By Frustration follows success with these six easy steps
One of the most annoying moments bringing endless frustration — is the inability to move the needle on your weight loss goals. You probably wonder what you are doing wrong or why your body fails you. Don’t take it personally; it’s just another fork in the road to fat loss.
The plateau — a small pit of quicksand
When we embark on the weight loss journey, it can be straightforward and effortless to lose those initial few pounds. If you have not dieted or exercised before and have a lot of body fat to lose, you may become disillusioned with those first few weeks. Usually, it’s water rather than body fat. After a few months down the track, things begin to slow down. Diet and exercise don’t seem to be working their magic on you anymore. The point in which you are at right now is called the plateau. It’s where your body has reached a set point and isn’t progressing as fast or has ceased to progress. Many people opt to alter their diet by eating even less or exercising even more. Despite your efforts, these two factors may lead to weight gain. It doesn’t make much sense in the calories in, calories out theory. It becomes even more confusing when you throw win energy expenditure rules. How can you not burn more when you eat less and exercise above and beyond consumed calories? But the body does not work in that highly scientific system; it’s led by homeostasis. Its job is to keep you alive and notice the small changes that can lead to your inability to survive. In this case, it’s any susceptibility towards starvation. At a certain point, the body will know that there isn’t enough food coming in and begin to hold onto everything you consume, leading to more fat accumulation — no matter how little you are eating. As soon as you stop eating well or exercising, the body fat can accumulate rapidly. Not all is lost, though, it’s reversible, and you must first keep in mind that the body wants balance. We must manipulate activities and foods to give us the calories we need without allowing our bodies to suspect anything. It would be best if you gave your body time to adapt and allow it to work its magic. Too many things forced on it at the same time will leave you feeling overwhelmed and confused. That means stress and cortisol elevation. Cortisol excess is one weight loss inhibitor that silently lurks in an unsuspecting corner.
Five ways to break through that dreaded weight loss plateau
One: Start cutting out carbs or cycling them
Carb restriction leads to rapid weight loss initially and gives your body more metabolic flexibility to burn fat stores for energy. Reduced carb intake also decreases cravings and hunger. This is because your body can start producing ketones without carbs.If you don’t want to reduce your carbs, try cycling them. This gives you an excellent resolution whilst still allowing the consumption of carbohydrates regularly. It lowers it enough for fat loss but not quite enough to cause any harm to your thyroid or metabolism over the long term. Try this out for 40 days, and consume only carbs from vegetable sources, then when you start getting some results, begin to carb cycle regularly.
Two: Protein is essential for every meal
Protein intake is thermogenic, requiring calories to digest. You can increase your caloric burn by about 20–30%. Protein is also the key to reducing appetite, fullness and satisfaction with your meals. Aim to retain and build muscle mass when dieting because muscle mass will keep your metabolism high. But, conversely, losing muscle when restricting calories; therefore, protein should be your best friend.
Three: Strength training
I can’t recommend weight training enough for its strength, muscle and building benefits. Re-condition your body by lifting weights and boosting your metabolism to higher rates, just on this alone. Then, when you weight train and watch what you eat, the weight will not be an issue. Ladies, don’t fret. Lifting weights won’t make you masculine. Your body will become conditioned, helping to soften cellulite and transition you into a slim, toned body. It sure beats running on the treadmill for 2 hours (exhausting and doesn’t work).
Four: Try HIIT
This is an intense way to exercise and has been shown to decrease body fat stores and create the after-burn effect. You burn extra calories after your workout ends. The trick is to make sure your efforts are all out — go ahead and give it all you’ve got. Then you rest. It’s a straightforward concept, and you may use a skipping rope, run on a treadmill or outdoors, ride a bike or cross-trainer. The choices are endless.
Five: Try Intermittent fasting
This is my favourite technique. I won’t get into too much detail in this article, as I have written many blog posts. Studies show that weight loss is within the 3–8% range in only 3–24 weeks. That’s a good result for skipping a meal or two a few times a week.
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