How to Quickly Overcome a Weight Loss Plateau

You’ve been working out, making changes to your diet, and starting to lose weight… And then it happens. The dreaded weight loss plateau. What causes a weight loss plateau and how can you overcome it?

There can be quite a few reasons why you’ve hit a weight loss plateau.

But there are two big causes: newbie rapid loss has passed or your body has adapted to what you’re doing now.

But don’t worry.

While a weight loss plateau is incredibly frustrating, it can be overcome with tweaks to your daily routine and nutrition.

Plus, it’s a good idea to understand why weight loss plateaus happen in the first place.

By the way, these are the types of tips and techniques I discuss with all my clients and package into my fitness training programs. It’s my goal to help empower women — especially women with chronic illness and health issues — to redefine their health and feel stronger in a sustainable way.

 

 

 

 

 

What Causes A Weight Loss Plateau Anyway?

Newbie Gains

When we first start a diet or start working out, we often see what’s called “newbie gains.” No, not “gains” like weight gain. “Gains” in this case refer to “gaining muscle” or “rapid gains in the right direction.”

This rapid change is normal and common.

These “newbie gains” come from your body utilizing its own stored energy. When you first start to cut calories, change your diet, or workout, your body adapts by releasing stored glycogen to burn more energy.

Glycogen contains water, so the water is expelled and you lose bloat and weight.

But because it’s water weight you lost, it’s a rapid loss that stalls out. That’s why most people hit a weight loss plateau very shortly after starting a new regime.

 

Lost Muscle Mass

The other thing to keep in mind is that if you aren’t weight training, you’ll probably lose some muscle too.

That’s not good — muscle helps keep your metabolism burning strong. You burn more calories when you have more muscle.

In fact, lean muscle mass burns 5x as many calories. So as you lose weight and some muscle with it, your metabolism slows down.

To prevent this and keep your metabolism getting stronger instead of slowing down, you need to add strength training to your routine. More on that below.

 

 

 

Your Body’s in Starvation Mode

Do you tend to skip meals? Eat less than 1200 calories a day? Or eat way less than calories burned?

Then your body is in starvation mode.

When you’re not eating enough calories, your body doesn’t know what’s going on. It goes back to thinking on evolutionary terms: “There must be a famine! Hold on to ALL THE FAT!”

And if you eat a lot one day, and then skip most meals the next, your body gets super confused. So, you’ve got to stop doing that.

A consistent diet is the way to go, and I’ve got tips on that below.

 

You’re Overeating

It takes 3,500 calories burned to shed just 1 pound. So if you’re often eating over your daily calories burned, then you’re going to gain weight.

Likewise, if you’re eating about the same amount as your calories burned, then your weight loss will stall.

 

Your Body Has Adapted

If you’ve been doing the same thing for a while (6+ weeks), your body will start to adapt.

If you’ve already lost some weight, your body needs fewer calories than it did before. If you’ve been doing the same workout for a while, your body becomes used to it. It expends less energy doing the same thing you did before.

This is a super common reason for a weight loss plateau, and the easiest to fix. We just need to change things up!

 

 

How Long Does a Weight Loss Plateau Last?

A weight loss plateau can last anywhere from a few weeks to several months. It depends on you, to be honest.

If your weight loss plateau was caused by newbie gains, as mentioned above, you should start to see some progress again in a few weeks.

But if your plateau was caused by one of the other reasons above, it won’t budge unless you do.

 

Will a Weight Loss Plateau Go Away on Its Own

Sorry for the bad news, but 9 times out of 10: The answer is no.

That’s because, like mentioned above, weight loss plateaus are usually caused by your body adapting or a needed change to your diet.

If you don’t change, the plateau won’t go away.

The only time a plateau will go away on its own is if it’s caused by newbie gains. Meaning, you initially burned through those glycogen stores which burned water weight.

After that initial rapid weight loss, your body will settle into it and you should start to see some slower progress. Until you need to change things up again, anyway.

