Dear DOCTOR Owen:

I get very discouraged when my weight loss slows during a diet. I have heard that metabolism slows with dieting, which can cause weight re-gain when I finish the diet and reach my goals. Are there any diets that prevent the plateau? I feel like I could reach my goal if this weren’t such a problem.

Stuck in Mud

Dear “Stuck”:

Your belief is quite common—and totally erroneous. Weight loss or weight gain remains a mathematical equation under most circumstances throughout any diet. There are two misunderstood causes of the weight- (vs. fat-) loss plateau:

1. Recapture of the initial water weight lost from muscle and the liver. Initially, water stored with sugar in the liver and muscle is lost, as those sugar stores are used for energy. This water is restored as fat breakdown becomes efficient and sugar is re-stocked or stored in muscle and the liver.
2. Secretion of the salt hormone (aldosterone) with resumed higher-calorie eating. Dieting causes declines in aldosterone, which often cause high blood pressure to decrease and swelling to resolve. Eating even one meal above caloric needs can “turn on” aldosterone secretion and cause fluid retention.

When the water is recaptured with these normal physiological changes, it prevents changes from showing up in the scale. (The scale measures weight loss, not just fat loss. This is why, at my clinic, we diet and health counselors teach our patients to calculate both their fat and their water loss each week.) Studies show that 57% of dieters quit because they do not understand the simple factual math of weight balance. Most people, like you, expect the scale loss to be the reward for all the weekly food deprivation. But when they see that the reading on the scale doesn’t meet their expectations, it is so discouraging that many of them quit their diets.

Simply re-focusing on your diet plan will get your fat loss moving at the average loss you expect from your caloric intake plus the calories you expend on exercise. I, along with the diet counselors at the clinic, constantly reinforce the fact that the fluctuations in water will balance out over time. Even with the arithmetic firmly in hand, it is difficult for many people to remain focused—especially if they expect to fail.

According to studies, there is another reason for the metabolism changes that come about with weight loss: a change in muscle mass, which results from decreased weight. It is widely misunderstood that dieting causes muscle breakdown; the suggestion is that this is abnormal and unhealthy. But that is not true! Think about how much more muscle it takes to carry around 200 pounds vs. 150 pounds. To find out, pick up a 50-pound bag of dog food and carry it around for a few hours. You’ll be exhausted. Duh! The muscle size changes appropriate to the mass it is expected to move.

Believe it or not, many studies fail to calculate this “normal” loss of muscle expected from the decreased work required to carry around the fat load. People who look for reasons why “diets” do not work jump on this as a reason not to diet. It you have ever missed a few days of working out in the gym and developed very sore muscles on resuming that workout, you will appreciate how fast one loses muscle with decreased load.

Male dieters who use a muscle-building program in the gym can diminish this effect more than females, who simply cannot produce as much muscle due to low testosterone levels (compared to men). On a reduced, or very reduced, calorie diet, people can lose muscle at an accelerated, unhealthy rate. Do not risk getting the proper balance of carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Consider the following calorie counts when making up your diet plan:

• Diets below 800 calories/day—Even the best dietitian on the planet cannot balance safe nutrition.
• Diets below 500 calories/day—Not enough nutrition to prevent muscle loss, no matter how good the engineered food product tastes.
• Diets below 1000 calories/day—Under medical supervision only; eat engineered food to prevent muscle loss.

In the past, many accountants and engineers in the clinic have tried to disprove the “weight loss plateau theory.” But, by using our math formula and good records that prove the math, correct fat loss is calculated every time.