15 Practical Tips for Breaking the Weight Loss Plateau and Unlocking Weight Loss
If, on the one hand, you tend to lose weight very quickly initially, and then suddenly, it seems that it is impossible to lose more after a certain level.
This inability to lose weight is known as a weight plateau or stagnation – and going through a plateau can be quite frustrating and disheartening.
However, several strategies can help you start losing weight again.
In this post, you will discover;
- what exactly is a weight plateau,
- what are the strategies to get off the plateau
What is a Plateau
So as you lose weight, your metabolism declines, causing you to burn fewer calories than you did at your heavier weight.
Your slower metabolism will slow your weight loss, even if you eat the same number of calories that helped you lose weight.
When the calories you burn equal the calories you eat, you reach a plateau.
It is as if your weight is “stuck” at a particular value.
In other words, it is as if your weight loss has stalled and is no longer happening continuously.
Of course, we would all like our weight loss to happen every week.
However, our weight loss will sometimes stall, and we may feel frustrated and unmotivated.
So, the tips below help you keep losing weight and eliminating fat, even when your “weight hangs,” but you seem to be doing everything right.
Before that, just a warning: people often think they are on a plateau, when in reality, what happens is that the weight just doesn’t move linearly.
That is, throughout your weight loss journey, you will probably alternate between “wow, I didn’t miss anything” with “wow!”
And this is completely normal.
So, a plateau is not simply “a week where your weight doesn’t drop.”
It is a prolonged period during which you really dedicate yourself to the diet and still seem to have no results.
Now that we have explained what a weight plateau is let’s see how to get out of it.
In this first part of this post, we will focus on 4 strategies to get off the weight plateau for those who want to succeed on a diet.
However, first of all, it is important to note that sometimes, the plateau is often just a plateau on weight – since you may continue to lose measurements.
So we don’t even consider this a plateau, just because the number of the scales hasn’t moved.
Notwithstanding, we will focus on these 4 strategies to help this number start moving again.
So let’s go to them:
Tip # 1: Practice High-Intensity Interval Exercise (HIIT)
The first strategy is high-intensity interval exercise, HIIT.
In fact, any type of exercise can help you get off the plateau because, after all, you will be inserting a caloric expenditure into your day that you did not have before.
However, some types of exercises are more effective for weight loss.
This in addition to improving blood flow, which can happen many times depending on the type of exercise you practice.
But, in this case, we are talking about HIIT.
Because, even for those who already do some kind of physical activity, HIIT will be an excellent exercise for burning fat.
Another big advantage is that HIIT workouts are generally concise.
So you can practice HIIT for a concise time – for example, 15 minutes a day and still reap results.
(After all, we know that there are many people who complain about not having time to train.)
So, for these people, this is an easier strategy to follow.
Another exercise that we also really like is weight training.
And again, because in this sport, it is possible to achieve high intensity with relatively short workouts.
Tip # 2: Decrease Your Carbohydrate Intake
Another interesting strategy that we can use is the decrease in carbohydrate intake.
Many people already feel some benefit from following a low-carb diet because they have reduced carbohydrates a little.
However, several times there is still room to reduce further.
Perhaps even reaching the point of inducing ketosis through a very low-carb diet such as ketogenic.
This can help people to lose weight even more.
It is also a fact that many times people think they are cutting carbohydrates a lot but end up ingesting this macronutrient from sources where they did not even imagine.
In this case, the tip is as follows: keep a diary of the foods eaten by writing down the net carbohydrates eaten at each meal.
An easy way to do this is through applications like FatSecret.
The decrease in carbohydrates can even lead to ketosis, which will help optimize this fat burning.
Research has confirmed that low-carb diets are extremely effective for weight loss.
In fact, a large compilation of 13 studies with a follow-up of at least one year found that people who consumed 50 grams or less of carbohydrates per day lost more weight than those who followed traditional weight-loss diets.
Reducing your daily carbohydrate intake can help shift your weight in the right direction again when there seemed to be no more hope.
