Putting this up for argument rather than for agreement. I have read it twice and I am still not certain what it supports.
Most reported plateaus are not plateaus. Weight is a noisy signal — daily variation of one to two kilograms from glycogen, sodium and gut contents — so a fortnight of flat readings is well inside the noise band. Before concluding anything, look at a rolling weekly average over at least four weeks and at a tape measure, because recomposition shows up in circumference before it shows up in weight. Then track intake honestly for a week: appetite suppression fades unevenly, and intake creeping back up is the single commonest cause.
Where I think it is weakest: the population was selected and supported in ways a real cohort is not, so I would read the effect size as a ceiling rather than an expectation.
The narrow version of the question is how to distinguish a genuine plateau from measurement noise and creeping intake, before changing anything. Happy to be told the question itself is wrong.
Figures above are from the primary publication rather than the press summary. If a number here disagrees with one you have, post yours and we will work out which of us is reading a secondary source.
FranDenver said:Weight is a noisy signal — daily variation of one to two kilograms from glycogen, sodium and gut contents — so a fortnight of flat readings is well…
Plateau breaking story with a stall: I stalled at 195 lbs for 8 weeks. Tried everything — calorie cycling, increased exercise, more water. Nothing worked.
What finally broke the plateau: adding HIIT cardio 2x/week. Lost 6 lbs in the next 3 weeks. Plateaus are temporary — they always break if you stay consistent.
FranDenver said:Weight is a noisy signal — daily variation of one to two kilograms from glycogen, sodium and gut contents — so a fortnight of flat readings is well…
Pushing back on FranDenver here. The "it is your intake" reflex here gets tiring. Some people genuinely stop responding at a dose that worked, and telling them to track harder when they have already tracked is how people stop posting.
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Browse GL BiochemAnswering the narrow version, because the broad one does not have a single answer. Genuine plateaus happen too, and the mechanism is metabolic adaptation plus a smaller body. A body 20kg lighter needs meaningfully fewer calories at rest and less to move, so the deficit that produced the first phase is arithmetically smaller now. The options are the honest ones — increase the deficit slightly, increase activity, or accept the new plateau — and escalating the dose is only one of them.