Isn’t it annoying when you are doing so well on your weight loss journey until you hit a plateau? It can be quite demotivating when it happens, but you can go back to losing weight if you try one or more of these tips you will see below.
Losing weight is one of those things most people attempt to at least once in their lives. If you are one of the lucky ones who don’t need to even lift a finger and already lose weight, then I honestly have no clue what made you click on this article.
For the rest of us, normal mortal people, losing weight can be a daunting experience. Granted, usually when someone begins a new diet, even one of those crash diets that have no scientific background, that person tends to lose weight. And why is that? Because of physics, why else.
Losing weight, in theory, is very simple. You need to burn more calories than what you consume on a daily basis. The difficulty lies in all the other variables in between this “calories in, calories out” process.
For example, stress, sleep, and genetics play another important role on whether a person manages to lose weight or not. Exercising is also helpful when it comes to burning calories, but the biggest contributor on whether you lose weight or not is your nutrition.
Related: Why You Cannot Outrun a Bad Diet
But let’s say your diet is on point – meaning it is balanced, you eat enough protein, high in fibre, and below your calorie maintenance. After a while, you will hit a plateau and stop losing the weight once was happening automatically.
For that, we have a few techniques you should know about to break through diet plateaus for weight loss.
Why Do Weight Loss Plateaus Occur?
But first, it is important to know why weight loss plateaus occur. Weight loss plateaus occur when a person’s weight loss progress slows down or stalls despite their continued efforts to lose weight. There are several reasons why this can happen:
- Metabolic adaptation: When you lose weight, your body adapts to the lower calorie intake and can start burning fewer calories at rest. This means that as you lose weight, your body requires fewer calories to maintain your new weight, which can cause your weight loss progress to slow down.
- Changes in physical activity: If you’ve been doing the same type and amount of exercise for a while, your body may become used to it and not burn as many calories as before. Additionally, you may experience fatigue or injury, which can cause you to decrease your physical activity level.
- Calorie intake: As you lose weight, you need fewer calories to maintain your weight and the calorie intake that used to be your maintenance is now actually lower, making your “cut” diet more like a “maintain weight” diet.
- Hormonal changes: Hormonal changes, such as fluctuations in insulin levels, can affect weight loss progress. For example, insulin resistance can make it more difficult to lose weight, especially around the midsection.
- Psychological factors: Stress, lack of sleep, and other psychological factors can affect weight loss progress. Stress can increase levels of cortisol, which can promote fat storage, while lack of sleep can disrupt hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism.
As you can see, many variables play when it comes to losing weight and, subsequently, these affect whether you actually lose weight or not at the end of the week.
But without taking things too long, let’s talk about what you can do to break through diet plateaus and get back on losing weight.
How to Break Through Diet Plateaus for Weight Loss
Below you will find 7 things you might be inclined to try to break through your weight loss plateau.
1. Be More Aggressive
Straight to the point, you can be more aggressive with your cutting. Yes, you can.
Perhaps you heard about cutting about 500 calories of your calorie maintenance – and yes, that is still very safe for anyone – you don’t need to be attached to that number.
The name of the game here is to do something outside of the ordinary so you can get extraordinary results. So you should think of giving a calorie shock to your body and for a week or so go well below your maintenance level. Perhaps, cut another 500 calories from what you are currently eating to see if there is any results on the scale.
2. Control Your Hunger
It is actually easier to control your hunger than you might think. If you are one of those people that get very hungry throughout the day, always snacking, then this might be perfect for you.
First of all, try not to eat when you are not physically hungry. For example, if you are not hungry during the morning, don’t eat breakfast just because people tell you that it is the most important meal of the day.
Two things your food choice needs to be full of are protein and fibre. Protein tends to leave you satisfied for longer, while fibre absorbs water and expands the stomach and small intestines, leaving you with the sensation of feeling full.
You should also eat food who are low-dense in calories. These are mainly vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
Another good tactic to employ is to eat a bowl of salad about half an hour before your main meal. By the time you need to eat, your stomach will be signalling your brain that you are full and you will definitely eat less because of it.
Read More: How to Reduce Hunger While Dieting
3. Drink More Water
Drinking water is another way to trick your stomach into thinking it is full without adding calories. If you drink enough water throughout the day, your stomach will not give you those stabs of hunger at the wrong time.
Do add techniques 2 and 3 together, you can “eat water.” What I mean by that, is to eat foods that are full of water, thus low in calorie, and they will make you feel satiated without adding calories. One great way to do that is through the Volumetrics Diet.
