<i>Do you happen to know (I don&#x27;t) if &quot;caloric uptake&quot; specifically has been studied closely?</i><p>No - I also don&#x27;t know. I haven&#x27;t seen it mentioned, but I also haven&#x27;t seen reports about the amount of calories absorbed by the body change for no reason at all. So I&#x27;m not completely discarding the possibility, but I would like to see some studies and at least an attempt of explaining what might cause it.<p><i>The only logical explanation I can think of is a massive short term change in caloric extraction.</i><p>I can come up with some more:
1. The water retention, or the so-called &quot;woosh effect&quot;<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bodyrecomposition.com&#x2F;fat-loss&#x2F;of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bodyrecomposition.com&#x2F;fat-loss&#x2F;of-whooshes-and-sq...</a><p><i>What’s going on?  Back during my college days, one of my professors threw out the idea that after fat cells had been emptied of stored triglyceride, they would temporarily refill with water (glycerol attracts water, which might be part of the mechanism).  So there would be no immediate change in size, body weight or appearance. Then, after some time frame, the water would get dropped, the fat cells would shrink.  A weird way of looking at it might be that the fat loss suddenly becomes ‘apparent’.</i><p>Now this article is not rich with links to science, so take it with a grain of salt.<p>2. As you lose weight, your caloric requirements naturally go down. So to remain in deficit, you have, unfortunately, revise your targets down from time to time, otherwise you reach balance and stop losing.<p>3. Somewhat related is the decrease in NEAT - Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. In short, you tend to be less active when you are in caloric deficit, and may not consciously notice it. Sorry for the same source again, it happens that this guy writes a lot on the subject.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bodyrecomposition.com&#x2F;fat-loss&#x2F;the-energy-balance-equation.html&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bodyrecomposition.com&#x2F;fat-loss&#x2F;the-energy-balance...</a><p><i>For example, say you put yourself through 500 calories of hard activity but, due to fatigue, you sit on the couch more later that night, burning 300 calories less than you expended before training.  The supposed 500 calorie deficit you’re creating is really only 200 calories because your SPA&#x2F;NEAT has adjusted itself.    You might expect one pound per week fat loss but the deficit is actually less than half of that</i><p>The whole article is a very good summary on the mathematics of weight&#x2F;fat loss.