A stubborn scale that refuses to drop regardless of your diet and exercise often indicates a weight-loss plateau. A stall in weight loss is a common occurrence, usually several months into your weight-loss efforts. As you lose weight, your metabolism usually drops as it adjusts to the new weight and amount of lean muscle. To continue losing, you need to adjust your caloric intake and the amount of calories you burn. These changes to your diet and exercise program help you overcome or avoid a plateau.
Step 1
Track all of the calories you consume throughout your weight-loss program. This allows you to know exactly how much you are eating and when cuts are necessary to your calorie counts.
Step 2
Measure your food portions to ensure you aren't eating larger portions but tracking the nutritional information for smaller servings. Inaccurate portion sizing leads to possibly consuming more calories than you realize, which makes it more difficult to lose weight.
Step 3
Cut back on the amount of calories you consume each day. Start by cutting 100 to 200 calories per day, making sure your daily calorie intake doesn't drop under 1,200 if you are a woman or 1,500 if you are a man. As you lose weight, you don't need as many calories each day, so the cuts can help you continue to lose without hitting a plateau.
Step 4
Write down your total amount of time exercising each week. Add on an extra 30 minutes of exercise to your weekly totals every few weeks. This increases the amount of calories you burn as you lose weight.
Step 5
Exercise in different ways to allow you to stay on track with your exercise goals by keeping your workouts interesting. Incorporate cardiovascular exercises and weight training. Weight training builds lean muscle, which helps speed up your metabolism.
Step 6
Exercise at a higher intensity during some of your workouts to burn more calories without major increases in exercise time. For example, add intense hill workouts in your running routine or add jogging into your walks.
Step 7
Participate in more physical activity outside of your organized exercise sessions. Play actively with kids, take an extra walk around the block, or meet up with friends for a physical activity like swimming or hiking.
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