your body forcing you to overeat and going into scarcity mode if you have a nutrient deficiency)

My first thought is, maybe you are deficient in something? What sort of supplements are you taking? Do you get enough Magnesium/Iodine/Selenium?

I know I personally struggled a bit when I got a bit deeper into primal/low carb/IF and I felt much better when I began intentionally 'feeding' my thyroid on kelp/brazil nuts/safe starches.

[momofredheads]

I have been on a plateau for about a year almost. I lost 40lbs last year, I still have easily 40lbs to go yet, and no it isn't one of those you are at where your body tells you it should be. I am still very much overweight. I am currently trying carb refeeding of sorts. I was reading through other blogs of CF folks and stumbled upon Carb Back Loading, which isn't where I am at, but Kiefer, who wrote the book, was on Robb Wolff's podcast and I picked up a copy of the Carb Nite out of curiosity. He gets into some detail that initially on ketogenic diets people drop 30-40lbs in a short time 8-20lbs is water, the rest is fat and you do lose some muscle along the way. Long and short he gets into more detail about Ghrelin and leptin and what your body does when you are ultra low carb for too long etc. basically the body empties out fat too fast and the leptin says hold on, hold on I am starving and you maintain for a long time. This is where the carb feeds help trick the leptin and Ghrelin to help you to continue to drop fat and not more muscle. His suggestion is to keep your carbs under 30g 9 days and on the 10th day do a carb refeed after 4pm until bedtime. The 10th day 2 meals should be fat/protein and then after 4 you want white rice, potatoes, high glycemic foods to spike the insulin and get leptin and ghrelin kicking again. After your re feed your body will then again burn fat for the next 4 days or so and then you plan another carb refeed. From what I am gathering most hit 400-600g of carbs on that refeed day. It's just carb cycling, if you are keeping carbs at 30x6 days that is 180 + 500=680/7 you are still under 100g of carbs in a week.

I am trying it now, I figured what the hell do I have to lose at this point. I am still keeping my lifting heavy things to 3x's a week and then just walking and the other days to keep the cortisol at bay. You may want to play around with carb refeeds and see where it lands you. I am going to try to journal it below in my journal. I am only on day 2. Carb refeed won't come in until Tuesday next week.

Kiefer suggests in the book Carb Nite that you use non primal foods for the refeed, like pizza, cake etc. There is a lot of question about that among paleo circles. Mark posted an article last year about carb refeeds primally!
Here is a blog that Mark wrote about it last year. https://www.marksdailyapple.com/dear...r-weight-loss/

[DeeDub]

...at 247, I'm still miles away from an ideal weight.

I'm not saying you're wrong - but how do you know that? For sure?