 

How to Overcome a Weight Loss Plateau

1. Change Up Your Habits

A lot of times, weight loss plateaus come down to habits.

If you sit at a desk all day, try getting up and walking around for 5 minutes here and there.

Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Walk your dog every day when you get home, for 1 – 2 minutes longer than the day before.

This extra movement can help rev your metabolism and get you past a stall.

But it isn’t only movement changes that can affect it. Everything from our sleep patterns, to our daily routines, can cause our bodies to fall into a comfortable zone. Shaking things up can help.

 

2. Increase Your Movement

Any way you can get extra movement in, do so. Aim for an extra 500 – 1000 steps a day. Add a extra set onto your workout.

Space it out throughout the day, and aim to add more active movement wherever you can. Even stretching counts!

 

 

3. Fuel Cycle Your Meals

If you really struggle with weight loss, cycling your fuels can make a difference.

There are a few different ways you could do this.

You could do the Trim Healthy Mama approach, where you separate your carbs and fats per meal.

So at breakfast, you might have eggs and avocado, which are healthy fats. But you would not eat toast, because that’s a carb. You’d wait 3 hours before eating again, and your next meal might be a stuffed sweet potato (a healthy complex carb). But you would not put butter on it (a fat).

By doing so, you’re separating your carbs and fats and “cycling” them throughout the day.

There’s also carb cycling to fuel for specific workout training or refeeding during diets like Keto. This article from Healthline has an excellent breakdown of how it works.

 

 Why I Follow the Trim Healthy Mama Plan + A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Started

 

4. Add Strength Training to Your Routine

If you’re trying to lose weight and you’ve hit a plateau, and you aren’t lifting weights? Well, then this needs to be priority #1.

You need lean muscle to burn more fat.

Lean muscle keeps your metabolism going strong, and burns more calories throughout the day. If you’re trying to lose weight without strength training, you’re going to lose some muscle in the process.

Less muscle = slower metabolism. Not cool.

To counteract that weight loss effect, you need to start strength training on a regular basis. 3x a week is ideal, but start with whatever you can.

Every bit helps, and being consistent is key — even if consistency is only once a week.

Don’t know where to begin? Try this full body workout at home with no equipment.

 

5. Change Your Workout

Now, if you have been working out, but you’ve hit a weight loss plateau, then it’s time to change your workouts.

Your body adapts to a workout about every 6 weeks. If you are doing the same workout every day or week, your body will stop seeing the same gains.

So every 6 weeks or so, plan to change things up.

Sometimes, you’ll need to change things more than only swapping out exercises. You might need to try heavier weight training for a while, or switching to circuits instead of supersets.

You may even need to change it up by taking extended rest and recovery. Allow your body time to properly recover, then get back to it.

The key is to keep your body on its toes.

 

6. Keep a Fitness Journal and Food Log

If over- or undereating is your problem, then start by keeping a food log and a fitness journal for a week.

At the end of the week, reflect back on how you did. You may be surprised to find that your diet wasn’t as clean as you thought it was. Or maybe you’re not moving enough.

Assess and then reprioritize.

 

7. Eat More Protein

This is SO common, especially with women. We don’t eat enough protein.

Track your protein intake over a few days, and see what your average is. You want to be eating about .6g – 1g per pound.

What that means is, if you weigh 150lbs, you want to be eating 90g – 150g of protein a day.

Your protein intake should be about 30% of your daily macros, depending on your goals and routine.

Protein helps you burn more calories, feel fuller, and recover after a workout. So if you’re trying to lose weight, eat more protein.

 

8. Get More Sleep

People underestimate the power of sleep. You need to sleep to recover after a workout, for your body to heal and function properly, and yes… to lose weight.

In fact, lack of sleep is strongly linked to obesity.

Your body does so many processes at night while you sleep. One of which is processing your nutrition and detoxing.

If you aren’t sleeping enough, you’re denying your body the chance to process and recharge.

