Weight Loss 101 - The Stall and Whoosh Effect

Third in the "Weight Loss 101" Series, I will be talking about adipose (not the cute little guys from Doctor Who, but the real life adipose). I will explain to you the Stall and Whoosh Effect, and why you may not be losing weight.. or at least *think* you aren't losing weight. This information could save your whole diet!

You’ve been sticking to your diet to the letter. You’ve been working out, counting calories, and have created a deficit. You step on the scale and nothing; the needle hasn’t budged. Another week passes. You’re weighing and logging everything you put in your mouth. You up the intensity of your workout. You just *know* this week you’re down a pound at least. Weigh in day comes, and still nothing. Not one ounce is gone. This is a frustrating thing that happens to all dieters. It is what causes so many to give up and go back to eating like they used to. You begin to rationalize, “I’m older now and my metabolism is too slow to lose weight”. “It must be my thyroid”. “My body just can’t slim down”. Before giving in and downing half of a Supreme thick crust pizza, let me tell you about something called “stall and whoosh”.

Adipose cells, also known as fat cells, are responsible for storing unused energy. This energy is stored inside the adipose in the form of triglycerides, or what we call fat. Fat isn’t a bad thing. Fat cushions our body, gives us shape, keeps us warm, and keeps our body running when we aren’t eating. We all need fat in order to live, and our body is programmed to keep those fat stores “just in case”.

When we diet or exercise, and there is no fuel in the blood stream to feed our other cells, such as the brain, liver, and lungs, the adipose cells release triglycerides into the blood stream. Those droplets of fat are used by the other cells in order to function, and when the triglycerides are converted, we eliminate whatever isn’t used as fuel by exhaling and through urination. This is what we refer to as “burning fat”.

Adipose cells deflate when they are emptied of fat, but they are also programmed to attempt to keep their size and shape for the next anticipated deposit. The way they keep their size is that they absorb water and hold that in place of the fat that they just released. When the adipose are satisfied that they no longer need to hold space open for fat stores, the water is absorbed back into the body and is then eliminated.

What is going on with a stall and whoosh is that you have burned the fat by diet and/or exercise. The water that the adipose is storing replaces that fat, making it look as if you haven’t lost weight, but you have. When the water is finally eliminated, there is a “whoosh” and you wake up the next morning weighing 3-6 lbs less than you did the day before.

There are a couple of signs that you can look for which are clues you are in a stall and whoosh cycle. Check your measurements. If you are losing inches but not weight, it’s a good indicator. Water weighs more than fat, so the inches could be gone, yet you would weigh the same thing (or even more). Another indicator is that your fat feels “squishy” or “loose”. Fat has a different texture than water and moves differently. If your belly or thighs (or wherever you store the most fat) feels extremely squishy or jiggly compared to normal, it is likely water that is being stored.

There are a few theories on how to trigger a “whoosh”. One theory is to up your sodium content temporarily. Sodium absorbs water and would allow the body to flush out the extra water. Alcohol is another theory. As a diuretic, drinking hard alcohol and staying within your daily calorie allowance could help flush out the water. Some say that carb loading for a day is a good way to get the adipose to release the water. I have tried all three of these with varied results.

The one thing that I know works every time is to stay the course, don’t eat the half of a Supreme pizza, and just allow the adipose to do their thing. If you are continually creating a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. Don’t let water retention prevent you from reaching your goals. Understand it, accept it, and wait it out. You can do this.

Weight Loss 101 - Pitfalls - Eating Out

It happens to all of us when we are dieting. We just know we’re making the right choices. We choose healthy foods. We drink our water. We measure and we weigh our portions. We do everything that we’re supposed to do. On weigh in day, when we step on the scale… It hasn’t moved. The feeling of disappointment, frustration, and even anger creeps in and the thought of failure eats away at us. Why? Why is this happening to me? There are several reasons that the weight may not drop off of us as expected. Today in the second post in the series “Weight Loss 101”, I will discuss one of the pitfalls of dieting. Eating out.

My best friend celebrated his birthday last night. Several of us gathered at Buffalo Wild Wings, his favorite restaurant, to enjoy dinner together. Although I was eating out and celebrating, I was determined to stay on track. I decided against alcohol and I ordered an unsweetened tea at zero calories and declined sweetener (yeah, I have this down pat). The waitress brought out menus and I immediately opened mine to the salad section. My eyes scanned the selection of salads on the menu, but then something caught my eye. At the bottom of the description of each salad, right there next to the price, was the calorie count.

Honey BBQ Chicken Salad 1320 – 1440 CAL

Santa Fe Salad 1320 1440 CAL

Chicken Caesar Salad 720 CAL

Buffalo Chicken Salad 1090 – 1200 CAL

Garden Chicken Salad 800 – 1240 CAL

Seven Hells, Ned! The Big Jack Daddy burger is 1250 calories! I’d be better off having that than a couple of the salads listed above. My calorie allowance for the entire DAY is 1280! Since when is a salad so calorie dense? What the hell am I going to eat?

I decided to look around the menu for something a little lighter on the calorie end. I remember having a veggie plate there a few years ago there. I looked for that in the appetizer section. Ahhh. There it is. The Garden Crasher. The plate contains pita bread, hummus and tzatziki sauce, kalamata olives, carrots, celery, red peppers, and cucumbers. THAT would be a good choice, right? WRONG. A quick glance at the calorie count revealed 1310 calories – still more than the burger (What the f*@& is in the pita and the hummus?).

I started searching the menu again. This time, I wasn’t looking at the food, but the calories. I finally settled on the most unsuspecting item. I decided on fried popcorn shrimp. Depending on the choice of sauce, the calorie count was 500 – 790. I chose the cocktail sauce, which made my total for the meal only 500 calories, the lowest calorie item on the menu.

Who would have thought a salad would be two to three times higher in calories than popcorn shrimp? I know that at other restaurants I’ve chosen the salad every single time. At what cost? I usually log a salad at a restaurant at around 500 calories by doing a mental calorie count in my head. How many times have I eaten at 1500 calorie salad and gone over my daily allowance by 1000 calories? Going out to eat even twice a week and doing that each time nets a 2000 calorie surplus. That is almost a whole pound!

My point is, that when you are logging your calories each day, make sure you have an accurate calorie count on your items. Not all restaurants list their calories on the menu. Take a minute to look them up online and see if you can find the calorie count there. Think twice about ordering that salad. Sometimes you’re better off having fried shrimp, the cheese sticks, or even the Big Jack Daddy burger.