Have you ever been in a situation where the pounds are dropping off week after week, then all of a sudden weight loss stops? Your efforts for weight loss seem to no longer be making an impact. This plateau is a fairly common phenomenon during weight loss.
It can be frustrating for sure, you’ve been working hard to follow a healthy, low-calorie diet and improve your exercise habits, and your reward has been watching your weight go down and feeling better.
Now, however, for no reason you can identify, the scale has stopped moving. You’ve hit “The Wall” or a weight-loss plateau. Don’t get discouraged. It’s normal for weight loss to slow and even stall.
By understanding what causes a weight-loss plateau, you can avoid backsliding on your new healthy habits.
What is a weight-loss plateau?
Hitting the Wall or being stuck at a weight-loss plateau eventually happens to everyone who tries to lose weight. Most people are surprised when it happens to them because they’re still eating carefully and exercising regularly. The frustrating reality is that even well-planned weight-loss efforts can stall.
What causes a weight-loss plateau?
Glycogen is partly made of water, so when glycogen is burned for energy, it releases water, resulting in weight loss that’s mostly water. This effect is temporary, however.
As you lose weight, you lose some muscle along with fat. Muscle helps keep the rate at which you burn calories (metabolism) up.
So as you lose weight, your metabolism declines, causing you to burn fewer calories than you did at your heavier weight. Your slower metabolism will slow your weight loss, even if you eat the same number of calories that helped you lose weight.
When the calories you burn equal the calories you eat, you reach a plateau. To lose more weight, you need to either increase your physical activity or decrease the calories you eat. Using the same approach that worked initially may maintain your weight loss, but it won’t lead to more weight loss.
How can you overcome a weight-loss plateau?
When you reach a plateau, you may have lost all of the weight you will on your current diet and exercise program. You’ll need to adjust your eating and exercise routine in order to overcome Hitting the Wall or avoiding a plateau.
These tips can help, but keep in mind even if you reach a plateau, it can be normal
Eat Mindfully
Mindful eating is maintaining an in-the-moment awareness of the food and drink you put into your body, observing rather than judging how the food makes you feel and the signals your body sends about taste, satisfaction, and fullness.
Doing so will allow you to avoid eating extra calories throughout the day. It is important to maintain your new healthy eating lifestyle. Knowing your Triggers and personality will help you continue to eat mindfully
Adjust your eating and exercise routine
As body size gets smaller, the metabolic rate drops. Your body won’t require as much energy to run as the weight comes off. That means your calorie intake should continue to adjust.
When you Hit the Wall or reach a plateau, it generally means that you need to adjust your food intake and/or exercise. You can adjust your exercise routine by adding variety to your workout. Using the same approach that worked initially may maintain your weight loss, but it won’t lead to more weight loss.
Stay Consistent
Staying consistent with your healthy habits for food intake and exercise can all point you to reaching your weight loss goal. Even if you hit a weight loss plateau, don’t give up your consistency. Being and staying consistent is the key to your success. Read our article on consistency to learn the benefits of why you need to be consistent with your efforts. You will be fine as long as you remain consistent. Sometimes it just takes long term effort and consistent healthy habits to break through a weight-loss plateau
Get Enough Sleep
According to the University of Chicago Medicine, cutting back on sleep could offset weight loss efforts.
Sleep is a critical part of any healthy diet plan or any healthy lifestyle. It is during sleep that the body begins to repair cells and rejuvenate your system. Not getting enough sleep will create fatigue during the day.
Physical fatigue means your body is not able to maintain your exercise routine and receive the benefits you are working for. Mental fatigue means you lack the mental capacity to make sound decisions.
This means you will not have the capacity to continue to make good food choices. In our free e-book, we talk about the 5 principles of losing weight and having a healthy lifestyle. Sleep in one of those principles.
We recommend you get your free copy and read how sleep affects you physically, mentally, and emotionally. Getting enough sleep at night is an important part of the best way to lose weight, and to help you when you Hit the Wall or reach a weight loss plateau.
We hope you enjoy this article and read the 5 principles to learn more.