Has anyone dealt with how to properly track progress?

Dr.NateNeph said:

Genuine plateaus happen too, and the mechanism is metabolic adaptation plus a smaller body.

Saving this. It is the first explanation that did not require me to already understand it. Printing the relevant bit and taking it with me.

Adding the clinical framing, because it changes how the question reads. The distinction that resolves most of these threads is between what is true on average and what is true for one person. Both are real; they answer different questions and get quoted as if they were the same one.

Dr.RaviCardio said:

Worth answering the question that was asked rather than the one behind it.

I read this differently. The confidence in this thread is running ahead of the evidence, and I would rather the uncertainty were stated than smoothed over because it is unsatisfying.

Adding the numbers, since they settle part of this. The boring version of this is the one that works, and the boring version is: measure a baseline, change one variable, wait, measure again under the same conditions. Nobody wants that answer and it is still the answer.

That is the short version; the long version is somebody else's post.

Moderator note: reminder that nothing in this thread is medical advice, and that clinical claims need a source.