Women's Health Why Your Diet Stopped Working | Women's Healt

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HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT: POWER THROUGH RUTS
Keep Losing Weight
How to lose pounds when the weight loss suddenly stops and flab is still jiggling
Allison Winn Scotch

You've been eating fewer calories, your trainer is your new BFF, and your body has gotten teenier. But now it seems like you couldn't lose a pound unless you cut your arm off. You've hit the dreaded plateau — a frustratingly common dieting phenomenon. "At a certain point in weight loss, usually after losing about 10 percent of your weight, you may have to tweak your diet and exercise to jump-start your body again," says Susan Mitchell, Ph.D., R.D., co-author of Fat Is Not Your Fate. Here's why you might stall and what you can do to rev back up.

You're eating for 164 (pounds, not people).

Flatline Yeah, losing mass means you look better in your low-riders, but it also means there's less of you to burn calories. It's a cruel truth: Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) — the number of calories your body needs just to exist — gets lower as you get littler. Keep eating for your old weight and you're going to hit a wall.

Finish line As the number on the scale goes down, so too must your food intake. Figure out your BMR by dividing your current weight by 2.2 pounds, then multiplying this number by 0.9, and then by 24. (Or calculate it at bmicalculator.net/bmrcalculator.) Now multiply your BMR by 1.2 and voil: You've got the average number of calories your body burns per day when you factor in normal activities. (Add another 300 to 500 on days you do an hour of moderate to intense exercise.) Once you have your final number, shave off 500 to find out how many calories you need to eat to lose a pound a week, or 300 to lose 2 pounds a month. Just don't ever go below 1,200 a day or you'll run into the problem below.

You're eating for 95.

Flatline Here's the flip side: There's such a thing as eating too little to lose weight. "The body needs a certain number of calories per day to meet minimum metabolic needs, such as cardiovascular function and respiration," Mitchell says. When you're running on empty, your brain sends signals to various organs (like your thyroid), telling them to slow down your metabolism to conserve energy.

Finish line Strategy? Simple: "Increase your calories," Mitchell says. "Many women are afraid to do this because they think they'll gain weight, when actually the body will function more efficiently and they'll start losing again." If you're stuck (and starving), try adding 100 calories a day for 2 weeks.

You could work out in your sleep.

Flatline Been repeating the same moves since you made your New Year's resolutions? You need a kick in your (shrinking) behind. "When your body is used to an exercise, it stops making physiological changes," says Cassandra Forsythe, a nutrition and exercise scientist at the University of Connecticut. Translation: Your bod has become so efficient at doing your current routine that it's burning fewer calories. Want proof? A recent study in the International Journal of Obesity found that runners who didn't increase their mileage gained weight over time.

Finish line Mix it up. "To grow more muscle and keep your metabolic rate high, you have to damage the muscles a little by challenging your body with a different workout," Forsythe says. If you're a treadmill rat, get on the elliptical or bike. If you're hell-bent on the treadmill, up the intensity (by adjusting the speed or incline) every other minute, or work up to a longer run by adding a half mile every couple of weeks. In the weight room, forget those 15 reps you usually do with a 5-pounder: "Decrease the number of reps and increase the weight, using one you can lift only five to eight times," Forsythe says.

You've become an exercise fanatic.

Flatline So you've amped up your workout. Great! Now you have to give your body time to recover. If you don't schedule any downtime, the pounds won't budge. "When you're sore after a workout, it's because you've torn the muscle fiber," explains Angela Corcoran, head of education and corporate development at the American Academy of Personal Training in New York City. "When you rest, the muscle fiber has a chance to heal and comes back more effectively. This drives up metabolism, so you burn more calories at rest."

Finish line Take a day off! Corcoran says she's seen clients lose weight after logging a few days of rest. But this doesn't mean you get a week to lie around watching Lost reruns (nice try): 24 to 48 hours is all your body needs to recover and recharge. Forsythe suggests working out 2 consecutive days followed by a day of rest, taking no more than 3 days off in a row.

Your body balks.

Flatline Like it or not, you have a "set point," Forsythe says — a genetically determined weight where you're most comfortable. To stick to this number and regulate its fat stores, your body uses a gazillion physiological mechanisms, like interactions between hormones and molecules that affect hunger levels. So if you're trying to drop 20 pounds below your set point, you're getting in the ring with Mama Nature: When you don't eat enough to maintain your set point, your body thinks you're starving and "responds by lowering its metabolic rate, which reduces the number of calories you burn," Forsythe says.

Finish line The best way to conquer your set point is to speed up your metabolism with regular exercise — at least 30 minutes of cardio, 5 days a week. It also helps to increase the amount of good fats (such as monounsaturated) and lean protein (think fish and poultry) in your diet — these foods can accelerate your metabolism.

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