Tips for Breaking a Weight Loss Plateau

balfonso

Hitting that plateau is very frustrating. I read this article so I thought I'd share this, and perhaps it might help those who are in this "weight limbo".

ARTICLE:

Nothing is quite as frustrating as hitting a weight loss plateau. For awhile everything is going great…the pounds are falling off, your pants are getting looser and then suddenly you stop losing weight even though you are doing everything the same as before.

It’s like your body gets greedy with the extra weight and starts clinging onto it as hard as it can. Bummer.
Why does this happen? Well, it’s actually your body’s way of trying to protect itself. Your body notices that you are losing weight and starts to panic a little. “Gosh, if they keep losing weight like this eventually they are going to starve to death!” So in an attempt at self preservation, your well-meaning body goes into something called “starvation mode”.

Essentially, what this means is that in order to keep you from starving your body slows down the rate at which you burn calories, trying to hold onto as many as it can to keep you alive.

So What Can You Do to Break a Weight Loss Plateau?

The human body is incredibly efficient. It is constantly adapting and adjusting itself to fit with how we live.
For instance, if you do the same exercise routine every single day, eventually your body will become used to it and adjust so that it can do it in the most efficient way possible.

Likewise, if you always eat the same number of calories each day, eventually your body will adjust itself to burn that amount of calories.

What that means is that in order to break a weight loss plateau, you have to mix things up a bit and keep your body guessing. If it doesn’t know what’s coming next it won’t have time to adjust and as a result you will be able to continue to lose weight.

If you’ve hit a weight loss plateau and can’t seem to lose any more weight even though you are still sticking with your diet and exercise plan, here are some things you can try to break through it and start losing again.


VARY YOUR CALORIE INTAKE

Instead of eating the same number of calories each day, vary it from day to day or week to week. Eat more calories some days and fewer calories other days. Just be sure that all the calories that you are eating are coming from healthy food and not from junk food.
Doing this can help keep your body from slowing down your metabolism. If it doesn’t know how many calories you “normally” eat it won’t be able to adjust itself to burn fewer.


TRY A NEW EXERCISE PROGRAM

If you’ve been doing the same exercise routine for a period of time, try something new. For instance, if you always jog 20 minutes a day, try swimming 20 minutes a day instead. Or, if you always do cardiovascular exercise like running, walking, riding a bike or jumping rope, try adding some strength training.
Mix up your workout from week to week to prevent your body from becoming overly efficient at it so that you can burn the most calories possible during your workout.


TRY ADDING INTERVALS TO YOUR WORKOUT

Using intervals is one of the most effective ways to burn a lot of calories while you are working out. Essentially, what it means is that you work out a normal level for a period of time, then kick it up a notch and work out harder for a few minutes, then go back to normal, etc.
So for instance, if you walk for exercise, you could add intervals to your walks. Try using a scale system to rate the effort level of your workout. On a scale of 1-10, level 1 might be laying on the couch watching TV while level 10 would be working out as hard as you possibly can.
For your walk, you might try walking the first 5 minutes at about a level 5 effort, then kick it up to a level 8 for a couple of minutes, then return to a level 5. Keep varying the intensity of your workout. As you do you’ll see a big increase in how many calories you burn.


EAT SMALL, FREQUENT MEALS

Instead of eating 3 large meals a day, break your meals down into 5-6 smaller, more frequent meals.
Essentially, anything you can do to mix things up a bit and keep your body guessing as to what you might do next will probably help you break through the plateau and start losing weight again.
Just remember to always keep your food intake healthy, and check with a doctor before starting any new exercise routine to make sure you are up for it.
Also, a lot of people find that if they just stick it out on their current weight loss program they will start losing weight again a few weeks after they hit a plateau. The downside to waiting, though, is that it is really easy to lose motivation when you stop seeing results.
However, if you want you can try waiting it out. If not, try a few of the tips above and see if they help you break it more quickly.