Whether carbohydrate restriction leads to a “metabolic advantage” that causes your body to burn more calories is an issue that continues to be debated among nutrition and obesity experts.
Some controlled studies have found that very low-carb diets increase fat burning and promote other metabolic changes that favor weight loss, while other studies have not shown this effect.
However, it has been found that very low-carb diets consistently reduce hunger and promote a feeling of fullness more than other diets.
In addition, they make your body produce ketone bodies, which have been shown to reduce appetite.
This can lead you to unconsciously eat less, making it easier to lose weight again, without hunger or discomfort.
In summary: Research has found that low-carb diets help control hunger, guarantee a feeling of satiety and promote long-term weight loss.
And that already brings us to the third tip.
Tip # 3: Have a Cheat Meal.
When you have been on a low carb diet for a long time, your body starts to slow down the production of some essential hormones.
And it is precisely to counteract this decrease in the level of hormones such as leptin and ghrelin – which many people experience when they stay on low-carb for a long time.
On this day, the idea is that you eat everything you want, especially foods with high carbohydrate content, such as potatoes, sweets, pasta, bread…
There is no rule: you can eat as much as you want, as much food as you want, in a whole day or just one meal.
You will decide what is best for you.
There are still those who prefer to do this with a focus on more Paleo foods, even more, natural high carb foods: like potatoes, roots, fruits, and maybe a little honey.
Tip # 4: Follow Some Intermittent Fasting Protocol
Finally, the fourth strategy is intermittent fasting.
Intermittent fasting is nothing more than eating during certain periods – and not eating at others.
In addition to all the benefits that intermittent fasting can present, it can also help you get off the weight plateau on a low-carb diet.
One way is t go for 16 hours a day when you are fasting, without consuming calories, and in the other 8 hours, you distribute your meals as you prefer.
It can be 2 meals, one at lunch and one at dinner, for example.
Or they can be 3 meals (the previous two plus a snack between them ).
In that case, you’re basically going to skip breakfast.
Pretty simple, isn’t it?
However, this is just one possible way to do intermittent fasting.
Tip # 5: Increase the Frequency or Intensity of Exercises
Speeding up your exercise regimen can help to reverse a weight loss plateau.
Unfortunately, this is because your metabolic rate slows down as you lose weight.
A study including more than 2900 people found that for every 1 kg of weight lost, 15.1 fewer calories per day were burned on average.
(If this progression is linear, it means that after eliminating 30 kg, you will be burning 450 kcal less per day!)
As the weight decreases, the progressive reduction in the metabolic rate can make weight loss very difficult.
The good news is that exercise seems to help counteract this effect.
Resistance training (i.e., weight training) promotes the retention of muscle mass, which is one of the main factors influencing how many calories you burn during activity and even during rest.
In fact, weight training (weight training) seems to be the most effective type of exercise for weight loss.
In a 12-week study, young, obese women who followed a low-calorie diet and worked out for 20 minutes daily had an average loss of 5.9 kg and 5 cm in waist measurements.
Other physical activity types have also been shown to protect against a metabolic slowdown, including aerobic exercise and high-intensity interval training (HIIT).
If you are already exercising, working out 1 or 2 more days a week, or increasing the intensity of your exercises can help increase your metabolic rate or at least prevent your decay.
In summary: Exercising, especially strength training, can help to compensate for the drop in metabolic rate that occurs during weight loss.
Tip # 6: Control Everything You Eat
Sometimes it may seem like you’re not eating much, but you still have a hard time losing weight.
In general, researchers found that people tend to underestimate the amount of food they eat.
In one study, obese people reported consuming about 1,200 calories a day. However, a detailed analysis of their intake over a 14-day period showed that they were actually consuming almost twice the amount, on average.
Controlling your calories and macronutrients – protein, fat, and carbohydrates – can provide concrete information about how much you are eating. This will allow you to modify your diet if necessary.
Also, research suggests that the act of controlling your food intake alone can increase your efforts to lose weight.
