I seem to have been traveling quite a bit in the last two years, which makes thing more difficult because I don't have as much control when I am eating in restaurants. Nevertheless, I have lost 113 pounds.
I am 74 year old, and at one time I was 6 feet 6 inches tall. When I started taking LeptiBurn I weighed 375 pounds and now I am 262-3. I would like to lose about another 50 pounds but I seem to be stuck at my current weight and, have been, for the last two months. Any suggestions?
Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
Company Response from BioTRUST
Sep 11, 2015
Hi Mr. Coy,
First and foremost, congratulations on the incredible, inspiring progress that you’ve made thus far. You’ve lost over 30 percent of your body weight. Take a moment to think about that and bask with pride. Through your hard work and dedication, you, my friend, have achieved something enormous and life-changing.
My name is Tim Skwiat, and I am the Director of Nutrition and Exercise with BioTRUST Nutrition. On behalf of Josh, Joel, and our entire team, I’d like to congratulate you on the stellar progress that you’ve made, and I want to thank you for sharing your success story with us. I also want you to know that we’ll be here every step of the way to guide and support you as you continue to move forward on your journey.
Although you’ve seemingly hit a bit of a plateau in your progress, I encourage you to look at this as a very positive point in your journey. Think of it this way, Mr. Coy. Only about 25 percent of people who lose a substantial amount of weight (i.e., <10 percent of body weight) are successful in keeping it off. You, on the other hand, have successfully kept off 30 percent of your body weight for two whole months. In other words, I encourage you to view this plateau as a mini-maintenance phase, which demonstrates that you can successfully maintain your weight loss. That’s a BIG win!
With that being said, there are a few factors to consider when it comes to plateaus. First off, from a physiological standpoint, there are a number of adaptations that can take place during a weight loss journey. For example, in response to a reduced-calorie intake, the body has a number of energy-preservation mechanisms (e.g., reduced metabolic rate, increased hunger and appetite, decreased spontaneous physical activity, increased muscle efficiencies, etc.) that it calls on to help match energy expenditure with energy intake.
I know, that really stinks, but the body’s primary goal is to avoid starvation—not necessarily getting into great shape. Also, another factor to consider is that, as your body changes, so too does your physiology. For example, as you lose weight, the energy cost of every activity decreases. In other words, the program that got you where you are today may not be sufficient to get you to where you ultimately want to be.
This is why it tends to be beneficial to start clients at the highest food intake and lowest physical activity levels possible. This leaves plenty of room for progression during the journey. On the contrary, many folks want to start with the most restrictive diets along with exercising 6 – 7 days per week (sometimes twice a day). How is that sustainable? And when you do hit a plateau, how do you progress from there?
From a progression standpoint, when folks hit a plateau, they generally benefit then from a combination of reducing calorie intake and increasing physical activity. Again, we’d be looking for the minimal effective dose. In other words, the smallest degree of change that produces the desired result (e.g., increase exercise volume 1 – 2 hours, reduce calorie intake 200 calories per day, etc.). With that said, it would be helpful to have a better understanding of your current nutrition plan and physical activity program to make the best possible recommendations.
One additional point to note about plateaus that sometimes goes overlooked is that quiescent periods in weight loss (i.e., plateaus) often result from intermittent lack of adherence. In other words, folks have a tendency to be a bit more forgiving about their portion sizes, food choices, exercise (e.g., missing a workout), etc., and all of those little things can add up to stalled progress. In the overall scheme of things, adherence is king. With that in mind, it may be beneficial to review compliance to make sure that this is not an issue for you.
I hope that this is a helpful start, Mr. Coy. Please feel free to reach out to me directly with any additional information or questions at tskwiat@biotrust.com. We’re here to help and happy to do so. Most importantly, CONGRATULATIONS on your tremendous progress to date. You, my friend, are an inspiration; keep up the great work!
My best,
Coach Tim