Also another article that may help is Ways to speed up metabolism.

http://www.nowloss.com/ways-to-speed-up-metabolism-naturally-to-burn-fat-faster.htm

aippolito1

Yep! I did all this and it worked! :happy: I increased from 1200 base calories and eating about 3/4 exercise calories to 1400 base calories and eating 100% of my exercise calories. I doubled up on cardio (running in the morning, walk after strength routine at night - 3x/week) and made my strength routine SOLELY with weights and used heavier weights... was using only 5s. Now I'm using 5s, 8s, and 10s. After a few weeks for my body to get used to it, I finally lost weight!

hooah_mj

You read my mind....thx for the great article, I will implement so much of it.

Tomorrow is a new and potentially awesome day

GiGi76

bumping for later!!! :bigsmile:

Allibaba

Thanks for sharing!

tcac

bump

hiddensecant

Th stuff in the article helped me in the past. But the thing that finally broke me out of my last one was reducing my sugar intake to 15g or less.

Beleau

Thanks for sharing

B

antiadipose

good post! thx.

i really wanna vary my calories... im gna try that!

sandara

Thanks for the information. I need this right now. I'm going to try splitting up my workouts a bit and try adding a short workout in the mornings. When I first started I worked out a lot in the morning and now I rarely do. Also gonna try some of the other stuff mentioned. I'm still losing but very, very slowly. I need to rev it up a little bit before I get discouraged and give up.

losingnow

I just hit a plateau for like the last few weeks. I was really bummed till I read your article. I started some of this this last week so maybe it will take a little while to see the pounds come off!

AllisonMO

Very helpful--especially the advice on changing food patterns and eating a bit more.

StuAblett

I knew that stuff, heck I've been on diets all my life, but it was a wake up call to hear it again, thanks for posting that!

SallyCC

Thanks for the ideas. It was great to read about positive experiences using some of the ideas from the article.

fatbegone2010

Bump!!

jillcwhite

Right now I am working out a lot and my body has gotten used to it where I hit a plateau. My problem is that the hours I am working out isn't practical for long term. Am I going to gain weight if I dont keep up the hours I am working out now?? I do a variety of exercises cardio, weight training, biking, yoga & pilates, but it is a scheduled work out that stays the same every week.

I will try to eat different calories a day, which worries me somewhat because I dont want to gain weight.

My goal is to get to my goal weight and maintain with calorie counting & an exercise routine that works.

Great article and I wish everyone good luck on getting through the plateau.

StuAblett

Right now I am working out a lot and my body has gotten used to it where I hit a plateau. My problem is that the hours I am working out isn't practical for long term. Am I going to gain weight if I dont keep up the hours I am working out now?? I do a variety of exercises cardio, weight training, biking, yoga & pilates, but it is a scheduled work out that stays the same every week.

I will try to eat different calories a day, which worries me somewhat because I dont want to gain weight.

My goal is to get to my goal weight and maintain with calorie counting & an exercise routine that works.

Great article and I wish everyone good luck on getting through the plateau.

All good questions Jill!

If I may, I'll share my thoughts with you, I'm not saying these are the correct answers, please take what I have to say with a grain of salt, I'm no doctor etc.

I've been thinking about this topic for a while after reading the article, and I think what I'm going to do, to keep my body guessing is to look at week's worth of calories, not just s days worth. I'm on a 1500 calorie a day diet, so in seven days that is 10,500 calories. What I plan on doing is to some days eat say 1300 calories and some days eat 1800 calories, and try to keep my weekly total at 10500. Will it work? I'll let you know :bigsmile:

Now I have to point out that I would not want to try to live on 500 calories a day for six days and then pig out on 7500 calories on one day, that, would be just simply unhealthy. I would say that if you know, for example, you have to attend a birthday party on Saturday, that on Thursday and Friday, try to eat say 1300 calories, then you have saved up 400 calories, that way you can have a piece of cake etc at the party. (SMALL piece )

I'm also trying to mix up what I eat, some days more healthy proteins, some days more complex carbs etc.

Like I said, I could be dead wrong about this, but 200 calories is only about 13.5% of the 1500 calories a day limit I'm on right now, so I don't think that much variance would be harmful.

Like I said, I'll let you know! :happy:

brown_daniel

I have not reached that stage so far cause I just started my journey to weightloss but If I do get there I know what to do. Great article!