In this instructional video, fitness coach Eric Roberts explains the common three‑step pattern that occurs right before a person experiences significant fat loss: an initial weight‑loss stall, a temporary weight‑gain spike, and the subsequent rapid drop known as the “whoosh” effect. He attributes these fluctuations to three physiological factors that add water weight while a person is in a calorie deficit and lifting weights: increased glycogen storage, inflammation from muscle fiber repair, and water retained in newly forming muscle tissue. Roberts uses client stories (Nadia and Joe) to illustrate how the scale can mislead, showing that the apparent lack of progress is often just water masking fat loss. He warns viewers not to quit during the stall or spike, emphasizing that slower weight loss is healthier because muscle gain offsets fat loss on the scale, leading to a better body composition. The video also promotes his free calorie calculator, an 8‑week fat‑loss challenge, and a follow‑up video on belly‑fat loss stages.
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If your weight on the scale went up this week, that might be the best sign you're about to lose a lot of fat. After coaching over 25,000 clients, I've watched the same 3-step pattern play out right before your body finally gets rid of your fat. But most people quit at step 2 days before it happens. Here's the 3-step pattern so you don't miss it. And the first thing your body does usually breaks people. Because it looks exactly like failure. You've been locked in, hitting your calories, doing your workouts, and the scale is going nowhere. A week goes by, 2 weeks goes by, almost a month, and it's the same number within a couple of 0.6 pounds here and there every morning. You step on, step off, and step back on like the scale is going to change its mind. It didn't. So you start doing the math in your head. I'm doing everything right and nothing's happening. Maybe it's my metabolism. Maybe I should eat less calories. It's none of those things. It's what is called the stall, and it's not failure. Here's what's actually going on. When you lift weights in a calorie deficit, your muscles are going to store something called glycogen. Think of glycogen as energy for your muscles. Because now you're lifting, your body says, I need more energy, so it stores more inside, which is a good thing. But this extra glycogen storage also comes along with extra water weight storage. And not to mention, number 2, when you're lifting weights and building muscle, your body is actually going to have inflammation inside of your muscle because you're tearing your muscle fibers down. This is a good thing because that's how you get stronger, more defined muscles. But the inflammation also stores short-term water weight. And last but not least, number 3, building brand new fresh muscle holds extra water while it's being built. So even if fat is leaving your body, water is moving in from those 3 directions to fill the space. So the scale isn't seeing the fat leave, and that's why you're currently stalled. And by the way, if you need to know exactly how many calories you should be eating for your calorie deficit, I have a free calorie calculator you can use in the link below. And here's the part where it gets even more weird, because it's not just about stalling out. Sometimes what happens is your weight actually climbs up. And this is where you step on the scale in the morning and you're up 2 pounds, 3 pounds, 5 pounds, and your stomach drops. You're like, I've been perfect, how did I gain weight? And it's the same reason as before. Even if you are losing fat, that water weight is masking So it won't show up on the number on the scale. And this is the exact moment most people quit, but I need you to listen to me. Think of a dirty sponge under running water. You're kind of scrubbing the sponge and you can see the dirt leaving the sponge. The dirt is your fat, but the whole time the sponge is actually soaking up the water and it's actually getting thicker and more dense. So if you were to pick up the sponge, it actually weighs the same, maybe even more. But a bigger, stronger, more clean sponge is exactly what you wanted and you were trying to do. The scale only weighs the water. It can't see what's happening inside. And this happened to one of my online coaching clients, Nadia, where 5 weeks went by and she did not lose a single pound on the scale. And she emailed me freaking out, Eric, I'm gonna quit. This isn't working. And our client Joe had the same thing happen to him as well, where multiple times during his journey, his weight has either stalled out or spiked up. And both of them, I told the same thing: don't you dare quit. Because all of that water weight your body has been storing, it's gotta dump it at some point. And that's what the scale does next. After weeks of the scale freezing and climbing and fluctuating between the same couple of pounds, One morning you're gonna wake up dejected and pissed off because you think you're not losing any body fat, and you step on the scale and it's down 5 pounds overnight. You think there's something wrong with the scale. You make sure the batteries are correct, but no, you step on again and it's the same 5 pounds down. It's not a glitch. It's not a lie. It's what is called the whoosh effect. All of that water your body was holding on to, the glycogen, the inflammation, the muscle repair, it Finally lets go of it all at once, and when the water is dumped, the fat you have been losing this entire time is suddenly visible on the scale. And the best part is the scale will stay down because the short-term water weight was just covering the fat that was already gone. Remember the sponge we talked about earlier? For weeks, it was just soaking up the water, and then it's like one day you grab it, you squeeze it, and you wring out. Out all of the water weight. What's left in your hand is a lighter, cleaner, and stronger sponge than when you first started. Remember Nadia from earlier? She lost 5 pounds in one night and kept it off forever. And Joe, whenever his weight stalls or spikes, we almost know that in a couple of days he'll drop 3 to 5 pounds overnight and keep it off. So the pattern is You're gonna stall, you're gonna spike, and then you're gonna have the whoosh. The scale's gonna lie to you for weeks before it tells the truth. It's kind of like that toxic ex. And if you quit during the stall or the spike, you'll never get to the whoosh. But here's one more thing I need you to understand, because even if you know this pattern, there's a number that's gonna mess with your head. And if you've ever thought to yourself, I'm losing weight too slow, or I'm not seeing progress fast enough, I'm gonna flip the way you think about that. Because when you're lifting weights in a calorie deficit, your weekly weight loss looks and feels slow, slower than the people you see on social media, slower than your friend who's doing a GLP-1 and lifting no weights. And we're trained to want to see the scale go down as fast as possible. So people end up ditching weightlifting, doing tons of cardio, cutting out their carbs, restricting their calories down to 1,200. And that's the biggest mistake you can make because slower weight loss is better. And let me show you why. When you are losing fat and building muscle, you might lose a pound of fat and then between the glycogen and building new muscle, you'll add close to a pound of muscle. So on the scale, it looks like you barely move, but in the mirror, you will have a completely different body. If you lose the fat without adding the muscle, you get a slower metabolism, lower and decreased bone density, and that soft, flabby, skinny fat look where maybe you lost the weight, but you don't look the way you want to look. So the scale is going to gaslight you if you're trading a pound of fat for a pound of muscle. It's gonna make you think you're not seeing progress, when in reality you are making perfect progress by actually having slower weight loss. So the next time you think it's too slow, don't panic. Don't try to speed it up by dropping calories or cutting out your lifting. The scale matters way less when you understand what's going on inside your body. And if you want me to build this whole thing out for you, your calories, your lifting, check in with you throughout the week to hold you accountable, that's exactly what my 8-week fat loss challenge is for. There'll be a link in the description of the video below to learn more. And now you're probably thinking, okay, Eric, I get it, I'm not gonna quit, but be honest with me, how long is it really gonna take to lose especially my belly fat? Don't worry, I made a video that will give you the exact signs and what stages you are in in terms of losing your belly fat. You can click this video here next to watch that now.
