Blog / The 3 Biological Stages of Fat Loss (And Why You Keep Quitting at Stage 2)
The 3 Biological Stages of Fat Loss (And Why You Keep Quitting at Stage 2)
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Author: Joey Yochheim | Founder & Head Coach of Victory Fitness Company.
Published January 13, 2026
Table of Contents
Stage 1: The Honeymoon Phase
The Reality Behind the Initial Drop
How to Handle the Honeymoon Phase
Stage 2: The Grind (The Make-or-Break Phase)
What is Metabolic Adaptation?
Stage 3: The Lifestyle Phase
Your Road Map to Success
WHO IS JOEY YOCHHEIM?
Joey Yochheim is the founder of Victory Fitness Company. He is considered one of the top online fitness coaches for high-performing business owners and has the resume to back it. Joey has consistently demonstrated his expertise whether it be through his proprietary "FOS Method" that creates permanent body transformation, as well as his evidence-based approach to training and nutrition that's built on the most up-to-date scientific research and real-world application after personally coaching 1,200+ clients. He's trusted by six, seven and eight-figure entrepreneurs who refuse to sacrifice their health for their success, and has helped clients lose over 10,000 pounds collectively while building sustainable systems that last a lifetime.
Medical Disclaimer: The information and services provided by Joey Yochheim & Victory Fitness Company LLC are for informational and educational purposes only and are not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Our staff are not medical professionals, registered dietitians, or licensed healthcare providers. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately.
Let me guess. You start a new diet, and week one is always amazing. You’re fired up, motivated, and the scale is dropping every single day. Week two is okay, but then somewhere around week three or four, the progress on the scale slows down or stops moving altogether. You feel tired, you're hungry all the time, and you start to wonder, "What's the point?" And then you quit.
If that cycle sounds familiar, I need you to listen to me very carefully. The reason you’ve failed and this continues to happen is because nobody has ever told you about the three unavoidable biological stages of fat loss. Every single person who loses a significant amount of weight goes through these three phases. But 90% of people quit in the middle of stage two because they don't see it coming and they think they've done something wrong.
Today, I'm going to give you the road map. I'm going to walk you through exactly what to expect, why it happens, and what to do to push through the inevitable weight loss plateau and finally achieve a permanent, sustainable transformation. Let's get into it.
Stage 1: The Honeymoon Phase
I call this the honeymoon phase because this is when everything feels easy and the reality of a long-term transformation has yet to set in. You've got your calories dialed in, you're hitting your workouts, and the scale is rewarding you for it. You might drop three, five, or even seven pounds in the first week alone, which is incredibly encouraging
The Reality Behind the Initial Drop
But here's the reality check: that dramatic initial drop in weight is not all from fat. In fact, most of it isn't fat at all. When you first go into a calorie deficit, your body's primary source of fuel is its stored carbohydrates, which are called glycogen. For every one gram of glycogen your body stores, it also stores about three to four grams of water along with it, effectively making it a sponge.
So, when you burn through that glycogen in the first week or two, you're also flushing out all of that stored water. That's where that big, fast drop on the scale comes from. This is the infamous "water weight" trap. This is how those "Lose 10 lbs in 7 Days" challenges get you—they're selling you a water loss honeymoon phase and pretending it's real, sustainable fat loss.
How to Handle the Honeymoon Phase
My actionable advice for stage one is simple: enjoy it. Let that initial drop build your psychological momentum. But you have to go into it knowing with 100% certainty that this rate of progress will not last. It is going to slow down, and you need to be mentally prepared for when it does, because that's when the real work begins.
To illustrate this, think about my personal strength progress. When I started lifting weights around 14 years old, I went from squatting under 100 lbs to 315 lbs within three years—a 70 lb gain per year. To get from 315 to 405 took another three years, slowing to a 30 lb gain per year. And to get from 405 to 455 took another three years, a rate of only 15 lbs per year. Your goal isn't to squat 400+ pounds, but the story illustrates the law of diminishing returns: the closer you get to your goal, the slower progress becomes.
Stage 2: The Grind (The Make-or-Break Phase)
This is where the grind of a fitness journey occurs, and it's where 90% of people quit. This usually kicks in around week four and can last for a couple of months. It's the phase where you are still doing everything right, but the scale has slowed dramatically or stopped moving entirely. This is the classic weight loss plateau.
This isn't in your head, and it's not because you lost your willpower. It's a predictable biological response from your body called metabolic adaptation.
What is Metabolic Adaptation?
Your body is a survival machine. It doesn't know you're trying to look good for vacation; it just knows that food is more scarce and it's losing weight. It perceives this as a threat and fights back to keep you alive. It gets smarter and more efficient, starting to burn fewer calories than we would expect for your new, lower body weight. This is your metabolism literally adapting and slowing down to conserve energy.
