Weight loss is hard work and having to deal with a plateau can make the process even more frustrating. Tell me if you’ve been here: You’ve been exercising, eating healthy, even losing several pounds but all of a sudden things come to a grinding halt! All of a sudden you’re no longer losing weight! The things that were working before simply aren’t working anymore. You feel discouraged and ready to quit. That my friend is the dreaded plateau.
A plateau is a state of little or no change. And when it comes to weight loss, a few things could be more frustrating to deal with. Personally, I have dealt with my fair share of plateaus over the years. But eventually, I figured out how to move past them and now, how to avoid them altogether. Have you been losing weight but have hit a plateau? Here are my 5 proven tips to help you get back on track.
How To Move Past A Plateau
The reason most people plateau is because their metabolism has started to slow down. You might be like, what? Slow down even though I’m doing everything right? Unfortunately yes. This is a natural response to your body losing weight. Your body starts to freak out a bit and wants to hold onto its fat. This bodily response dates back to our lean caveman days. But don’t worry, knowing why your body is plateauing is key to overcoming the problem.
Increase Exercise
I’ve made exercise first because it is the number one way to break through a plateau. Increasing how much movement you are doing is the best way to rev your metabolism back up. This is one of the main benefits of following a fitness program; exercise is varied in its moves and intensity to prevent plateauing. Not ready to follow an exercise program? That’s okay! You can help your body and speed up your metabolism by doing High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). A HIIT workout is any workout where you alternate between bursts of intense activity and less intense activity. A simple example is sprinting for 1 minute and then walking for 2 minutes. Not only do you naturally burn more calories from a HIIT workout, but it also pushes your body into the next gear. You can find countless HIIT videos on YouTube to help you bust through your plateau.
Are you doing HIIT and still hit a plateau? It might be time to change up your workout routine. Keep your body on its toes and get outside of your fitness comfort zone!
Add Strength Training
Adding more muscle to your body is a quick way to get over a weight loss plateau. With a little effort, it doesn’t take much to pack on some extra muscle. Lifting heavier weights increases muscle mass and helps the body to burn more calories while at rest. Challenging your body in new ways with different weights, reps, sets, and moves will get your body burning fat again. Just remember to increase the weight slowly to prevent injuries.
Drink More Water
Drinking more water can help keep you feeling full and help to prevent overeating. Drinking a glass or two before your meal will help to control your overall calorie intake. Water is one of those things that you can’t really have too much of. Or you would have to consume an insane amount for it to have a negative impact. So drink as much water as you can to keep your body hydrated, to flush excess salt and to help keep hunger away. Track your water intake with a fitness planner or water bottle with markers.
Track Your Habits More Closely
Here’s a hard truth. Sometimes even when we think we’re eating really healthy and exercising hard, we might not actually be working as hard as we think we are. Even with the best of intentions, our habits might actually be causing a plateau, not so much our metabolism slowing down. The best way to truly measure how well you are doing is by tracking your health and fitness habits. For at least 7 days, track what you eat, how frequently you workout, your water intake, and your sleep habits. This will give you a much better picture of where improvements can be made to
Consume More Protein
It’s important to remember that not all calories are created equal. For example, the calories that you get from a chocolate bar are not the same as the calories you get from an apple. Your body processes the two foods very differently. So, when you find yourself in a plateau it’s important that you’re consuming the right calories. Many studies have shown that a high-protein diet is effective for weight loss. Protein also helps
Adding more clean protein to your diet is easy! The simplest and quickest way to consume more protein is to drink a protein shake.
Other sources of clean and healthy proteins are:
- tofu
- fish
- beans
- lentils
- nuts and seeds
Adding more clean protein to your diet will definitely help you to overcome your weight loss plateau. Just make sure you are staying away from fatty or overly processed protein sources.
Overcoming a weight loss plateau can be as simple as changing a few of your health and fitness habits. Try
Stuck in a plateau? Talk to me about it in the comments!
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