Ahh!!! “Why the weiging scale is not moving, showing me the same weight again and again. I am doing so much to reduce my weight. I dont know what to do, what’s going wrong?”
Have I reached a weight loss plateau?
What is weight loss plateau?
The human body is incredibly adaptive, and will do its level best to maintain equilibrium. It is generally seen that our body loses weight in the first few weeks.
Weight loss plateau is a stage where your body no longer loses weight despite following a healthy diet and exercise regime. Weight loss plateau is experienced by all individuals who are trying to lose weight.
Most individual believe that they should continue to lose weight if they maintain a low calorie diet however the reality is that even well planned weight loss drill can be stalled.
What causes weight loss plateau?
- Your exercise may be inadequate or routine one.
- Your calorie intake is in balance with calorie burn out.
- You are eating more calories than you realize.
- When you lose weight you lose both fat and lean tissue (muscle). As you lose lean tissue the process of burning calories for energy slows down. This means in order to lose weight you need to increase activity or decrease the calories you eat.
What You Must Do Now?
The best single word of advice is to make a Change!!! and have a little self control and discipline.
Here are seven tips to combat weight loss plateau.
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Trick your body.
Change up your routine. If you’re hitting the exercise bike or the elliptical, do something different. If you are doing the same exercises over and over again, your body “knows” what to expect. It’s called “specificity of training”.
If you work out at a gym, change your cardio routine by jumping on a stair-climber, a treadmill, or a rowing machine. Try ten minutes of intense cardio workout on a machine and jump on another and repeat. If you are walking daily change it to some kind of sport or swimming. Mix up your routine so it’s not a routine.
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Resistance / Strength / Weight training.
It is important to incorporate resistance training such as weight lifting into your regime as it will continue burning calories even after you have finished exercises. It will also help to strengthen bone tissue and increase the body’s metabolic rate at the same time.
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Increase your protein intake.
Protein is excellent supplement when you cut on your carbohydrates. It promotes strong lean muscle tissue which is beneficial to fat burning. Protein fills you up better than a heavy carbohydrate meal. This is an added benefit to help cut your caloric intake. Protein boots metabolism by 35 percent.
It is advisable to consume protein from natural sources for example egg-white, soya, whey protein, chicken, fish, sprouts, dals, roasted whole bengal gram, cottage cheese, green peas.
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Eat six small meals a day.
Eating small portions throughout the day will help keep your metabolism going. This is an extremely useful tactic in breaking your weight-loss plateau.
Eat something when you wake up in the morning, perhaps a small egg white omelet or a high fiber breakfast cereal with low fat milk. And as you continue throughout the day, snack on some raisins or figs or some other natural, unprocessed food.
Stick to your meal timing; breakfast, lunch and dinner with a meal in between each. Try to analyze and find out what works best for you. What can you eat that is small and will curb your hunger for the next 2 and a half hour before your next small meal?
Keep it higher in protein, small in calories, and nutritious.
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Be patient & BE POSITIVE.
It is important to remember that all individuals who follow a weight loss regime pass through this phase of weight loss plateau where their weight loss does get stalled. All individuals who are passing through this phase should be patient & positive as it will take at least a few weeks for the weight loss plateau to disappear as it allow your body to adjust to the weight loss and stabilize.
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Eat More Fruits and Vegetables.
Eating lots of low-calorie, high-volume fruits & vegetables crowds out other foods that are higher in fat and calories. Move the red meat off the center of your plate and pile on the vegetables. Half of your plate should be fruits and vegetables.
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Sleep.
A 6 to 8 hours night’s sleep is vital to losing body fat because it resets your hormones. Even a little sleep deprivation can lead to increased cortisol, a stress hormone. Elevated cortisol levels can lead to body fat accumulation also lack of sleep slows down the metabolic activity.