The Elusive Third Stage

The first thing a new client must learn is that there are three stages of weight loss.  This is a very basic concept and often misunderstood by those trying to lose; however, once you comprehend the importance of the three stages, you are on your way down an easier path. 

Experience has shown me that most people approach weight loss as if it were a  two stage process, thereby missing the third, vital stage. The first stage, that of Weight Gain, is one with which we are all familiar, and this might be a good time to think back to where it all began. Try to remember back to a time when you did not obsess over your weight, a time when you were comfortable with your body, secure in knowing you could lose a few pounds, if necessary.  Okay, at that time all was well with the world....until something changed. At that point, either the scale started registering higher numbers, or your clothes started feeling a bit snug.  Not one to panic back then, you simply opted for next size up when you needed new jeans or a dress for a special occasion.  For most of us, time passed and we noticed that jeans started to shrink a bit after every trip through the dryer. In fact, the dryer was really doing a number on them, so we went to the mall and decided that we looked and felt much better in the next larger size. "Wow!" we thought, "Clothes are running awfully small lately.  No dryer time for these babies!" And so it went until here we are in the Weight Gain Stage, reading this newsletter! 
 

Most of you probably think that the Weight Gain and Weight Loss stages are polar opposites, but the truth is that it is just as hard to gain weight as it is to lose it. It's funny, but not. You see, you put the same amount of effort into gaining weight as you put into losing it because in order to see a result, you have to do the same thing consistently. You have to eat consistently for a few days in a row to gain a pound or two; and you have to eat consistently for a period of time to lose a pound or two.

Eating "consistently" does not refer to making good or bad food choices  for one day, by the way. We don't gain and lose weight in any one given day. No, it takes more than that.  I know that some of you are shaking your heads in disagreement, knowing very well that your scale can shoot up well over a few pounds in the span of 24 hours.  However, as I have mentioned in previous issues, when that happens you are seeing water retention, not weight gain!  The same principle is at work when it comes to losing weight. You are not going to drop three or four pounds of fat in 24 hours, but your scale might show that you have. What you are looking at when this occurs is water loss.  We do not gain weight because we broke down and ordered the fettuccine alfredo, and we do not lose weight because we suffered through a salad and watched everyone else devour the nachos.  It is the consistency of doing the same thing for many days that brings a particular result.  As far as weight gain is concerned, the Thanksgiving dinner isn't the culprit, it's all the leftovers we eat on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that do us in.

Thus, as we begin to eat more, we move away from the point where our intake and output are balanced, the Maintenance stage, and we enter the Weight Gain Stage. In this stage we consistently eat above our balance point, perhaps for a  a few days, or even weeks. What many believe is the next obvious step is the Weight Loss Stage.  This stage is marked by a conscious effort to stay mindful of the types and amounts of foods we eat in order to see our weight decrease.  This stage mirrors the weight gain stage; the only real difference is that now we are eating consistently below our balance point and losing weight. I know, simple and obvious, right? 

No, not exactly. You see, there are three stages we need to think about: the Weight Gain Stage, the Weight Loss Stage, and the...what?  Well, that would be the Weight Maintenance Stage.  I know that you are aware of the Maintenance Stage, but most of you think about this level only after you get to your goal weight. I want to introduce the concept that Weight Maintenance actually sits between the Weight Gain and Weight Loss stages.  This is the point; many of you skip this stage.  Weight Maintenance is when your intake and outtake are balanced.  But...in the interim between  active Weight Gain, when you are eating above your balance point, to what you believe to be Weight Loss, many of you actually fall into a weight balancing, or Maintenance stage. 

You see, in order to move from Weight Gain to Weight Loss you have to go through two stages. Imagine breathing, for a moment. There is the inhale and the exhale, but what about the period between the two? The resting period, if you will. Well that is the Weight Maintenance stage-the not loss, not gain stage-and it must be experienced just as surely as the "not breath."  You will initially experience the Maintenance stage as problematic. As the weight comes off, you feel great until one week it seems that nothing happens. You bemoan this dreaded "plateau" because you are no longer losing. Ah, but in reality, this is not a "plateau," it is a necessary stage in the downward spiral: the Maintenance Stage! You will stay in this stage for a moment until your body is ready to continue  experiencing the Weight Loss Stage, taking in less than it expends.

Okay, let me summarize what I have said. You will experience three stages: you will actively gain when you eat above your balance point.  At this point, you are eating to fullness and above, consistently. Then you will pull back, entering not the  Weight Loss Stage, but rather the Maintenance Stage. Since you are eating less, and have initially lost weight, you perceive this to be a plateau, when it is really just the time it takes your body to recognize that it no longer needs to hold on to every calorie for dear life! (Read all about it at Adieu to the Plateau!) Mentally and emotionally, this is the most difficult stage of all. Try thinking of it this way: you are still losing weight, just not in real time!

Thus, you need to go from Weight Gain to Maintenance to Weight Loss, then back to Maintenance and further Weight Loss time and again. Hang out there for a few weeks, and let yourself get used to eating in balance again. Then get yourself set up for the next Weight Loss stage.  Make sense? 
 

Bear in mind that this whole concept works in the other direction, as well.  When you are actively in Weight Loss and feel as if you need a break, you might actually skip the Weight Maintenance stage, not realizing that its time is upon you. Instead, of going from Weight Loss to Weight Maintenance-exactly what you want to do until it is time to go down again-you go from the Weight Loss to Weight Gain. Before you know it, you're back at square one! That middle Maintenance stage is central to both your Weight Loss and your final Maintenance program. I can assure you that if you come to accept and embrace each of the stages, you will finally break the gain-loss-gain cycle forever. 
 

  Just Lose It!