Plateau and Random Weight Gain

Ok, I know you are stressing. You have hit a plateau and don’t think you will ever lose weight again.

That or you are slowly gaining weight and have stopped losing altogether…

Or even a combination of both.

It’s ok, calm down. It’s all good.

This is my weight graph. Just a couple months of my weight loss journey, you can see from this picture that there are ups, downs, stagnant periods. It's all over the place, but eventually it goes DOWN!

You have no idea how many plateaus Prawn and I have hit on this diet. Yes, it’s frustrating. But the diet works and eventually, you will lose weight.

The longest plateau Prawn ever hit was a whopping 5 weeks long. 5 weeks of not losing any weight, and he weighed himself every day. So difficult to stay on the diet when it gets to that point, but you have to stick with it, this is your health we are talking about.

Generally for the first couple months you shouldn’t hit a serious plateau. This 5 week long monstrosity happened between the 6^th and 7^th month of our dieting.

Usually plateaus throughout the diet will last at max a week. Don’t be discouraged and don’t cheat. It’s normal. You can’t lose weight every day, even though you might desperately want to.

Why Do Plateaus & Random Weight Gains Happen?

There are probably 100 reasons why your weight might fluctuate, or why you might have stopped losing. Based on my experience with the diet I can narrow it down to a few more common reasons:

1.       Dairy. I don’t know why but even the non-fat no sugar added dairy can kill a next morning weigh in. If you are stuck in a long plateau I would recommend cutting out dairy completely. Eating more than 2 of those little yogurt tubs a day is a common reason for next morning weight gains.

2.       You accidentally ate something not allowed on the diet. Sounds silly. I mean, you control what goes in your mouth, how can you ‘accidentally’ cheat? An example of this is deli roast beef, which Prawn and I were certain you could eat on the diet. In my mind, where Dr Dukan says Roast Beef, he meant even the deli kind. This is not true; it is much fattier than an actual roast. The next day Matt and I both gained weight, after doing our research, turns out we had not been allowed the deli roast beef after all, accidentally cheating. So make sure, If you gain weight to look closely at what you at the day before.

3.       Sometimes it just happens! Your body is thrown for a loop on this diet. Fluctuations in your weight happen, you lose weight and your body compensates the next day. Your body reacts weirdly to certain food. For instance, you are allowed extra lean ground beef on this diet, but I know for me personally, every time I eat extra lean ground beef, the next day I gain weight. Just watch for stuff like that.

 Ok, I’m Sick of This Plateau & Want to Quit the Diet

 Before you quit, I suggest doing a mini attack phase (phase 1), I did this to break a month-long plateau and it worked. It wasn’t as effective as the first attack phase I did, but it definitely worked.

 You could also start working out, incorporate exercise into your diet, to boost your weight loss.

 No Really, I’m Quitting the Diet, Now What?

 Ok, I really suggest you stick with it, but if you REALLY cannot handle it and want to quit the diet you can only go at it one way. You can’t quit cold turkey and go back to eating regularly because you will gain back the weight. You need to go onto phase 3 of the diet, do it for 5 days for every pound you did lose. Maybe try again once you have given your body a break.

 Good luck getting through this, I know it’s tough.

 xo