Explain about the plateau effect - Energy Balance?
You must have noticed that when people start following weight reducing diets, they lose weight rapidly in the beginning, then a little slowly and finally a plateau is reached when they no longer lose weight. Initially, glycogen stores (sugar stored in liver) are mobilized which is accompanied by a corresponding loss of water. Then, as weight is lost, it results in loss of extra muscle which was developed to support the extra adipose tissue. Loss of lean body mass reduces the RMR rapidly so that on a given diet, the energy deficit is reduced and the rate of weight loss slows down. Weight loss stops at this point unless a change is made either in nutritional intake or physical activity. This fact has been hypothesized as "set-point theory".