A Guide to Breaking the Weight Loss Plateau
There are two types of plateaus that occur. The first plateau is
the short plateau, lasting 2 weeks to 4 weeks. The short plateau is the kind
that all active "dieters" run into throughout their weight loss
efforts. It is not necessary to make adjustments for this type of plateau,
because your body is simply re-adjusting to your new weight. Over time (2-4
weeks) you will naturally start losing weight again, as long as you continue
your healthy diet and exercise program. Patience is all you need to get past a
short plateau.
The second type of plateau is the long-term plateau, which lasts
for longer than 4 weeks. If you go for more than 4 weeks without losing weight,
AND you are continually following a nutritious diet and exercise program (in
short, you are doing everything perfectly), then you need to make some changes.
A plateau lasting for longer than 4 weeks is because you are no longer asking
your body to go beyond its point of comfort. Let me explain this further: When
you first start a new way of eating and a new exercise program, everything is a
total shock to your body. All of a sudden you are filling the body with good
healthy food full of nutrients, and you are pushing your body so that it
responds to physical activity. You burn a high number of calories because it
requires a ton of effort just to do simple exercise. Over time, you adjust and
become more efficient at exercise, and it no longer requires the same amount of
calories that it once did. If you do not change your activity, and continue to
eat the same amount of food, you will eventually stop losing weight. The same
principle applies to food. If you cut your calories down to 1500 per day, and
lost 15 pounds this way, your new weight may use that 1500 calories for
maintenance now, rather than weight loss. It's as simple as calories in =
calories out.
So how do you break out of this long-term plateau? There are
several things you can try, but the most important hing to remember is CHANGE.
Any change is worth a try to shake things up a bit. Let's start with food
intake: Have you been taking in the same number of calories or fat grams since
the beginning of your lifestyle change? If so, then you need to throw your body
off, and there are a couple of ways to do this. You can cut your calories or fat
grams by a bit more (not a lot) to adjust for your new weight. You can try going
off your healthy eating plan completely for 3-4 days. You can actually try
increasing your calories or fat grams a bit per day. You can switch from eating
3 square meals per day to 6 smaller meals througout the day. You can eat your
largest meal in the morning and smaller meals at lunch and dinner. You can
increase your water intake. In the exercise department, you need to find ways to
further challenge your body. You can try many different strategies: You can
completely change your exercise method. If you only walked before, you can
switch to cycling.
You can introduce cross-training into your program. If you only
walked before, alternate with cycling or aerobics. You can exercise for 5-10
minutes longer each day. You can exercise harder during your normal session
time. You can introduce interval training, where you alternate intensity levels
throughout your workout. You can add another day of exercise to your week. You
can switch the time of day you exercise. You can start lifting weights. You can
vary which activity you do first.
As you can see, there are many different ways to TRY and break a
plateau. I recommend that you start by trying 2 or 3 all at the same time. If
they don't work, then next week try some others. It takes some experimenting to
find out what will work for you, at this particular time in your weight loss
journey. The steps I took to break my first plateau didn't work to break my
second, so be prepared to pull out something else from your arsenal. You can
expect your new method will become effective within 2 weeks. If you are not
seeing any other results, then you need to change your method again. If you are
close to your goal weight (or ideal weight within reason) and none of these
methods work, then you need to look at two factors: Have your body fat tested.
It is very possible that you are already at your ideal body fat level, and your
body is not going to allow any further losses. Accept you new weight, and
congratulate yourself for the long, hard road you just traveled!
It's
inevitable. Anyone who has lost a large amount of weight (more than 10-15
pounds) has hit one or more weight loss plateaus. The weight loss plateau is a
very annoying period of body adjustment, where your body "catches up with
itself" so to speak. I hit 2 or 3 of them when I lost my 38 pounds, and I
learned a lot from each of them. I mostly learned patience!