But that's not all. Your body then launches a two-fold hormonal attack on your appetite:
1. It cranks up ghrelin, your primary hunger hormone. You literally start to feel hungrier more often.
2. It tanks your levels of leptin, your fullness and satiety hormone. So, not only are you hungrier, but you also feel less full and satisfied after you eat.
A landmark study in the New England Journal of Medicine followed people for a year after weight loss and found that these hormonal changes—increased hunger and decreased fullness—were not only real but persisted for the long haul. Your body is actively fighting to get back to its old weight. It's a natural response.
So, you're burning fewer calories, you're hungrier, and you feel less full. It's obvious why people quit here. They think their plan is broken or that their body is broken. But it's a normal, predictable phase. It's a test, and it can be passed.
How to Break Through the Weight Loss Plateau
So, how do we beat it? Here are three critical strategies:
1. Stop relying on the scale alone. Your weight will fluctuate from water, salt intake, stress, and hundreds of other factors. Start tracking non-scale victories. Are your clothes fitting better? Do you have more energy? Are you lifting heavier in the gym? These are real needle-movers that prove your body is still changing for the better.
2. Focus on high protein and resistance training. This is your insurance policy against regaining the weight. Building and maintaining muscle keeps your metabolism elevated and helps you avoid the "skinny fat" physique. Studies show a direct correlation between muscle mass lost during a diet and weight regained afterward. The more muscle you lose, the more weight you are likely to gain back.
3. Implement recurring diet breaks. This is a more advanced tip, but you can intentionally take one day every 10-14 days to eat at your maintenance calories (your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or TDEE). This can help temporarily normalize those hunger hormones and give you a much-needed psychological break before getting back into a deficit.
Sometimes, the solution is even less obvious. My client, Kim, lost 11 lbs in her first month (Stage 1), then hit a wall, losing only 4 lbs over the next two months (Stage 2). It wasn't until she got a sleep study and discovered she had sleep apnea that we found the culprit. Shortly after getting a CPAP machine, she went on to lose another 21 pounds in the following three months. In her case, investigating her sleep—which is key for metabolic and hormonal health—was what unlocked her breakthrough.
Stage 3: The Lifestyle Phase
If you can navigate the grind of stage two, you earn your way to stage three: the lifestyle phase. This is where motivation is mostly gone and a new, powerful force takes over: your habits. You are no longer "on a diet" or "on a workout plan." You're just a person who eats well and exercises.
You've moved from the temporary state of losing weight to the permanent identity of being a healthy, lean, active person. In my opinion, this should be the entire goal of your transformation in the first place.
Why Habits and Identity Are the True Goal
Data from the National Weight Control Registry, a database of thousands of people who have lost significant weight and kept it off for years, shows that the single biggest predictor of long-term success is deeply ingrained healthy habits.
Furthermore, there is no sense in viewing health as a short-term priority. It is a key pillar of your life as a human being and has a direct impact on your length and quality of life. If you are ready to make a change, I encourage you to start thinking not just, "How can I make this transformation?" but, "How can I sustain the results of it forever?"
The sobering reality is that stage three never really ends. And that's not a bad thing. If you do this properly by changing your habits and your identity at its core, stage three is true freedom. It's where you have the skills to navigate holidays, vacations, and stressful periods with work. You've achieved fitness autonomy—you own your health instead of your health owning you. This is one of the four core pillars of the FOS Method, and it's what separates temporary transformations from permanent ones. And that is what you should be fighting for.
Your Road Map to Success
Let's recap the journey:
Stage 1: The Honeymoon. It's exciting, but it's mostly temporary progress from water weight. Enjoy the momentum but prepare for the slowdown.
Stage 2: The Grind. This is the real biological test where your body fights back against a weight loss plateau. It's where most people fail if they don't have a sustainable mindset and strategy.
Stage 3: The Lifestyle. This is the freedom you earn by building the proper habits in stage two, leading to a permanent identity shift.
Understanding this road map is the first step to finally breaking the yo-yo cycle that has kept you stuck.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joey Yochheim is the founder of Victory Fitness Company. He is considered one of the top online fitness coaches for high-performing business owners and has the resume to back it. Joey has consistently demonstrated his expertise whether it be through his proprietary "FOS Method" that creates permanent body transformation, as well as his evidence-based approach to training and nutrition that's built on the most up-to-date scientific research and real-world application after personally coaching 1,200+ clients. He's trusted by six, seven and eight-figure entrepreneurs who refuse to sacrifice their health for their success, and has helped clients lose over 10,000 pounds collectively while building sustainable systems that last a lifetime.
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