How to Break Past The Dreaded Weight Loss Plateau

 

You’re working out, watching your nutrition, everything seems to be going well and BAM the scale refuses to budge…the dreaded weight loss plateau has hit. You ask yourself, why am I putting myself through this?

It is completely normal for this to occur, however knowing this does not make things easier. It may become easy for you to become deflated and stray off your fitness path; the cookies and pizza are very tempting right now.  Not too fast, here are some things you can do to get you past the dreaded plateau.
Here are five important things to know about weight loss plateaus and exercise:

1. Vary your daily calorie intake.

You would think that by eating less you will lose more, but that is not what happens. The key is to keep your metabolism guessing. For instance, if you usually consume 1,500 calories a day, try dropping to 1,300 one day, next day go up to 1,900, and then drop back to 1,500.

According to Beachbody Director of Results Steve Edwards, what happens when you zigzag is that you force your body to choose how many calories it needs to recover from the rigors of your exercise program. “Most people who hit a plateau are under eating. If you are indeed under eating, adding calories for a few days, then lowering them again, will help you force your body into a hormonal response that will not only help you break out of a plateau, but—as you learn to recognize the signals—will teach you how much food you should be eating.”

2. Vary your workouts.sand-volleyball

This is why I Love the Beachbody Workouts!!  I have a Fitness Library full of different programs. If you do the same workout day after day it becomes less of a challenge and less effective. Switch it up for maximum results!

If you usually run, ride a bike.
Try weights with your cardio routine. (ChaLEAN Extreme® or RevAbs® can help you do this.)  Add intervals of high intensity to really make you sweat. (INSANITY® is a great workout for this.)

DIG DEEP!!

The idea is to try something different. According to Edwards, “The better you get at something, the easier it becomes. That’s why we’re always telling you to add more weight as you get stronger, and to move faster and jump higher as our programs progress. But it’s also why all of our programs have phases of training. As your body adapts to stimulus, you need to change that stimulus in order to keep results happening.”

3. Eat some almonds.

Almonds contain fiber and fatty acids (the good fat that helps you shed pounds). A study published in the International Journal of Obesity compared two groups of people who ate a 1,000-calorie-a-day diet. As part of their daily diet, one group ate 3 ounces of almonds every day. The other group ate a mix of complex carbs. What happened? The group that ate the almonds lost more weight (Justine Holberg).

Keep almonds on hand, they are easy to travel with, or as Edwards says, “Any nut, really. While almonds are one of the better nuts, all of them have a similar nutritional profile and make excellent snacks. That research probably would have turned out similarly if they’d used walnuts or filberts or whatever.”

4. Get more sleep.

Lack of recovery time causes you to hit a weight loss plateau; if you over-train your body and don’t get the proper rest your body will hold onto the weight you are trying to lose.
In a recent study at the University of Chicago Medical School, researchers found that during a period when study participants were deprived of sleep, they metabolized glucose less effectively.

Additionally, they had higher levels of the hormone cortisol, which has been shown to impair memory, increase insulin resistance, and slow recovery in athletes (Justine Holberg). “There’s a good reason why five-time Tour de France winner Eddy Merckx said, ‘The Tour is won in bed,'” says Edwards. Your body’s recovery response during deep sleep is only rivaled by performance-enhancing drugs. When you’re on the borderline of overtraining, getting more sleep is the first thing anyone should try.”

5. Relax.

Have you heard of Cortisol?  This hormone is released in higher levels when we are stressed which causes our bodies to hang onto fat. “Cortisol is actually a performance-enhancing hormone,” says Edwards. “But it’s gotten a bad rap because we’ve begun living our lives at too high a volume. Cortisol is released at times when the body is in an emergency state. It increases performance, but only over a short period of time. When cortisol is released and forced into action at regular intervals, it causes your body to wear down and switch to more drastic means of survival, like holding on to excess amounts of body fat. Your life shouldn’t feel like one big emergency.”

How do you get rid of stress or at least deal with it?  I find yoga or stretching helps me. I listen to Nature Sounds on Pandora to help me chill as well.