Overcome Your Weight Loss Plateau
There is nothing that more disheartening than following a weight loss and exercise regime for weeks, seeing results and then reaching a point where suddenly, nothing seems to work, the pounds stop dropping and exercise seems to have little effect.
Known as a weight loss plateau, many dieters experience a pause in results. Many find this predicament difficult to explain and many more will abandon their weight loss efforts due to this lack of results.
Signs that you are experiencing a plateau include:
• You weight stops decreasing
• You don’t find your exercise regime challenging anymore
• You find yourself being hungry
Fortunately, there is a real reason behind this phenomenon and by understanding the reasons for why your body halts the weight loss process, you can then progress beyond weight loss plateau, to continue with healthy eating and exercising and eventually you will reach your target weight.
What causes a weight loss plateau?
Your body may stop losing weight after a period of dieting and exercising because your body has learned to adapt to your higher activity levels and lower calorie consumption. The human body has evolved to try to keep weight, not lose it and is constantly trying to keep your calorie input and energy output in balance.
How can I beat the weight loss plateau?
Firstly, don’t give up, however tempting it may be to think that it just isn’t working and reach for the snacks, do persist. Remember that a plateau is completely normal, and don’t beat yourself up about it. If you can get past this stage you are more likely to keep the weight off for good.
Next, be aware that your metabolism is probably slowing down for many reasons. Your new slimmer body doesn’t need as many calories to make it work, so your metabolism simply isn’t burning as many as before. This can be improved by weight training. Weight training builds muscle mass and the more muscle mass you have, the greater you metabolic rate will be. This results in more calories being burned, which will hopefully help to kick start your weight loss again.
Don’t starve yourself. If you’re consuming less than 1200 calories a day, your body will enter starvation mode. This will slow your metabolism right down as it tries to hang onto fat rather than burn it for energy.
Lastly, try to shake things up a little. If you’ve been doing the same old workout for weeks, your body has probably gotten used to it and no longer finds it a challenge, and doesn’t need to use as much energy to complete it. If you normally do an hour long aerobics work out, switch to an hour of kickboxing or swimming to give your body a new challenge.
February 1st, 2011 at 12:23 am
Weight loss plateaus are difficult to overcome, I too have experienced these challenges and found ways to deal with them. A wonderful book by respected surgeon Michael Snyder, M.D. called lifted me over the plateau. It teaches you to take advantage of the five intentional steps of digestion to gain effortless control of your dietary behavior. The book also gives a fresh approach to dieting, eating and being healthy.
February 1st, 2011 at 12:56 pm
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February 1st, 2011 at 3:44 pm
too much discussion, advices and medications for weight loss. prescription is very simple: diet, do not eat before sleeping, exercising and most important, a minimum two hours after the sport it is not permitted to eating.