Straight into this weeks weigh in…..
INITIAL WEIGH IN 17ST 0
LAST WEEK 16ST 0.25
TODAY………………..16st 0.75
A slight weight gain – I’m not concerned by movement of just 1/2 lbs but i am slightly concerned by this plateau I have gotten myself into. 2 Weeks of similar weigh ins preceded by a weight gain everything has stalled and I’m not really sure why – though I have a few ideas which I will come to later.
This week has been similar to most – I fasted well on Wednesday, had my semi fast day on Friday and nailed it on Monday. Gym wise, I have worked out lots including a vigorous 1hr 45min double session with Insanity and Body Attack. On my eating days things haven’t been so great – I have eaten and drank over-liberally so this may be one of my first issues.
So here are my thoughts on why I have stalled.
I discussed in an earlier post the point of TDEE (Total daily energy expenditure) basically the amount of calories needed to do all the things I do in a day but no more. By restricting my calories on fast days I am making my weekly amount of calories in vs calories out be in deficit thus I should lose weight. At the moment I am not losing weight so maybe my TDEE needs to be looked into. Am I eating too much or has my TDEE changed? One of the points of TDEE is that it takes into account my Basic Metabolic Rate – that is the amount of calories required to do the basic functions my body does, heart beating, lungs moving, blood pumping, heat regulation, eyes blinking etc. I have lost almost a stone and a half, suddenly my body isn’t finding all these jobs as difficult as it may have once found them so it is possible that my BMR has reduced. If so my TDEE would also have come down so I may now be eating exactly the same as I was at the beginning of this process throughout the week but I’m not losing weight because my body is now more efficient!!!
A second possibility is that after 10 weeks of gym 2-4 times per week I am starting to put on muscle. I am certainly noticing changes to my legs, whether it is the same amount of muscle, just with less fat surrounding I do not know, however I feel fitter and stronger than before. I don’t get as tired walking up stairs, I can do more push ups/sit ups/squats/burpees during insanity classes. I punch harder in Body Combat and push harder physically in Body Attack classes. I am starting to get biceps…. only starting mind!!! I have always been under the impression that body fat weighs less than muscle so an increase of muscle will certainly slow my weight loss down. There is some evidence of this in my previous posts of the weigh in machine at the gym which shows my body fat % reducing. I was working Tuesday morning so wasn’t able to check this week. If this is the case then will I start seeing these results through measurements. I measured myself this morning and found no change to my previous results from a few weeks ago but have looked back through my posts and noticed I haven’t given these out so will do so now.
| DATE | 19 Jan 2015 | 10 Feb 2015 | 24 Feb 2015 |
27 Mar 2015 |
| WEIGHT (KG) | 108 | 104 | 102.5 |
101.3 |
| WEIGHT (STONE) | 17st 0.25 lbs | 16st5.0lbs | 16st 2.0lbs |
16st 0.75 |
| NECK (inches) | 16.25 | 16.00 | 15.8 |
15.8 |
| CHEST (inches) | 44 | 43.5 | 43 |
42.5 |
| STERNUM (inches) | 41 | 38.75 | 37.5 |
37 |
| HIPS (inches) | 44 | 43 | 42 |
41 |
| WAIST (inches) | 40 | 39.5 | 39.25 |
38.75 |
So reductions across the board which is great news. I’m losing more inches than I am weight (in percentage terms) so this leads me nicely to a picture – how does this make me look?
Two weeks between the pics – no weight loss (in fact a minor gain!!!) I will leave you to judge if you can see a change?!?!?
My final thought with regard to my plateau will nicely give me a chance to talk about my favourite BBQ dish – let me explain.
I make an amazing slow roasted pulled pork (even if I do say so myself). My method is simple to talk about but takes some effort to do. I take a Piece of Pork shoulder (bone in) and trim away the fat – liberally cover in a rub of my choosing and leave in the fridge overnight. About 12-16 hours before eating (depending on the size of the meat) I will start to cook. I have a kettle BBQ (weber) and set my coals to cook in a style known as the “minion method”. Basically I arrange it so that the meat is not directly over the coals, and that the majority of the coals are not lit. By separately lighting just 5 or 6 coals and placing them to one edge of all the unlit coals I get a very low heat and a long burn time. I have an electric meat thermometer combined with BBQ thermometer – a device with two probes – one gets stuck in the meat and left there, the other sits inside the BBQ – these wirelessly transmit the temperatures to a handheld device so I can ensure my BBQ isn’t getting too hot, nor my meat cooking too quickly. I add smoking wood chips to my coals to give my pork a great flavour. After the internal meat has reached the desired temperature (88-90 deg C) I take it off the grill, wrap tightly in foil, and rest for anywhere up to 2 hours – then shred and serve with a BBQ sauce and burger buns – obviously not on a fast day!!!
Where is the link then?
Well, during the cooking process, the temperature of the meat doesn’t rise in a constant fashion. When the internal temperature reaches 70 deg C the temperature stalls and may not rise another degree, or even drop a degree or two, for an hour or more. Peeking inside your grill at this point can ruin the cook. But the stall in temperature is standard and occurs when the collagen begins to break down into gelatine. The reaction absorbs energy and forces moisture to the surface of the meat, which cools it. Panicking at this time lose more moisture and temperature in the cooking chamber and only contribute to a longer stall. By not fully understanding the process of how this particular meat cooks results in an inferior result. (ref: Pitt Cue book)
And there is my link – I need to understand what is happening inside my body. I am getting fitter, stronger but not losing weight. I have stalled my weight loss but there are other things happening – I left you to judge the pictures but personally I can see a change. At this time in the pulled pork cook people may peek… similarly during my weight loss process I do not want to panic – changes are occurring and a plateau may just be my body getting ready for the next big push to break down my fat stores more in the coming weeks. That being said I am not going to take my eye off the overall system – I will check my BMR/TDEE but essentially for the next few weeks carry on as I am – If no further changes to my weight have occurred by week 12-13 I will re-assess once again.
Thanks For Reading
Richard
My Weight Loss Blog 