Weight loss plateau after losing 15 pounds

stressless

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2021
Messages
92
Hi all, I’m looking for some advice on fat loss. I used to equate weight loss with fat loss, but since I have gained some more muscle since eating peaty, I’m less concerned with the number on the scale. That being said, I still have a lot of fat (especially around the hips, waist, stomach) that I’d love to lose.

Some background…

I had lost 15 pounds in 2020 but then plateaued since then and can’t figure it out. I know there are a lot of posts on here about weight loss which I’ve gone through, but would love any more ideas, especially for women. I’d like to understand why the weight loss suddenly stopped when I was having so much success.

Mid-20s years old, female, and hold a lot of my fat around hips and stomach.

Macros:
Protein 100-110g
Fat: 30-40g
Carbs: whatever is left to get me to ~2250 calories

Get lots of calcium, at least 1800mg-2500mg everyday

Supplements:

Coffee 2x per day with food

Careful to avoid PUFA

Try to eat fruit and potatoes for carbs, but find this difficult and tend to resort to more starch-y food to get my carb amount up.

Temps are around 97.6-98.0 when I wake up, but get up to 98.6 or above a few hours after waking up/eating

Have always struggled with low blood pressure and have trouble taking/finding my pulse but it’s usually around 76-84bpm resting

WFH job, not very stressful but does take a lot of brain energy and my brain usually feels tired/foggy at the end of the day.

Don’t get much exercise.

I’m usually in a pretty good mood, very motivated, love what I do, don’t feel depressed or sad most of the time.

Get lots of indirect light living in a moderate, sunny climate

Skin is looking pretty good, although I struggle with eczema and dandruff on my scalp.

Struggle with sleep - I go to sleep around midnight and wake up around 8:45am pretty consistently.

Looking for any suggestions, ideas why I plateaued and not losing weight anymore and any ideas in general for tweaking my eating to lose a bit more fat while still being healthy would be very appreciated!
 
Last edited:

Birdie

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Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
5,783
Location
USA
I don't keep track of macros. I've found that really helps. Once I'd one it for a while and had an overall idea, I relaxed on it. A very big thing for me is to not keep track of all my food ratios.

The overall background food for me is lattes. I start on awakening and stop early enough so that I don't need to get up during the night. I do get up once now but I am old. I measure sugar into my lattes or I add maple syrup at least once a day. Ray says people can be allergic to maple syrup but I think I'm okay. Anyway, these milky coffees keep me un-hungry all day.

Very smart that you lost the 15 and did not try for some huge loss. I think if you concentrate on eating healthy (Peat) foods, reducing those starches, you'll naturally continue to lose weight at a slow pace that will not threaten your health. That's how I look at it.
 
OP
S

stressless

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Joined
Feb 25, 2021
Messages
92
Do you incorporate weely or bi-weekly refeed days? If not, you should. It may kickstart the weight loss.
I don't, I've actually never heard of refeed days, but I'll look into it! If you have any resources you can share, I'd love to see them. Thank you!
 

GreekDemiGod

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Aug 9, 2019
Messages
3,325
Location
Romania
I don't, I've actually never heard of refeed days, but I'll look into it! If you have any resources you can share, I'd love to see them. Thank you!
All I can tell you is that is something known in the fitness / bodybuilding world. A higher calorie day will “reset” your hormones in a period of prolonged dieting.
 
Joined
Jun 16, 2021
Messages
227
i would bet you actually are vit d deficient - and it seems to me like your calories for the day are kind of high ? i eat about 1600-1800 a day and I am 5ft 8. how is your blood sugar ? what is your A1C? try eating more iodine foods and how are your hormones ? how old are you ?
 
OP
S

stressless

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2021
Messages
92
I don't keep track of macros. I've found that really helps. Once I'd one it for a while and had an overall idea, I relaxed on it. A very big thing for me is to not keep track of all my food ratios.

The overall background food for me is lattes. I start on awakening and stop early enough so that I don't need to get up during the night. I do get up once now but I am old. I measure sugar into my lattes or I add maple syrup at least once a day. Ray says people can be allergic to maple syrup but I think I'm okay. Anyway, these milky coffees keep me un-hungry all day.

Very smart that you lost the 15 and did not try for some huge loss. I think if you concentrate on eating healthy (Peat) foods, reducing those starches, you'll naturally continue to lose weight at a slow pace that will not threaten your health. That's how I look at it.

I love the latte idea! I haven't tried it with maple syrup but that sounds like a good idea - thank you
 
OP
S

stressless

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2021
Messages
92
i would bet you actually are vit d deficient - and it seems to me like your calories for the day are kind of high ? i eat about 1600-1800 a day and I am 5ft 8. how is your blood sugar ? what is your A1C? try eating more iodine foods and how are your hormones ? how old are you ?

What indicates a vitamin D deficiency? Is this something that is linked to weight loss/gain?

