Overcome The Weight Loss Plateau

Have you reached the point where the needle on the scales appears to be stuck? Or maybe you’re experiencing the yo yo effect, a pound off this week and a pound gain next week? Then maybe it’s time you have a closer look at your weight loss efforts, to see if there’s any changes you could make to overcome the weight loss plateau.

For the last few months now I’ve been sitting on the dreaded weight loss plateau, and it has been nothing short of frustrating. I’ve been following the Slimming World diet and have stuck to the programme almost 100%, still I am not seeing any progress, and if I do lose a pound or two I put it back on the following week. I also noticed that many of my followers, who also follow Slimming World, were reporting the same results and frustrations.

This got me questioning my efforts and had me staying up late at night researching the Internet for answers. What I found was nothing more than a logical explanation. When I first started Slimming World I had very satisfying losses in weight, my body was introduced to a healthier eating regime, and responded positively, shedding a few pounds in the process.

After a while of being on the diet my body adapted and my weight remained constant. You see, I say logical because it’s no mystery that the more you eat the more weight you’ll gain, the less you eat the more weight you’ll lose, and if you reach a point where your body is happy with the amount of food you eat, and you eat the same amount constantly, your weight is going to remain constant too.

Obviously I have reached a point where I should now be eating less in order to lose more weight. Unfortunately the Slimming World diet does not provide individuals with a personal assessment, that analyse the amount of food intake one should reduce by, to have further weight loss, instead they offer a one size plan to fit all, and though the plan might fit some, the rest of us might need a more tailored one.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the Slimming World programme has been a waste of my time, far from it. It has served me well, I have learnt a lot about healthy eating, and I lost some weight doing the programme too. But if I want to continue to lose weight (which I do), I think I need to make some changes, starting with reducing the amount of food I eat, which is less than Slimming World’s recommendation, or at least reduce my calorie intake.

If you too have reached a plateau, and not quite sure how to get things moving again, continue reading below for some expert tips taken from Jamaicaobserver.com

Tips To Overcome The Weight Loss Plateau

“Over time, a weight loss programme can run out of steam. This usually happens because the programme becomes consistent in terms of food/calorie intake and/or your exercise regimen becomes monotonous over a period of time. If the programme becomes consistent then the person is not going to lose any weight,” explained nutritionist and fitness expert Donovan Grant.

Given the inevitability of a weight loss plateau, experts usually advise that you change up your work-out and eating plan at least every six to eight weeks to prevent your body adjusting too much.

“So if every week you are doing an hour worth of exercise and you just eat roughly the same amount of calories, then the body is not going to register that much change. In order to see more weight loss, you would have to make some changes. One of the things you could do is to increase the number of days and/or duration of your exercise programme,” Grant said.

The fact of the matter is that no matter how technical your workout routine is, your body will naturally adapt to it after a while. Failure to make any changes could result in you becoming demotivated and risk the progress you have been making thus far.

If you are currently experiencing a plateau — whether it is that your muscles are no longer growing or your weight has remained stuck — here are a few things you can do to get over it:

1. Reduce your caloric intake. Your body usually requires less calories as you lose weight. This means that you will need to be consuming less food than you did at the beginning of your transformation. There are many resources online that can help you to calculate how many calories you should be having on a daily basis based on your weight. Be sure that you do not go below 1200, as this is the minimum amount of calories needed to sustain your body daily.

2. Get more rest. It’s not the sort of advice you’d expect to hear, given the fact that it was always taught that exercising will help with your weight loss efforts. But taking a week’s break from the gym will help to rejuvenate and motivate you, so you can put out even more energy in your work-out routine. Instead of pumping weights or going on the machines, try going for walks, swimming or cycling instead. Continue the article and get more tips here.

Now I know many of you hate counting calories, and who can blame you it’s a tidiest process. But if you want to lose weight you need to know how many calories you are consuming, because calories do count.

Now I also know that many of you are hard core Slimming World devotees, and I just want you to know that this article is in no way meant to be an attack on the Slimming World diet, it is just my personal observations, I actually feel that Slimming World is a fantastic organization that has helped many people live better healthier lives.

But before I conclude, I would just like to point out that I feel that they do not emphasise enough on having a well balanced diet that includes all the important nutrients. Yes they encourage you to eat plenty of fruit and veg, but they lack on advising the correct amount of nutrients an individual need on a daily basis, like good fats, correct amount of protein, carbohydrates etc. They are more focus on telling you, you can eat as much as you want of what they call free foods, and these last few days I have been counting calories and was quite surprise to find that these free foods were pushing my calorie consumption through the roof.

So if you have found that your weight loss has come to a halt, maybe you need to make some adjustments to your diet plan, remember you started your diet because you want to lose weight, so don’t be afraid to question it, if it’s not working for you.

I’ll finish with a quote from Einstein

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get different results”

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