The Four Stages of Weight Loss

By Ronald C. Wichin, DC

Lifelong Health & Weight Loss

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The Four Stages of Weight Loss

A good weight loss program should have a specific protocol with specific stages. The initial phase is the primary weight loss phase. During this phase, dieters must eat less calories than their body uses during the day.

However, the foods that make up these calories are very important. Eat the wrong foods and you will lose muscle mass and not just fat. In my opinion, the best diet at this stage is low in fat and carbohydrates and provides adequate protein.

Adequate protein means enough protein so that you do not lose any muscle mass. For most people this is gram of protein per pound of lean muscle mass. In order to eat adequate protein but still reduce calories, many programs use engineered protein drinks, bars, soups, etc. Please make sure that the protein shakes and bars you choose are low in carbohydrates. Some bars have 40 to 50 grams of carbohydrates per bar. If you eat these bars you may just burn the sugars in the bars as opposed to your body fat.

If you choose to get your protein from meat, fish, or chicken, realize that your weight loss will be slower because your calorie intake will be higher.

Any diet where you eat under 1,000 calories a day should be done under professional supervision. Many dieters will average two to six pounds of weight loss per week.

Phase two is for those dieters that are using shakes and bars for most of their protein. In this phase, you begin to replace the shakes and bars with real protein. You can use the formula that one ounce of “real” protein gives your body around seven grams of absorbable protein.

So using the gram of protein per pound of lean body mass equation, you can figure out how much protein you need to eat per day. During this phase, you are still restricting carbohydrates and eating low fat. During this stage, you will usually average one to two pounds of weight loss per week.

Phase three begins when you have reached your goal weight. During this phase, you will reintroduce carbohydrates, but only in the morning. This allows your body to slowly get used to digesting the sugars.

For most people, this phase needs to last 14 days. Normally you will not be losing weight at this stage.

Finally, the last phase is the maintenance phase. This stage lasts the rest of your life.

A good maintenance program must be easy to do, allow for all food groups, include a “free” day and, most importantly, have a plan to recover from the “free” day.

During this stage, you must monitor your weight. If the scale shows five pounds over your goal, take action. Do not let five pounds become 10, 20, 30 or more.