I'm a 19 year-old female, and I started the SBD, Phase I after Christmas and pretty much kept with it for the full two weeks, losing about 10 pounds. I then switched not-so-gradually to eating whole grains and fruit, especially since Ive started really intense cardio work-outs 6 days/week and needed more from my diet. I even do a 40 min. walk in the mornings paired with another workout at night sometimes though I haven't begun weight training because I wanted to get into the habit of just going to the gym. (I've started LOVING the work-out high!! This is the first time in my life where I've started liking to workout).

BUT, the scale hasn't dropped at all, and I'm stuck at 210 for the past 5 days. I did reach 208 on Monday (my weekly goal), but I don't feel like I'm going to make my 206 goal, and I don't know why. I don't think I'm eating too much, and I'm eating very little junk (my only treats this past week were frozen yogurt and chocolate chips).

Is there a logical explanation behind this? Does working out temporarily halt weight-loss??

Hi elleelise,

Firstly, 5 days isn't really very much time for your body to drop pounds. It might take a couple more days than that.

Working out can make your body retain water (solution: drink more water), but I'd be more inclined to look seriously at what you're eating, and more importantly, how much you're eating. Exercise makes us hungry and if we're not careful we can overeat (even healthy foods) after the gym. Do you log your food? Are you working with a diet plan? It is really important to be honest with yourself about the amount of food you're eating. A person can get fat on healthy foods as well as unhealthy foods. At the end of the day, it's all about how many calories you take in and how many calories you use up through breathing, thinking, moving and exercising. We're inclined to UNDERestimate the former and OVERestimate the latter. If you don't measure and log your food, I suggest starting. There are several really good online food logs (Fitday, Daily Plate, Nutridiary) that you can use to keep track of what you're eating.

On the other hand, your body might be working at it and you might see a loss in a couple more days.

Finally, remember that a healthy, manageable rate of weight loss is 1-2lb per week. More than that (after the first couple of weeks) is an unrealistic expectation.

I know exactly what you are going through as I'm dealing with a similar situation right now. After losing about 25 pounds between late 2006 to early 2007, I hit a plateau and just maintained throughout the rest of 2007. By the end of December I was modifying my eating again and was able to pretty consistently lose 1-2 pounds a week for the last few weeks in December and first week in January. Then last Monday I started exercising after not doing so for quite a while. I walked on the treadmill for 40 minutes every day Monday to Thursday and my weight has been stuck at 193 the whole week.

I am absolutely certain that I have not been eating more than previous weeks when I was losing. In fact I may even have been eating slightly less as I was home most of the week and didn't eat out much as I usually do.

I can buy the water retention excuse for a few days but I am now going on a week that the scale hasn't moved one iota. It's definitely frustrating and makes it hard to be motivated to continue to exercise when it seems I was getting better results when I was exercising.

when you lost that first 10 lbs, the majority of that was water. Probably at least 6 lbs of that was water. There is a key difference between "weight" loss and "fat" loss

Yes, starting a new type of workout can temporarily "stop" weight loss....not FAT loss, but water is the stuff that the body thrives on to rebuild and repair after a workout. So if you havent been working out before and you add working out, you are likely to gain some WATER while continuing to lose FAT.

Also, after a rapid shed of water weight such as the phase 1 SBD, you are likely to stagnate or regain some water as the body adjusts. You shocked your system, it dumped water, it is now readjusting.

While weight loss is often quoted as 1-2 lbs "per" week, it is NOT a linear process. You will have some weeks as more and some weeks less. Having a weekly goal will lead to frustration. The important thing is working the plan every week.

1 week is not enough to make judgement on the success of a new plan. Give it a good bit of time before you adjust