UNDERSTANDING WEIGHT LOSS PLATEAUS: IS YOUR BODY CONSERVING ENERGY?

“I have tried so many diets. I lose weight at first, but then I get stuck before reaching my goal. What am I doing wrong?”

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I have lost count of how many times I have heard this.

I also know what it feels like.

When I was 15, I tried an extreme diet that was said to be used when patients needed to lose weight quickly before heart surgery. I ate fewer than 800 calories a day and followed a very limited list of foods.

In one month, I lost seven kilograms.

I also felt terrible.

My anxiety was extremely high, I had very little energy, and, at the time, I did not yet know that I had Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.

As soon as I returned to eating normally, most of the weight came back. There was also a cabbage and celery soup involved. To this day, I cannot tolerate either of them in soup.

Years later, I tried the same diet again. I prepared two liters of that soup, ate one portion, and became instantly sick.

My body remembered before my mind was ready to admit it.

Never again.

Today, I understand that the problem was not a lack of discipline. My body was responding to extreme restriction in the way the human body is designed to respond: by protecting survival.

That is one of the strange contradictions of dieting. We often believe the body is resisting us, when in fact it may be trying very hard to keep us safe.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE BODY RECEIVES TOO LITTLE ENERGY?

The body needs a constant supply of energy to keep the brain, heart, organs, and tissues working.

When food becomes severely limited, it first uses glycogen, the carbohydrate stored in the liver and muscles. Once those stores begin to fall, the body increases its use of fat for energy.

If severe restriction continues, the body starts conserving energy more carefully. It may slow processes that are not essential for immediate survival and direct more resources towards keeping vital organs functioning.

The body is very good at prioritizing.

Unfortunately, its priorities may not always match ours. You may be thinking about a number on the scales. Your body may be thinking about keeping your heart beating, your brain functioning, and enough energy available to get through the day.

This can affect how you feel and how well your body works.

COMMON SIGNS OF PROLONGED UNDER-EATING MAY INCLUDE:

• persistent tiredness

• weakness and poor recovery

• feeling cold

• difficulty concentrating

• mood changes

• constipation

• hair loss

• changes to the menstrual cycle

In more severe cases, the body may also break down muscle tissue to obtain the building blocks it needs to produce energy.

This is why extreme dieting can affect far more than the number on the scales.

The scales may be the most visible part of the process, but they are rarely the whole story.

Is this “starvation mode”?

The phrase "starvation mode" is often used to describe the body’s response to prolonged and severe calorie restriction. True starvation is a serious medical condition caused by extreme lack of nutrition. Most people following an ordinary weight-loss diet are not in clinical starvation. However, the body can still respond protectively when energy intake remains too low for too long.

It may reduce the amount of energy available for movement, recovery, temperature regulation, hormone production, and other functions. In simple terms, the body becomes more careful about how it spends energy.

Think of it as an internal budget review.

When resources become scarce, the body starts asking, "What is essential right now, and what can wait?"

Hair growth can wait. Reproductive function can wait. Feeling energetic and mentally sharp may also move further down the list.

This does not mean weight loss becomes physically impossible. It means the process may slow, while the effects of restriction become increasingly difficult to tolerate.

You may find yourself eating very little, feeling exhausted and making little progress.

That is not a sign that you need to punish your body further. It may be a sign that your body has already been asked to give too much. Eating less is not always the answer. When weight loss slows, the immediate response is often to cut more food.

Less bread. Less fat. Smaller portions. Another meal removed. At some point, “being good” can quietly become “not eating enough.” But if the body is already struggling with insufficient energy, reducing calories again may lead to more fatigue, more muscle loss, and a plan that becomes impossible to sustain.

The question should not be

“How little can I eat?”

It should be:

“What is happening in my body, and why has the process changed?”

This is often the moment when the conversation around weight needs to become more intelligent. Not stricter. Not louder. More intelligent. A plateau is not always evidence that you have failed.

Sometimes it is evidence that the body has adapted to the conditions it has been given.

Understanding that response allows us to stop blaming the person and start looking at the biology.

Because the body is not a disobedient machine. It is a living system, constantly responding, adjusting, and trying to maintain stability.

In the next article, I will explain adaptive thermogenesis, the process through which the body can reduce its energy expenditure during weight loss, and why the same diet may gradually stop producing the same result.