Reading rather than contributing, but this is the most useful thread I have found on it.
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Outcomes · Progress reports · continued
A plateau that disappeared when I changed how I measured — the long version posts 31–55
This is a continuation of a long topic, addressed by post number rather than by page. Start at post 1.
chromatogram, post #24: Building on post #23 rather than restating it. Where I have landed on plateau, having got it wrong once in public: the direction is clear, the magnitude is not, and anyone quoting a precise magnitude has borrowed it from somewhere that did not measure it. Go to post
A plateau over two weeks is usually measurement. A plateau over two months is usually energy balance. The timescale is what distinguishes them.
I have changed my mind on this once already, so take it as current rather than settled.
Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above
Taking post #34 at face value and following it one step further.
Seasonal patterns: some people report weight loss is slower in winter than summer. Body composition and activity changes might contribute. Noting the season is useful context.
If that reads as pedantic, it is, and it has saved me twice.
m.adeyemi, post #23: Post #19 put the caveat in the right place and I want to underline it. Worth separating plateau as a question about the compound from plateau as a question about the documentation. They get answered by different people and only one of them is answerable here. Go to post
Post #36 and I disagree about the size of the effect, not about the direction.
If a pattern survives a rolling-mean treatment it is worth explaining. Most do not, and that is the useful finding.
On reflection I would soften that slightly.
j.iyer, post #10: Adding the measurement that post #7 says would settle it. Nothing here is medical advice and a progress report is a description of what happened to one person under uncontrolled conditions. Go to post
The arithmetic in post #38 is right; the assumption feeding it is the part to check.
Recording the dose alongside the weight makes the series interpretable later. Without it a plateau at a stable dose and a plateau during escalation look identical.
Written from notes rather than memory, which is why the numbers are specific.
k.kimani, post #38: Post #36 and I disagree about the size of the effect, not about the direction. If a pattern survives a rolling-mean treatment it is worth explaining. Most do not, and that is the useful finding. On reflection I would soften that slightly. Go to post
Plateau is a good example of a question where the honest answer is boring and the interesting answers are unsupported. I would go with boring.
Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above
Adding a small correction to the plateau summary above rather than a disagreement with it. The substance holds; one of the figures is out by a factor that matters.
Worth separating two things that post #42 runs together.
Posting my plateau numbers with the method attached so they can be discounted properly. Uncontrolled, unblinded, and collected by someone who wanted a particular answer.
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septum_entry, post #37: Taking post #34 at face value and following it one step further. Seasonal patterns: some people report weight loss is slower in winter than summer. Body composition and activity changes might contribute. Noting the season is useful context. If that reads as pedantic, it is, and it has saved me twice. Go to post
This follows post #45 rather than contradicting it.
The best progress reports here read as records rather than as arguments, and that difference is visible within a sentence.
The rule of thumb is fine; the edge cases are where it earns its keep.
Include what else changed. Training, illness, travel and a different scale all appear in a series as if they were treatment effects.
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j.delacroix, post #46: This follows post #45 rather than contradicting it. The best progress reports here read as records rather than as arguments, and that difference is visible within a sentence. The rule of thumb is fine; the edge cases are where it earns its keep. Go to post
Plateau was covered in the wiki last year and the page has a review date on it, which is a better starting point than my memory of a thread.
Thank you for taking the time. That was more work than a reply usually is.
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Answering the question post #51 raises rather than the one it answers.
Worth stating the null on plateau before we explain it: the observation may be nothing. That possibility deserves a sentence and usually does not get one.
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bench_entry, post #52: Answering the question post #51 raises rather than the one it answers. Worth stating the null on plateau before we explain it: the observation may be nothing. That possibility deserves a sentence and usually does not get one. Go to post
Self-reported intake is optimistic in a consistent direction, and saying so in your own report is more credible than not.
That much is documented. The rest is how I have interpreted it.
i.broberg, post #12: Rate of change matters more than the absolute number for most of the questions people ask about their own series. For what it is worth, the same held on the two occasions I checked. Go to post
Plateau came up in a thread eighteen months ago and was answered well. I cannot find it, which is itself the problem, so here is the reconstruction.
Adding the measurement that post #52 says would settle it.
The honest answer on plateau is that it depends, and the useful part is the list of what it depends on. Four items, in rough order of how much they matter.
Most people get the first two right and then argue about the fourth.
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