 

Too Tired to Workout? Here’s How to Overcome Exhaustion

 

9. Find Ways to Relieve Stress

If you’re often super stressed, then it’s time to figure out how to relieve some of that tension. Because stress is a HUGE factor in weight loss.

Stress produces cortisol. When we have too much cortisol, it can trigger more feelings of hunger, mess with your sleep, and wreck havoc on your hormones and digestion.

Too much cortisol is also linked to excess belly fat storage, and it’s even more common in women.

But ditching stress is easier said than done, I know. I’m a habitually stressed person myself.

Here are a few suggestions for helping you reduce stress:

• Meditate daily
• Journal your thoughts
• Write down 5 things you’re grateful for every morning
• Spend at least 15 – 30 minutes a day doing a hobby you enjoy
• Move your body
• Try yoga
• Watch your favorite funny movie, and have a good laugh
• Take a nighttime multimineral like Mary Ruth’s Liquid Multimineral. I cannot rave about this stuff enough for better sleep and stress relief. It’s made a HUGE difference for me.

 

Another way to destress is to join my Stressed to Refreshed challenge! It’s a FREE 5-day mindfulness + gentle movement challenge to ease stress and tension in the body.

>> Click here to join the free Stressed to Refreshed challenge <<

 

 

10. Ditch Alcohol and Sugary Drinks

Alcohol slows our metabolism and is hard on the body. Plus, it’s usually a lot of sugary, empty calories. And sugary drinks like energy drinks and soda are also wasteful uses of calories that cause weight gain.

Instead, cut them out or limit them to special occasions.

 

11. Take a Probiotic

A probiotic is a powerful weight loss tool. Most people need some help with their gut health because our modern diets aren’t as healing as they once were.

A lot of foods we eat contain ingredients and chemicals that inflame our stomachs and mess with our natural microbiome.

So try adding a good probiotic into your diet to aid your digestion and health. I like Garden of Life probiotics with 16 strains.

 

 

 

12. Drink More Water

Water is the ultimate detoxer. If you want to lose weight, drink more water.

You should be drinking about half your body weight in water a day. So for someone who weighs 150 lbs, that would be 75 oz of water.

If that’s a struggle for you, start small. Add just 8 extra oz of water a day for a few days, then increase it again.

 

13. Pile on More Veggies

Veggies are rich in vitamins and minerals we need to keep our metabolisms in tip-top shape.

Aim for at least 1-2 handfuls of veggies per meal every day, with a wide variety of different veggies.

Berries are also fantastic for weight loss and contain lots of powerful antioxidants.

 

14. Stop Checking The Scale Everyday

Stop fretting over the scale. No, seriously, just don’t do it.

If you check your weight every day, you’ll be worrying about every little change. You’ll be more prone to OVER changing your routine, instead of giving things time to play out and see how they work for you.

Besides, weight gain fluctuates every day naturally. It can change by our diet, our bathroom habits, our sodium intake, our monthly cycle… You name it!

So instead, opt to check your weight once a week. This still keeps you on track, without the extra worrying.

 

15. Work With a Personal Trainer

If you’ve done all this, and still struggling to get past a weight loss plateau? Then it’s time to consult an expert.

Working with a personal trainer can be invaluable in helping you get past a weight loss plateau.

Oftentimes, we overlook small mistakes that are derailing our success. Or, we don’t have all the knowledge we need.

A personal trainer will assess your lifestyle, health, fitness level, and nutrition and give you a plan to help you reach your goals.

It can be worth the investment to save you time and frustration guessing and getting nowhere.

I can’t tell you how many times now I’ve worked with clients who were SHOCKED at how quickly they started seeing results.

And it usually boiled down to having the right plan for them and the right changes to their routine and nutrition. This is even more true for women with chronic health issues who need specific modifications to see results and feel their best.

If that’s something you’re interested in, check out my 1-on-1 training plans and my fitness program and book a free call with me. I’m confident you’ll overcome your weight loss plateau with some extra guidance and motivation!

 

 

By: How to Quickly Overcome a Weight Loss Plateau