I've been sticking to my diet and exercising regularly, but why has my weight loss suddenly come to a complete halt?
It's common to feel frustrated when the scale stops moving. This is due to 'homeostasis,' where your brain perceives a sudden drop in nutrition as an emergency. To conserve energy, your body slows down its metabolic rate, entering a stage of 'metabolic adaptation.' Your body isn't failing; it's simply resting to protect itself, so try not to worry too much.
Hitting a plateau can lead to self-doubt, but it's important to understand that your body views significant weight loss as a threat to survival. In Western medicine, this is known as 'metabolic adaptation,' where the basal metabolic rate drops to conserve energy. From the perspective of Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM), this phenomenon is often diagnosed as Spleen Deficiency (脾虛) and the accumulation of Phlegm-fluid (痰飮). The Spleen governs digestion and metabolic transformation; when its function is weakened by extreme dieting, metabolic efficiency plummets, and unburned energy remains in the body as waste called 'Phlegm-fluid.' This stagnation blocks the smooth flow of Qi and Blood. If stress is added, it can lead to Blood Stasis (瘀血), causing edema and a stubborn scale. The key to overcoming this stage is not further starvation, but rather tonifying the Spleen Qi (脾氣) to reactivate the metabolic switch and clear out accumulated Phlegm and Stasis. Once your body feels 'safe' and nourished, it will begin burning fat again.
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