How to overcome the weight loss plateau
The numbers on the scales have stopped decreasing and you are in a panic? Won’t you lose weight and have you failed with a weight loss program? There is no need to be so categorical: a weight-loss plateau (stopping weight loss in the process of losing weight) is not a failure, but a problem that can be overcome. How to do it? Read in our new article.
Try fasting
A good concussion for the body is the fasting days. These are the days when you eat light food with a calorie content of 600-800 kcal (daily rate).
Nutritionists advise to arrange fasting days not more than 1-2 times a week, to adhere to the regime of alternating fasting and usual in terms of nutrition days, not to do it more than 2 consecutive days.
Thanks to the fasting, your body will be cleansed of toxins. Reducing the caloric intake will have a positive effect on metabolism.
Try load days
If during the fasting days we eat less than usual and stick to daily caloric intake within 600-800 kcal, then during the load days it is necessary to increase the daily calorie of the menu by 200-300 kcal.
Load days should also be done no more than once a week. Otherwise, the weight will come back because the required calorie deficit will disappear. Boost extra calorie through light proteins and complex carbohydrates.
Such days will show your body that you do not plan to go hungry and have nothing to do to store energy or slow down metabolism for energy conservation purposes.
When the body ceases to fear hunger and restriction in resources, it will quietly say goodbye to excess fat, and the weight will begin to decline again.
Review food
In the first couple of weeks of dieting the weight is really adjusted to a smaller side, then the process seems to freeze. This means that you consume very few calories that do not reach the basal metabolic rate. How not to make a mistake with diet adjustments?
Go for a proper, balanced diet, without heavy restrictions on food and starvation. Include more fruits and vegetables in your daily menu, change bakery and sandwiches to fruits or yoghurt snacks that will quench your hunger for long without harming your figure.
The menu, even in the process of losing weight, should be diverse:
- more vegetables and fruits;
- low-fat yoghurts;
- cereals;
- boiled chicken meat;
- nuts and other useful foods.
Do not focus only on buckwheat or rice – it will not help to lose weight and only will save you from the necessary nutrients.
Outsmart your body
The training program, just like the menu, should be diverse. If you do the same exercises for a long time, in the same number of approaches, with the same rest interval, without gradually increasing the workload and not performing new exercises, there will be no progress.
In order for the weight loss process to be stable, it is recommended to change the working weights when performing cardio and strength exercises. Increase the number of approaches, reduce the rest time between exercises, increase the intensity of training, try to train several times a day: morning, afternoon and evening, it is enough to spend short training for 15-30 minutes to improve your physical performance.
Soothe your nerves
Often the weight stops reducing if we feel stress. The body is already feeling too bad to lose weight. Therefore, in times of stress, it includes an energy-saving mode and pushes you to food provocations that are able to increase the amount of serotonin in the blood and to drive out depression (dramatically pulls on sweets).
As soon as you stop nervous, your body will calm down as well. Your weight will start to drop again, unless, of course, you continue to eat rationally and balanced within the limits of your daily calorie.
You should not despair at the onset of the weight plateau. These are all temporary difficulties that must be adequately endured. Most often the diet plateau lasts no more than a month, if there is a calorie deficit and the daily calorie of the menu did not increase. And then the weight will continue to decrease gradually.