Controlling your calorie and macronutrient intake can provide an overall balance and help you see if you need to make any dietary adjustments to start losing weight again.
Tip # 7: Don’t skimp on protein
If your weight loss has stalled, increasing your protein intake may help.
First, protein increases the metabolic rate more than fat or carbohydrates.
This has to do with the thermal effect of the food (TEF) or the increase in metabolism due to the digestion of food.
Protein digestion increases calorie burn by 20 to 30%, which is more than double the fat or carbohydrates.
In one study, healthy young women followed diets that provided 30% or 15% of calories from protein on two separate days.
Their metabolic rate increased twice as much after meals on the day they ate the most protein.
Secondly, protein stimulates the production of hormones, such as PYY, which reduces your appetite and makes you feel fuller and fuller.
In addition, maintaining a high protein intake can help protect you against muscle wasting and a drop in metabolic rate, which normally occur during weight loss.
Increasing your protein intake can help reverse weight loss stagnation by increasing metabolism, reducing hunger, and preventing muscle wasting.
Tip # 8: Manage Stress
Stress can often halt weight loss.
In addition to promoting comfort when eating and causing cravings for food, it also increases cortisol production.
Cortisol is known as the “stress hormone.”
While it helps your body respond to stress, it can also increase abdominal fat storage.
Furthermore, this effect seems to be stronger in women, who tend to accumulate more fat in this area.
Therefore, producing too much cortisol can make weight loss very difficult.
It may seem like you have little control over stress in your life, but research has shown that learning how to deal with it can help promote weight loss.
In an eight-week study of 34 overweight and obese women, a stress management program that included muscle relaxation and deep breathing led to an average weight loss of 4.4 kg.
In summary: The increase in cortisol production associated with stress can interfere with weight loss. Stress reduction strategies can help promote weight loss.
Tip # 9: Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol may be sabotaging your efforts to lose weight.
Although an alcoholic drink (be it 120 ml of wine, 45 ml of liquor, or 350 ml of beer ) contains only about 100 calories, it does not provide any nutritional value – or, as we like to say, it is an “empty calorie.”
In addition, many people have more than one drink in one night.
Although alcoholic beverages can be inserted responsibly into a diet, there is still the issue of alcohol being a disinhibiting agent, which can lead you to overeat or make wrong food choices.
This can be especially problematic for those trying to overcome impulsive food-related behaviors.
What’s more, research has shown that alcohol suppresses fat burning and can lead to abdominal fat accumulation.
If your weight loss has stagnated, it may be best to avoid alcohol or consume it only occasionally and in small amounts.
In summary: Alcohol can interfere with weight loss, providing empty calories, making it easier to overdo it, and increasing the accumulation of abdominal fat.
Tip # 10: Eat More Fiber
Including more fiber in your diet can help you get off a weight loss plateau.
This is especially true for soluble fibers, the type that dissolves in water or liquid.
Right away, the soluble fiber slows down the movement of food through your digestive tract, which can help you feel satiated for longer.
Although research has suggested that all types of fiber can be beneficial for weight loss, an extensive review of several studies has shown that a soluble fiber known as viscous fiber was more effective in keeping food intake and appetite under control.
Another way that fiber can help with weight loss is by decreasing the number of calories your body absorbs from food.
Based on a study that looked at calorie absorption between diets with different amounts of fiber, researchers estimated that increasing your daily fiber intake from 18 to 36 grams can lead to an absorption of 130 fewer calories from mixed meals.
Fibers promote weight loss by slowing down food movement through your digestive tract, reducing appetite and the number of calories your body absorbs from food.
Tip # 11: Drink Water, Coffee, or Tea
While sugary drinks make you gain weight, some drinks can help to reverse a weight loss plateau.
Studies have shown that water alone can increase metabolism by 24 to 30% during the next 90 minutes after drinking 500 ml.
This can mean weight loss over time.
Especially for those who consume water before meals, this can help reduce total food intake.
