Tips To Break Through a Weight Loss Plateau
If you’re losing weight a weight loss plateau is inevitable.
But what if you know how to get past the plateau?
This means less frustration.
This means you’re more likely to stay motivated.
This means you’ll reach your weight goal.
That’s what we’re going to do now. Show you how to get past the plateau.
What Is a Weight Loss Plateau and How Do You Know You’re In It?
When we initially started to see results at the beginning it can be pretty rewarding but when results start to slow down or even stagnant that’s when we get frustrated.
A plateau is when you’re no longer losing weight on your current plan. And when your weight stays the same for at least three weeks in a row you’re officially in plateau territory.
It is during these moments that it helps to have other ways of measuring how our bodies are changing. These measurements include waist measurements and body fat percentage to track progress.
What we think weight loss looks like versus reality.
Why Does A Weight Loss Plateau Happen?
There are many reasons we get stuck in a plateau. The simplest one is that you’re no longer in a caloric deficit. You’re eating more calories than your body is burning and not moving enough.
As you lose weight you require fewer calories to function. If you don’t sustainably adjust your diet and your exercise to account for your new weight you will eventually hit a plateau and stop seeing the scale drop.
A plateau can often be the breaking point for many to get off their diets.
But you can blame your hormones for your plateaus.
How much we weigh is regulated and dependent on many feedback loops and different hormones. Plateaus are important milestones for our bodies to readjust our hormones and metabolisms at our new weight.
The two biggest hormone players in maintaining homeostasis are called ghrelin and leptin. Both are involved in appetite regulation, controlling fullness, and energy balance.
Gherlin is a hormone released to increase our hunger and to let us know it’s time to eat. It’s the hormone that initiates the stomach growling and our initial search for food. Sudden spikes in gherlin can cause rapid weight gain especially during severe calorie restrictions.
Leptin is the opposite and is secreted by our fat tissues to decrease our appetite and send our brain signals that we have enough energy and to stop eating. It’s the hormone that suppresses food intake triggering weight loss. When body fat stores decrease there are fewer fat cells to secrete leptin leading to increased periods of hunger.
GHERLIN
“Feed me. I’m hungry.”
LEPTIN
“Full and satisfied here.
Knowing this you must give your body time to adjust to the new hormone levels and metabolism. So if you’re still thinking about quitting your diet because you’re stuck. STOP!
How Can I Get Out of a Weight Loss Plateau?
Before we try anything drastic or extreme to start losing weight again we want to make subtle changes and take measurements to see what works.
When a weight loss plan is not sustainable, you can lose a large amount of lean muscle mass compared to fat loss. Gaining fat on a weight loss plan is a bad result.
In addition, when we get off our diets and go back to our regular eating routine, we are eating more calories and store them as fat because our metabolisms have slowed down. This makes it even harder to lose weight the next time around.
Here are the 6 tips to help you break the plateau.
I recommend you start being consistent with the first 4 tips before making additional changes.
1. Double-check your calories closely
Before making any reduction in calories make sure you are counting and measuring correctly every food, snack, and beverage you are putting in your mouth. Often we can mindlessly eat a handful of snacks here and there forgetting to log them in.
Unsure of how much you’re supposed to be eating to lose weight? Use the calorie calculator below,
Calorie Calculator can be used to estimate the number of calories a person needs to consume each day. https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html
Not sure if your app is accurate at all? Use the Nutritionix app.
Nutritionix food log. https://www.nutritionix.com/app
The database is built and curated by registered dieticians, not app users unlike My Fitness Pal so the data is more accurate. It’s available on both iPhone and Android.
2. Are you consistent with your exercise plan?
Are you showing up to do your workouts or have you been skipping them? If not, get back on track. If you’re not enjoying your workouts find another way to get your exercise in. You’ll be more consistent at what you enjoy doing.
I recommend workouts that are a combination of strength training two to three times a week and cardio. You can read more on why only doing cardio is not the best way to lose weight.
3. Are you getting 7 to 8 hours of restful sleep?
Sleep has a long list of benefits besides boosting our focus and productivity the next day.
When we’re sleep deprived we overproduce cortisol. If you ever experience craving carbs or junk food because you’re tired then you can thank your cortisol hormones. Chronically elevated levels of cortisol also contribute to fat storage and belly fat. A restful night’s sleep helps reset the production of cortisol and helps your body clear out the excess.
4. Are you drinking enough water?
Your body runs more efficiently when it’s hydrated and that includes burning fat. People who drink more water end up consuming fewer calorie beverages reducing their overall daily calorie intake and suppressing their appetite as well.
How much water should you be drinking? Recommendations vary drastically based on age, gender, healthy, physical activity, and sweat levels.
I like using the pee test to check hydration levels. If it’s dark yellow, you need to drink more water. The goal is to have pale yellow to clear pee.
Here is the second set of tips. Only try these AFTER you tried the above four tips and haven’t broken through the plateau.
1. Make a slight calorie reduction.
If after measuring and tracking closely for two weeks and there are no changes then make a maximum 150-calorie reduction in your current diet.
My goal with every weight loss client is to have them eat as much as possible and still lose weight. Eating is pleasurable and even though we want to lose weight it can be a little depressing seeing how little we are ‘allowed’ to eat on the journey. This is why reducing calories is in the second half of the tips.
When you make a calorie reduction reduce either your carbohydrate or fat macros and increase your protein macros. This helps increase satiety and boost leptin secretions to keep you full even as you’re eating fewer calories.
Example of how to boost protein macros by reducing carbs and fat macros.
2. Add in a daily walk and increase movement.
Walking is good for your health and as a sedentary society we don’t move enough even if we do work out. Surprisingly our gym workouts only account for 5% of our metabolism.
All the other activities and movements we do outside of the gym, walking, gardening, standing in meetings, etc account for a whopping 15% of our metabolism. The rest of our metabolism consists of our baseline metabolic rate, the amount of calories our bodies burn to keep us alive.
Adding a daily walk helps you to burn extra calories and reduce your stress levels without having to reduce more calories. If you’ve hit a limit where you cannot cut any more calories add a daily walk to your schedule.
3. Increase the quality of your food
Not all foods are created equal and even if they fall within the same macros they can vary drastically in terms of nutrients and satiety levels.
For instance, protein shakes are a very popular and expensive supplement that is not necessary for weight loss. Chicken breast is also a source of protein but compared to a shake it’s more filling and nutritious because it’s food that your body needs to digest and break down. A protein shake is an already broken down, powdered form of protein in liquid that doesn’t need to be digested.
When you’re going grocery shopping swap out your usual list for healthier, high-fiber, more nutritious options.
Example of increasing protein quality.
Conclusion
Candace is the owner of Rhodes To Strength. She provides weight loss and mindset coaching services to women around the world so that they keep the pounds off for good. She believes in working with clients to create sustainable habits that work for their lifestyle.
You can find her rollerskating, hiking, and bird watching in her spare time.