Starting a weight loss plan can help not only change your external appearance, but it can also increase your overall health and quality of life. You may notice that in the first few weeks or even months of your program, you see regular weight loss each week. However, even well-planned weight loss efforts can become stalled, causing a weight loss plateau.
Water Weight
Although much of weight loss is dependent on consistently balancing your calorie intake with the amount of calories you burn through exercise, that does not mean you are always going to lose the same amount of weight each week. First, the loss of water weight can cause a relatively large amount of weight loss in the first few weeks of trying to lose weight, which will even out more as the body turns to burning fat and building muscle. This can result in a plateau on the scale until your body starts consistently burning fat.
Metabolism
Your body is great at adapting to changes in routine as part of its natural survival mechanism. As you increase or decrease your calories, as well as when you increase or decrease your exercise, your body can also increase or decrease your metabolism and fat storage to match your eating and exercise habits. As the body adapts, less weight is lost.
Exercise
To get past a weight loss plateau, increase your calorie burn through increasing the amount of hours you work out each week, or by increasing your intensity level through increased speed, incline or resistance, depending on what exercises you're performing. Consider changing up your routine as well. If you perform the same exercises on the same day every week, change up the schedule days, or introduce new exercises that work the same muscle groups to induce muscle confusion. Also, consider adding an extra-fun activity each week, such as going for a hike or swim, or joining an exercise class or sports league to burn some extra calories and restart the weight loss process.
Diet
Changes to your diet can also help restart the weight loss process after hitting a plateau. Consider trimming 50 to 100 calories from your daily diet and see if that helps get your body over the plateau. However, if cutting calories takes you below 1,200 calories per day, consider increasing your exercise instead to get over your plateau. You should never cut your calories below 1,200 without the recommendation and supervision of a medical professional in order to avoid malnutrition or the development of an eating disorder.
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