Why is weight loss so difficult?! Even when you find a way to steadily lose weight with a healthy, balanced diet, suddenly, one week, the weight loss just stops. You haven’t changed a thing and, honest to goodness, you haven’t cheated.
You’ve hit a weight loss plateau, which is very common. Fortunately, there are ways to break a weight loss plateau. Unfortunately, the slow down or even a reversal in your weight loss can be so discouraging that you stop even trying.
Why You Hit a Weight Loss Plateau
But you shouldn’t let a weight-loss plateau discourage you. Here are just a few reasons why your weight loss may have stalled.
- You’ve Lost the “Easy” Weight – When you first start a weight loss program, you start losing weight quickly. Your body gets the energy it needs from the calories in glucose stored in your body, which releases water when it is burned for energy. That water weight makes up most of the weight you lose early in your plan. When it’s gone, your weight loss can stop too.
- Your Metabolic Rate Slows Down – When you reduce your calorie intake, your body slows down your metabolism to burn fewer calories. While you may have been burning more calories than you ate when you started your diet, now you may be burning more calories than you eat, even with the same calorie intake.
- You’ve Added Muscle Mass – If strength training is part of your weight loss program, you may have added muscle. Muscle cells are heavier than fat cells. So you may have lost fat, and be “leaner”, but the added muscle weight may be nullifying your actual weight loss.
3 Ways to Break a Weight Loss Plateau
Although some people choose to turn to bariatric surgery or other similar weight loss options, the truth is that the power to overcome a plateau is within you already! You just have to learn how to harness it. The bottom line is making adjustments to your weight loss program will help to reset your body and kickstart the actual weight loss. Follow these tips to fire up your weight loss regime.
- Review Your Diet – In the case where you’ve lost the “water” weight and then stalled, you may need to keep a closer eye on the number of calories you eat (it may not be as low as you think it is) or make sure your diet is properly balanced
- Assess Your Physical Activity Levels – Diet and exercise are important for weight loss. In the case where you’ve gained muscle mass that’s wiping out your weight loss, try shifting to something like high-intensity interval training that burns the same number of calories, but may not build muscles at the same rate.
- Get Some Help – Your body is a complex system. It’s not easy to know exactly why any chance in your weight loss happens. It could be due to heightened stress hormone levels, or too many processed foods – even in a calorie-reduced diet. A professional nutritional counsellor is trained to find out why you’ve hit a plateau, and recommend ways to break through it, including a Herbal One diet plan.
If you found this post helpful, check out our recent article about three reasons to try magnesium for weight loss.