Weight loss plateaus occur for a variety of reasons, all of which can be explained by understanding how your body actually works during the weight loss process. Learn several proven tips and strategies you can implement to bust through your weight loss plateau.
“After losing 80 pounds in 9 months, I haven’t lost a single pound over the last 5 weeks. What should I do?!” asked Barb, one of our newer Truthentics customers.
After enjoying so much success in such a short time, Barb was understandably feeling a bit frustrated by her seemingly sudden lack of any results. Sadly, this isn’t uncommon. In fact, it ultimately affects nearly everyone who works diligently to lose weight, whether 10, 50, or 100 pounds! Fortunately, there are common reasons, and solutions, when it comes to overcoming any weight-loss plateau.
If you’ve had a similar experience, I think you’ll be able to relate to Barb’s experience and benefit from the tips below to bust through your weight-loss plateau. Here’s what I told Barb…
Congrats!
Barb, first off, you are AMAZING! Wow! I couldn’t be happier to hear about your success in your Truthentics Escape Your Slow Metabolism Program, and you should be so proud of all you’ve accomplished!
But I know it’s frustrating to get “stuck” for several weeks, and I’m sure you’re feeling that frustration, particularly since you’re still applying all of the same strategies from the Program.
But I encourage you to stop now, take a deep breath, and look back over the last 9 months. Consider how far you’ve come! You’ve literally changed your life for the better in less than a year. That’s an enormous accomplishment. One that’s taken effort, perseverance, determination, and strength.
Plus, you’ve maintained your progress during the last five weeks. That’s another tremendous accomplishment. Maintaining weight-loss progress can be as challenging or even more so than losing the weight in the first place. In fact, researchers estimate that fewer than 25% of folks who lose weight are successfully able to keep it off for at least a year.
So celebrate this as another “big win”! You’ve stayed the course and maintained your weight-loss progress. That’s huge.
Your Body’s New Normal
What you likely don’t know is that your body is doing exactly what it needs to be doing right now. Mini weight-loss plateaus or maintenance periods are so important, in fact, that many weight loss coaches actually plan them for clients.
You see, these “quiet” periods are often a priming period, which is getting your body ready for more progress in the near future. Your body is making a ton of adjustments to the radical changes it has recently experienced. There’s so much more going on than just that number on the scale.
As your body (weight) changes, so does your physiology. For example, the calorie cost associated with every single activity is reduced. So, if you started at 230 pounds, it was more energy-costly for you to partake in all daily activities (compared to your new weight of 150 pounds). That’s just one consideration…
Secondly, our bodies have a number of energy-preservation mechanisms in place to offset changes in calorie intake. In other words, energy input or calories consumed affect energy output or calories burned. After all, we’re wired for survival and to avoid starvation.
Subconscious Adjustments
Another consideration is that as we reduce the number of calories we consume, our activity levels tend to decline overall. Typically, this happens subconsciously, and we don’t even know we’ve made these adjustments. It’s called “non-exercise activity thermogenesis” or NEAT by scientists. And essentially, this component of metabolism accounts for all calories burned during non-scheduled exercise activity, which might include taking the stairs, doing chores, fidgeting, taking a walk, getting up, and moving around throughout the day, etc.
Interestingly, this aspect of weight-loss research is so powerful (yet often overlooked) that some researchers refer to it as the “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” of weight gain. For instance, researchers find that obese and overweight folks tend to sit for about 2.5 hours more each day (compared with lean folks). That’s a huge difference! Enough to account for upwards of 400 to 500 calories burned daily. Researchers also tend to see that folks who are following a reduced-calorie diet tend to reduce NEAT over time, and this is often the case when starting an exercise program as well.
Sticking to It
Lastly, in addition to the above mentioned metabolic changes and subconscious adjustments, researchers have found that “intermittent lack of diet adherence” is a major contributor to the frequently observed weight-loss plateaus. In other words, if you’re struggling with your weight-loss progress, the first place you might look is how well you’re still sticking to the Truthentics Escape Your Slow Metabolism Program.
As time goes by, many folks have a tendency to be a little looser with portion sizes and food choices. Or they may not be as concerned about progressing in exercise.
Busting Through Your Weight-Loss Plateau:
To bust through your weight-loss plateau, check out these crucial areas of concern. Pick one, and start there.
Give the above tips a try for 2-3 weeks or so and then let us know how you’re progressing. It can take some time to dial your results back in, yet I know you can succeed and bust through your weight-loss plateau!
Bonus Weight Loss Tip:
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Rich Farina is a Metabolic Health and Conditioning Specialist with over 30 years of experience helping thousands of individuals lose weight, rebuild their metabolisms, and improve their health in his Metabolic Testing & Weight Loss Centers.
He holds both Bachelor and post-graduate degrees in Exercise Physiology and Public Health respectively and is a passionate advocate of using proven, scientific principles in his approach to exercise and nutrition. He is a contributing author, professional speaker, and advisor on topics that include weight loss, human performance, and medical fitness.
He continues his deep-seated passion to help people improve their health and optimize their body's performance through his seminars, webinars, books, and line of proven-effective nutritional supplements.