No matter how dedicated you are to making the changes in your diet and lifestyle necessary to lose weight, you will almost certainly encounter the dreaded weight loss plateau somewhere along your journey. A weight loss plateau occurs when your metabolism has adjusted to the changes that you have made in your diet and exercise regimen and is no longer letting you lose weight as fast as you did at the beginning of your diet. Although miracle diets and dieting books rarely bring up the subject of the weight loss plateau, it is a very real phenomena that affects nearly every individual who is trying to lose a significant amount of weight.
What to do when you hit a weight loss plateau:
Modify Your Workouts
When you hit this plateau, it is important to understand that something you are doing has to change before you will resume losing weight. Most of the time, it is a matter of making some changes in your current workout routine. Over time, a person’s metabolism will adapt in order to support regular periods of physical stress, such as a morning jog, and these changes make the body run so efficiently that it burns much less energy. If you pretty much do the same workouts every day, consider alternating your workout throughout the work. For example, many individuals choose to spend one day focusing on strength training and the next on a serious aerobic workout and simply go back and forth between these areas of focus. Such a basic change in the way you approach your workouts can often really alter how quickly you lose weight.
Change Your Meal Schedule
Sometimes, the key to breaking a weight loss plateau is simply giving your metabolism a little kick in the pants. Consider making some changes to the times of the day that you eat your meals or shaking up the number of times that you eat during the day. For instance, if you are in the habit of eating three meals a day in the form of breakfast, lunch and dinner, you can try switching over to having five or six snack periods spread out through the day. This way, your metabolism is constantly processing and absorbing calories and nutrients, and this can lead to a faster metabolism that will start burning off excess weight. Just be sure to keep your snacks healthy and keep an eye on your caloric intake.
Stay Positive
As any physical trainer or fitness expert will tell you, weight loss plateaus are temporary. If you shake up your exercise routine and keep eating smart, you will break through this wall sooner or later and find yourself back on the road to significant weight loss.
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