Weight Loss Plateaus

Stuck in Weight Loss Plateaus?

At one point or another we have all gotten stuck in weight loss plateaus. Just when you think you have everything in order, all of the sudden you’re stuck in a rut and you don't know how to get out. The good news is that if a plateau is the valley of your weight loss, there has to be a hill on the other side. You can work through and past your plateau and continue with your health plan with some simple steps.

A plateau can occur for a variety of reasons but often it's a result of your body adjusting to a change, combined perhaps with a bit of complacency. When you first get on your new nutritional plan or start your new workout program your body is jolted awake. You jumpstarted it and went from 0-60 in no time. The problem is, after a little bit of time passes your body catches up to that original plan.

In most cases any improvement made over a previously unhealthy lifestyle is going to pay off with big results. This is true whether you're cutting your caloric intake by a few hundred calories, hitting the treadmill for a few hours per week or both. Once this initial hurdle is passed though, your body is going to pause as it has adjusted to your new lifestyle. To paint a clearer picture we can think about it this in numeric terms. A normal person usually needs to eat depending on size and age between 2,000 and 2,500 calories. If you have been eating 5,000 calories and then one week change to eating 3,500 you've made a big improvement! But you're still overeating, and once the initial affects have taken place you still are left with a calorie surplus and the result is a weight loss plateau, or worse, putting some of that weight right back on.

The solution is to actively manage your personal plan for success. Monitor the foods that you are eating to make sure you haven't fallen back into any old habits. It's easy to lose track of the little snacks we sneak in during the day, so keep a journal to really track what you eat, how much of it you eat and when and where you ate it.

You can also divide up your meals into smaller meals that you can enjoy throughout the day. Instead of overloading at breakfast, have a good sized meal and then a healthy snack a few hours later. This will keep your metabolism revving on high, and you'll feel more energetic all day long.

It's also important to stay active and continue with your workout program. You don't have to be training for a decathlon to help your weight loss success. You can implement lots of small active steps throughout your day that will keep you burning calories and keep the weight flying off. At every lunch break go for a 20 minute walk around your office. Take your dog to a park, play catch with your children, go to the gym a few times a week, anything makes a difference.

To prevent a weight loss plateau from happening and to bounce back from one when it inevitably happens you have to realize that as you change your plan for action has to change. Your initial progress has to be built upon, you can't remain complacent. Keep track of what you eat, divide your meals into more frequent, smaller portions and stay active.

Another way to in fact break out of a weight loss standstill, is to increase your daily activities a little bit. This has also worked for me in the past.

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