Plateaus

I want to talk a little bit about weight loss plateaus.  They stink.  They're disheartening and frustrating.  I'm on one right now.  But I was looking at my old results in 2007 (chart below) and noticed that I hit a plateau weeks 8/21-9/5 when I lost less than one pound in three weeks.  But then look.  I lost 3 pounds the next week.  And the whole time I was losing body fat.  So don't feel disheartened if you stop losing for a few weeks.  If you are eating well and exercising you are helping your body!  I always thought that my body just needed time to catch up.  And when I would lose 3 pounds in a week I knew I shouldn't expect to lose much the next week.  I don't know why, but it just happens.

Date	Weight	Body Fat %	Body Fat	Lean Body Mass
8/7/2007	150.0 lbs	32.1 %	48 lbs	102 lbs
8/14/2007	146.0 lbs	30.7 %	45 lbs	101 lbs
8/21/2007	144.4 lbs	30.1 %	43 lbs	101 lbs
8/28/2007	144.0 lbs	29.5 %	42 lbs	102 lbs
9/5/2007	143.8 lbs	27.5 %	40 lbs	104 lbs
9/11/2007	140.8 lbs	25.8 %	36 lbs	104 lbs
9/21/2007	139.6 lbs	24.7 %	34 lbs	105 lbs
9/28/2007	0.0 lbs	0.0 %	0 lbs	0 lbs
10/5/2007	136.8 lbs	21.4 %	29 lbs	108 lbs
10/19/2007	135.6 lbs	21.6 %	29 lbs	106 lbs
10/26/2007	134.2 lbs	20.6 %	28 lbs	107 lbs
11/12/2007	132.6 lbs	19.7 %	26 lbs	106 lbs
11/28/2007	0.0 lbs	0.0 %	0 lbs	0 lbs

And just FYI, here is a body fat scale.  You can get yours checked at a gym (usually for free), a college, high school (maybe), etc.

Typical Body Fat Scale

Physical Condition	Male	Female
Very Lean	<11 td="">	<19 td="">
Lean	11-14	19-22
Desirable	15-17	23-27
Average	18-22	28-35
Typically Unhealthy	>22	>35