4. Increase Your Strength Training
If you are not doing any strength training, then you should begin immediately. And if you are doing some, you need to try and increase how often you do it, or how heavy you lift.
Strength training is a far better ally for fat loss than cardio. It is through strength training that you improve your… well… strength. The stronger you are, the calories your body needs to keep working. In simple words, get stronger to increase your metabolism and you will be burning more calories even when you are not working out.
If you are a beginner at strength training, we recommend full-body workouts 2-3 times a week. If you are more advanced, you should choose a split program that fits your needs and go to the gym as often as possible.
Check out these options below.
10-Minute Full-Body Workout for Beginners
Best Full-Body Workouts: Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced
Upper Lower Workout – 3 Days a Week
Upper Lower Workout – 4 Days a Week
4-Day Split Program to Build Muscle
Related: How to Burn Fat With Weight Training
5. Walk More
Walking is one of the best things to lose weight that most people take for granted.
It is an exercise that has little impact on your joints, meaning you can do it every day, and still helps you burn many calories hours after you stop walking.
What Happens to Your Body When You Walk 10,00 Steps Every Day for 30 Days?
The recommendation is usually to walk 10,000 steps every day to see results. If you already are doing that, you can up to 15,000 or get close to 20,000 steps daily. The more you walk, the more you lose weight, and you can still go to the gym afterwards without any impact on your lower body exercises.
The only downside of walking so much is the time it takes to burn calories. While HIIT burns more calories in a shorter time, it is also very demanding to your body, which means you will need to take some time to recover from it before doing it again.
How to Combine HIIT and LISS to Lose Fat Faster
6. Have a Cheat Meal
Cheat meals are incredibly important when it comes to losing weight. No, we are not saying that a cheat meal will magically make you lose weight, but rather it has benefits to your mental motivation.
If you are on a diet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 30 days, you are likely not a happy with your current decisions, right? A cheat meal, if done correctly, will not destroy your weight loss journey, but it can bring your mindset back to knowing you can still enjoy little things in life while losing weight.
But notice that we wrote “cheat meal” and not “cheat day.” There is a big difference there. If you are able to restrict your cheat meal to a single hour of indulgence, you’re likely not going to make a big damage to your weekly caloric intake. At the same time, you will also be happy for the meal and give you strength for the upcoming week of dieting and restrictions.
10 Underrated Habits to Get You Lean Now
7. Fast for Longer
Lastly, you should honestly consider fasting for longer, if you are already fasting. If you haven’t done any fasting, maybe give it a try. There are many different ways to fast, which simply means you restrict when you are allowed to eat and when you are not.
- 16/8 method: This involves restricting eating to an 8-hour window during the day and fasting for the remaining 16 hours.
- 5:2 diet: This involves eating normally for 5 days of the week and consuming only 500-600 calories on 2 non-consecutive days.
- Eat-Stop-Eat: This involves fasting for a full 24 hours once or twice a week.
- Alternate-day fasting: This involves alternating between a day of normal eating and a day of consuming only 500-600 calories.
- Warrior Diet: This involves eating for 4 hours and not eating for 20 hours.
- One meal a day: self-explanatory, as you are allowed to eat only once (usually this means you can eat for 1 hour during the entire day and fast for the remaining 23 hours).
- Spontaneous meal skipping: This involves skipping meals occasionally when it’s convenient or when you’re not particularly hungry.
There are even more restrictive ways of fasting. You could try not eating for 48 hours, or even 72 hours. We do not recommend more than that, as you will likely begin losing muscle, which beats the purpose of losing fat, even if your scale shows you are getting lighter.
Intermittent Fasting vs Prolonged Fasting: Differences, Pros and Cons
What Happens If You Fast for 24 Hours?
What Happens If You Eat Nothing For 3 Days?
Fasting can be a powerful tool when it comes to losing weight and shedding fat. If you have never done before, we suggest beginning with something easier, such as the 16/8 method. This usually means that you skip breakfast, and eat lunch and dinner in an 8-hour period.
From there, you can try more aggressive fasting techniques and see how you adapt to it. If you are used to eating all the time, even if in small quantities, we guarantee that you will overcome a diet weight loss plateau if you restrict your feeding window to just a few hours every day.
5 Intermittent Fasting Tricks to Burn Fat Faster
Intermittent Fasting Mistakes That Make You Gain Weight
How to Keep Making Gains in the Gym as a Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced Lifter
image sources
- weight loss plateaus: Pixabay
