More than Just Pounds

I feel like my problems are now explained after coming across the MATADOR study!  I now understand what has happening to me.  My body has been adapting to the calorie level I stay at and then it stops losing.  It is called metabolic adaptation and the way to prevent this is to eat at maintenance for a week or two after 2-3 weeks of a deficit.  Anyone that has been dieting for too long obviously has metabolic adaptation.  That is why you hear people saying that they can't eat more than 1200 calories or they gain weight.  They have been a deficit for so long that their bodies adapted to 1200 calories being their maintenance.

What is amazing is that you CAN increase your maintenance calories and/or metabolism!  It's also called reverse dieting - gradually upping your intake by 50-100 calories every week until you reach your maintenance level.  I decided to just go ahead and go from 1700 to 2300.  So far, it is going well, I was losing weight at the beginning and we will see how this goes.  I'm finding it very difficult however to eat 2300 calories without adding in junk - so I bought some organic fruity loops cereal, chips, some healthy mac and cheese and other higher calories foods to enjoy as I eat in maintenance for 1-2 weeks.  Then, I will drop down to just 1800 for 2-3 weeks and then back up again to 2300 for a week and repeat.  

You can get a more in-depth explanation about this in this video I came across where she explains it very well: https://youtu.be/y_RXVFl_aWs

What I have learned is if you stay in a deficit for longer than 4 weeks you will most likely experience metabolic adaptation.  That is why so many start a deficit or a new diet and do great the first month and then things slow down.  According to the study, all they need to do is actually take a week and eat higher at maintenance and then get right back to their deficit for up to 3 weeks.  

This will not only help you when you transition to eating at maintenance when you are done losing weight but it will help you be able to eat like a normal human being and not be forever stuck at a TOO LOW calorie level to maintain your weight!  And your body needs this extra fuel, so you can't afford to consume so little every day for the rest of your life.  You won't have energy and you will start to have health problems and your skin won't look as good and your body won't perform as well on lower calories.

I will do updates as I go but right now I'm loving it and feeling great peace!  This is my answer to so many questions I've had about my journey.