How would I test A1C? How is this related?

What do you mean by how are my hormones? Are there any tests you're thinking of?

Could you share more info on iodine foods and why that would help?

I appreciate the questions - I'll do some of my own research on these topics!
 
Joined
Jun 16, 2021
Messages
227
1) vit d has everything to do with thyroid function and weight.
2) A1C is a snapshot of your blood sugar over 3 month period .
3) all sex hormones and endocrine work up - those are the tests you want .
4) iodine is essential for a working thyroid and is an aromatase inhibitor.
5) you are on a Ray Peat Forum- have you read all or most of his articles? if not then study it all.
6) start all your google searches on this starting with what Ray Peat says about all of it.
 

Birdie

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Joined
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Messages
5,783
Location
USA
1) vit d has everything to do with thyroid function and weight.
2) A1C is a snapshot of your blood sugar over 3 month period .
3) all sex hormones and endocrine work up - those are the tests you want .
4) iodine is essential for a working thyroid and is an aromatase inhibitor.
5) you are on a Ray Peat Forum- have you read all or most of his articles? if not then study it all.
6) start all your google searches on this starting with what Ray Peat says about all of it.
I like #6 !
 
OP
S

stressless

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2021
Messages
92
1) vit d has everything to do with thyroid function and weight.
When you read my original post, what indicates a vitamin D deficiency? Could you provide some more detail or sources/references on this claim? From my years of research, I know that Vitamin D is important, but I've never heard that Vitamin D had "everything" to do with weight. Could you provide some more insight into this?

2) A1C is a snapshot of your blood sugar over 3 month period .
My original question was on how you would recommend I test this? Since you brought it up, I assumed that you knew of a reliable source to get this tested.

3) all sex hormones and endocrine work up - those are the tests you want .
What do you mean by "work up"?

4) iodine is essential for a working thyroid and is an aromatase inhibitor.
When you read my original post, what indicates an iodine deficiency? I understand it's helpful for thyroid, but there are thousands of things we can do that are helpful, so I'm curious why you specifically brought up iodine?

5) you are on a Ray Peat Forum- have you read all or most of his articles? if not then study it all.
I've spent years researching this and experimenting based on much research on this forum as well as related books, podcasts, videos, other forums, etc. I've read a lot of posts on here where people ask for advice and received very thoughtful, helpful answers from people who are much smarter than myself. I thought I would take the leap and join the forum and put my own story out here. I've found that, even if someone has been studying this for years, it can still be helpful to get a second pair of eyes on this since everyone is so unique and has so many different needs. Something that might work for one person might not work for another for many reasons. Reading articles and studying everything that one person (Ray Peat) has published is often not enough to make the best decisions for yourself and it can be helpful to learn and discuss with others.

6) start all your google searches on this starting with what Ray Peat says about all of it.
Been doing this for years :)
 

Zigzag

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2018
Messages
663
What GreekDemiGod said. Refeed + lower calories intake. There's no other way around it, because your body adjusted to your current diet.
 

Nik665

Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2020
Messages
239
Hi all, I’m looking for some advice on fat loss. I used to equate weight loss with fat loss, but since I have gained some more muscle since eating peaty, I’m less concerned with the number on the scale. That being said, I still have a lot of fat (especially around the hips, waist, stomach) that I’d love to lose.

Some background…

I had lost 15 pounds in 2020 but then plateaued since then and can’t figure it out. I know there are a lot of posts on here about weight loss which I’ve gone through, but would love any more ideas, especially for women. I’d like to understand why the weight loss suddenly stopped when I was having so much success.

Mid-20s years old, female, and hold a lot of my fat around hips and stomach.

Macros:
Protein 100-110g
Fat: 30-40g
Carbs: whatever is left to get me to ~2250 calories

Get lots of calcium, at least 1800mg-2500mg everyday

Supplements:

Coffee 2x per day with food

Careful to avoid PUFA

Try to eat fruit and potatoes for carbs, but find this difficult and tend to resort to more starch-y food to get my carb amount up.

Temps are around 97.6-98.0 when I wake up, but get up to 98.6 or above a few hours after waking up/eating

Have always struggled with low blood pressure and have trouble taking/finding my pulse but it’s usually around 76-84bpm resting

WFH job, not very stressful but does take a lot of brain energy and my brain usually feels tired/foggy at the end of the day.

Don’t get much exercise.

I’m usually in a pretty good mood, very motivated, love what I do, don’t feel depressed or sad most of the time.

Get lots of indirect light living in a moderate, sunny climate

Skin is looking pretty good, although I struggle with eczema and dandruff on my scalp.

Struggle with sleep - I go to sleep around midnight and wake up around 8:45am pretty consistently.

Looking for any suggestions, ideas why I plateaued and not losing weight anymore and any ideas in general for tweaking my eating to lose a bit more fat while still being healthy would be very appreciated!
ok but hard to know without before and after weight
 

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