Overcoming Your Weight Loss Plateau

What's a weight loss Plateau
Reaching a Plateau is common in a weight loss scenario, it's a stage where your weight loss starts to slow down and eventually halts.(Note: It's not a plateau if you're gaining weight because you are starting to eat more!) Please do not give up on your plans just because of a plateau, read on and I'll discuss several ways we can deal with a plateau

Causes of plateau

Lower metabolism
One of the main reasons for this phenomenon is that our body has adapted to the amount of food we have been feeding it. Our body lowers our metabolism to conserve as much energy as possible to cope with the sudden shortage of food(1).

Loss of Muscle
No matter how you try, you will inevitably lose muscle mass during a calorie restricted diet program. A kilogram of muscle burns you an extra 120 calories per day. So you effectively burn 120 calories less per day for every kilogram of muscle mass lost. For more information about this, read my article here

Unrealistic weight goals
Let's not forget about setting unrealistic weight goals. You should aim for your ideal weight for your height or somewhere that you like. But do not overdo it, do not aim for a 'skinny' body. Your body will not like it and therefore again, alter it's metabolism to ensure it's survival.

Skinny people are naturally skinny, they don't have to do anything to achieve that. But people such as me and you, we're built differently, there is no way that we can remain skinny without losing our sanity. The psychological stress you'll face would be tremendous enough to knock you off being skinny.

Ways to overcome a Plateau

• Increase Physical Activity - You could increase it in frequency or the intensity of the exercises. For example, instead of cycling 2 times week, try increasing it to 3 times a week. Or instead of cycling at 10km/hr speed, try increasing it to 15km/hr while keeping the duration similar.You can also try other ways to increase your physical activity like climbing the stairs instead of taking the lift. Taking a walk instead of driving to somewhere near. There are many possiblities to this. Everyone has varied pattern of routine, therefore, I would not be able to suggest what works best for you.
  

• Prevent Loss of muscle - Go for some weight training! While you're losing weight, you are losing alot of muscle mass as well. Doing some weight training will ensure that these precious muscle mass will be preserved as much as possible. Keeping these precious mass will ensure a steady stream of calorie burning!

• Reduce calorie intake - Warning! This should be monitored very closely and should not be practiced by those who are already consuming low calories. Since we know that our body has already decreased calorie output, it's quite logical to lower our calorie intake as well. Start off by reducing just a minute amount, maybe 50 calories a day. Take note of your weight and weigh yourself in a week's time.

Most people should see changes but some will not, if that happens, follow what the 'take a short break' plan below.

• Take a short break - Follow my fall out plan, take some time off your diet and let your body 'reset' itself. Basically just let yourself off your diet for a few days to kind of let your body rest and let it adjust the hormones and anything that is left unbalanced that is causing the plateau.

Reference
1 Saltzman E, Roberts SB. The role of energy expenditure in energy regulation: Findings from a decade of research. Nutr Rev. 1995. 53:209-220.