Nutrition Avenue
member
Posts: 67
Loc: United States
Reg: 07-06-11
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 09-09-11 08:37 AM - Post#138535
One of the more frustrating parts of weight loss is the inevitable weight loss plateau. Everything seems to be going along fine, and then all of a sudden – no matter what you do – you find that the scale just doesn’t budge. These interruptions in your progress are frustrating, but if you understand why they happen and keeping working through them, your weight will start moving again.
When you cut back on your calories, your body reacts as if there’s no more food coming its way. So it does what it’s programmed to do – it hangs onto stored up calories by slowing down the rate at which you burn them. So your resting metabolic rate – the calories you burn every day just to keep your body functioning – goes down a little bit. The drop isn’t huge – maybe 10% at most – but it’s often enough to put your weight loss on hold. But, your resting metabolic rate is determined by your body size and accounts for most of the calories you burn each day, so it makes sense that as your weight goes drops, your metabolic rate goes down, too.
What that means is that as you lose weight, your calories needs go down a bit. So, to keep losing at the same rate, you need to either cut your intake further, or exercise more – or accept that your rate of weight loss will be slower as you approach your goal.
Here are a few things to consider when you hit a plateau:
- Try using a food diary to keep track of your calorie intake. You may have been more careful when you started your diet – weighing and measuring everything that passed your lips – but you might not be as accurate as you once were.
- Step up your activity, particularly strength training. As you build muscle, your resting metabolic rate goes up. If you’ve been working out for a while, you might also be in better shape - if you haven’t increased the intensity of your activity, you might not be burning as many calories as you used to. Add some new moves to your exercise routine, increase the intensity, and pump some iron. IMPORTANT: Note that as you burn more calories, make sure you make the adjustment in how many calories you are in-taking. If you are burning an EXTREME amount of calories and not hitting the minimum required for your activity level - your body will go into starvation mode and start storing fat.
- Try a meal replacement for one or two meals to help you stay within your calorie limit. A protein shake - made with a defined amount of milk or soy milk, protein powder and fruit – takes the guesswork out of calorie counting since you know exactly what goes in it. Try replacing two meals a day for a while, have a healthy third meal, and fill in with snacks of lowfat protein foods, veggies and fruits.
- Get a wellness coach. Wellness coaches help to walk you through the process of getting to your weight loss goals. They can provide a body analysis, give you hints and tips based on the things they have experienced with other clients, and plug you into various support systems.
- Consider that you might actually have reached an appropriate weight. If you can, get your body composition checked. Muscle is ‘denser’ and takes up less space than body fat – so if you are carrying more muscle than the average person, you might weigh more than you think you should. But if your body fat is within normal range, then you may not have much – if any – additional weight to lose.
Edited by Nutrition Avenue on 09-09-11 08:38 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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