In a 12-week study of older adults who were on a weight loss diet, members of the group that consumed a portion of water before meals lost 44% more weight than the group that did not take it.
Coffee and tea can also help with your weight loss efforts.
Usually, these drinks contain caffeine, and it has been proven that it increases fat burning and metabolic rate by up to 13%.
According to a study, green tea contains antioxidants, which have been shown to increase fat burning by 17%.
Finally, research suggests that consuming caffeinated beverages can significantly improve the effects of increased metabolism and fat burning from exercise.
Tip # 12: Get plenty of sleep
Sleep is essential for good mental, emotional and physical health.
It is so clear that not getting enough sleep can lead to weight gain, lower your metabolic rate and alter hormone levels that lead to increased appetite and fat storage.
In fact, not getting enough sleep can be an important factor in weight loss plateau cases.
One study found that healthy adults who slept four hours a night for five nights in a row had an average 2.6% decrease in resting metabolic rate, which returned to normal levels after they slept for 12 hours.
To help with weight loss and overall health, try to reserve 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night.
In summary: Insufficient sleep can interfere with weight loss, reducing the metabolic rate and changing your hormone levels, which triggers the feeling of hunger and fat storage.
Tip # 13: Be As Active As Possible
While exercising is important, other factors also influence the number of calories you burn each day.
For example, your metabolic rate increases in response to restlessness, a change in posture, and other similar physical activities.
These types of activity are known as non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT (“Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis”).
Research has shown that NEAT can significantly impact the metabolic rate, although the amount varies significantly from person to person.
One study found that compared to lying down, people’s metabolic rates increased by an average of 54% when they moved while sitting and by an incredible 94% when they moved while standing.
An easy way to increase your NEAT is to get up more often, including using a work desk (or stand up desk).
Another study found that people who stood instead of sitting during an afternoon of work burned almost 200 more calories, on average.
Increasing your daily physical activity unrelated to exercise can help raise your metabolic rate and promote weight loss.
Tip # 14: Eat vegetables at every meal
Vegetables are the ideal food for weight loss.
Most vegetables are low in calories and carbohydrates, high in fiber, and full of beneficial nutrients.
In fact, studies have shown that diets that include plenty of vegetables tend to lead to greater weight loss.
Unfortunately, many people do not eat enough of these foods so favorable for weight loss.
However, it is easy to add vegetables to any meal, including breakfast.
In short: Vegetables are full of important nutrients and have low calorie and carbohydrate content. Including them in every meal can help you reverse a weight loss plateau.
Tip # 15: Don’t just trust the scale
When trying to lose weight, getting on the scale is probably part of your daily routine.
However, it is important to realize that what the scale says may not accurately reflect your progress, such as changes in your body composition.
Instead of just losing weight, your goal is actually to lose fat.
If you are working out regularly, you may be getting muscle, which is denser than fat.
So, if the weight of the scale does not move, you may be gaining muscle mass and losing fat, which ends up keeping your weight stable.
In addition, you may be holding water for a variety of reasons, including your food choices, such as eating too many carbohydrates.
(This is why you tend to lose more weight at the beginning of a low-carb diet because you eliminate a lot of the liquid retained due to carbohydrates. Then it is normal for this rate of weight loss to stabilize )
Another reason involves changes in hormone levels that affect water balance, particularly in women.
Finally, instead of focusing solely on the scale number, assess how you feel, and your clothes fit.
It is also good to measure yourself monthly to help with motivation when weight loss seems to have reached a plateau.
So What you read on the scale may end up not indicating a loss of body fat, especially if you work out or have fluid retention. Assess how you feel, the fit of your clothes and whether your measurements are changing over time.
Conclusion
Weight loss plateaus can be frustrating and demoralizing.
However, they are a normal part of the weight loss process.
In fact, almost everyone goes through a plateau at some point in their journey in search of the ideal body.
Fortunately, adopting these strategies can help you start losing weight again, safely, and finally reaching your goal.