CRITICAL PERIODS FOR FAT GAIN: PHYSIOLOGICAL

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After weight loss. Preventing a regain after fat loss is a major challenge especially in people with a genetic predisposition to obesity. There is marked adaptation to fat losses generally regarded as fat loss plateaus. These may also correspond with changes in psychological factors including depression at not having achieved the losses expected.

Currently, there is little written about plateaus and little specific research in the area, even though this is one of the most critical concepts in fat loss maintenance. It is generally because of a plateau in fat loss, and the inability to do anything about this, that disillusionment sets in and a program is abandoned.

The length of time spent on plateaus is variable and appears to have individual idiosyncrasies. In general, the time period increases with the extent of initial fat loss. The magnitude of the fat loss off a plateau on the other hand decreases the greater the fat loss from the initial level. Plateaus, as well as overall fat mass decreases, also appear to be a function of the length of time an individual has been overfat or obese. It thus becomes more difficult to lose fat over the long term, the longer one has been fat in the first place and the longer a maintenance program needs to be carried out.

The length of plateaus is shown to increase and the rate of fat loss is shown to decline with increased loss, basically as a result of the adaptive mechanisms referred to earlier.

The postulated differences in the responses to summing between a long term obese and short term overfat person are shown. Note how the plateaus are likely to be longer and the rates of fat loss smaller in the long term obese than the short term overfat person.

It is important for anyone on a fat loss program to recognise that plateaus are inevitable stages that occur in the maintenance of fat loss. It’s necessary, therefore, for any professional working in the area to communicate that provided there is no increase in body fat during these periods (as there is likely to be due to disillusionment with the lack of success), they should be tolerated. A general principle is that ‘. . . as long as you’re not gaining, you’re winning.’ Plateaus should be regarded as the body ‘taking a breather’ to ensure it can survive under reduced energy balance.