Weekly Fitness Education July 28
mo9malone
Posts: 28
Breaking through the Plateau
You’re diligently cutting calories and your workouts have never been more intense. So why does it feel like your body has stopped responding like it did before? When you are trying to get healthy, reaching a fitness or weight loss plateau is inevitable. Don’t be discouraged. Understanding why it happens can be your best ally in breaking through when it does happens.
What is a plateau? A plateau is occurs when despite your best efforts with counting calories and eating a healthier diet your body stops losing weight. In fitness terms, this can happen when you stop improving on your workouts even though you are training harder than ever before.
Why it happens? At the beginning of any weight loss or fitness program, the weight tends to fall off rapidly. This is due to your initial cut in calories and increase physical activity. You are essentially consuming less than what you are expending. As the body recognizes the decrease in calories, it turns to glycogen stores found in the muscles and liver. Glycogen holds onto water so when it is used up, water weight loss will follow – a big reason for that easy initial loss. Eventually as glycogen stores are used up muscle loss also occurs. Because muscle burn more calories than fat, an increase in muscle loss will halt your metabolism – or bring on the dreaded plateau.
How to break through? Once you have recognized you have hit the plateau it is important to reassess your habits. Are you eating the right foods? Are you eating enough? Remember you should never cut your calories below 1,200 if you are a woman and 1,500 if you are a man. Varying your workouts is essential to kick starting your metabolism back up. Try a different sport, increase your time or take shorter rest periods to wake up your body from its normal routine. Getting quality sleep can also break through your plateau by helping the body recover, heal and re-balance itself.
You’re diligently cutting calories and your workouts have never been more intense. So why does it feel like your body has stopped responding like it did before? When you are trying to get healthy, reaching a fitness or weight loss plateau is inevitable. Don’t be discouraged. Understanding why it happens can be your best ally in breaking through when it does happens.
What is a plateau? A plateau is occurs when despite your best efforts with counting calories and eating a healthier diet your body stops losing weight. In fitness terms, this can happen when you stop improving on your workouts even though you are training harder than ever before.
Why it happens? At the beginning of any weight loss or fitness program, the weight tends to fall off rapidly. This is due to your initial cut in calories and increase physical activity. You are essentially consuming less than what you are expending. As the body recognizes the decrease in calories, it turns to glycogen stores found in the muscles and liver. Glycogen holds onto water so when it is used up, water weight loss will follow – a big reason for that easy initial loss. Eventually as glycogen stores are used up muscle loss also occurs. Because muscle burn more calories than fat, an increase in muscle loss will halt your metabolism – or bring on the dreaded plateau.
How to break through? Once you have recognized you have hit the plateau it is important to reassess your habits. Are you eating the right foods? Are you eating enough? Remember you should never cut your calories below 1,200 if you are a woman and 1,500 if you are a man. Varying your workouts is essential to kick starting your metabolism back up. Try a different sport, increase your time or take shorter rest periods to wake up your body from its normal routine. Getting quality sleep can also break through your plateau by helping the body recover, heal and re-balance itself.
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