3 simple strategies for dealing with weight loss plateau.
What causes diet plateaus?
If you’re looking for a weight loss plateau solution, look no further. In this blog, I am going to discuss the reasons for it and how you can navigate that frustration.
Let me start by asking you a question:
Have you ever been in a ‘cut’ for a while and were consistently losing weight for a few months, all your old clothes fit you again, the world is suddenly full of rainbows and butterflies, and then suddenly BAM! You hit a plateau. No matter what you did, the weight just wouldn’t shift, and you’re left there wondering what you did wrong. Has that ever happened to you?
Everything was going so well and then suddenly everything you did right, just didn’t seem to work any more. The result is usually a mix of frustration and anger, that can often lead to binge eating because “if I’ve done all the right things and I’m not losing weight, I might as well eat whatever I want”.
Cue yo-yo dieting.
Stop. Your body hasn’t failed you, you weren’t doing anything wrong. You probably just need to start reversing into maintenance.
#1 Don’t sit in a deficit too long
No one should ever be in a ‘cut’ for longer than 12 weeks. Your body won’t like it, it will fight to hold on to every last bit of fat you want gone. Why? Because our bodies are incredible structures that are naturally designed to keep you alive. Being in a deficit for too long not only causes physical and emotional damage, but it can also be counterproductive to fat loss.
Whether you have 50lb or 5lb to lose, if you continue to be in a ‘cut’ for too long, your body will stop allowing this weight loss to continue. Don’t be frustrated, its actually doing this to keep you alive.
#2 Have a clear plan with an exit strategy.
People often assume weight loss is a linear process. A weight loss plan can have various phases made up of maintenance phases, deficits and more maintenance.
Think of your body as a car that’s been left out all night with the lights on. The batteries eventually die out, and it either needs to be rolled down a hill or jump cables to get it to restart again. Your body works similarly to this. Adaptive thermogenesis has left many people scratching their heads and wondering why something that worked in the past just won’t work any more.
Our bodies are incredibly intelligent, but not so intelligent that it can tell you are putting it through a deficit because you want to. It just thinks you are starving and therefore starts to turn off some of the mechanics unnecessary for survival. Some of these hormones and functions it switches off can affect how your body holds on to fat.
So, the answer you are looking for is “maintenance”.
Practice noticing your body’s hunger cues.
No its not the end of the world, and no your progress won’t end. Its just a different phase that has to happen in order for that progress to continue. Weight loss is a journey, and it can take up to years of going into various phases to really get to where you want to be.
Even you if you haven’t hit your weight loss goal, if you weight has plateaued and you’re beginning to feel run down, start to increase your calories. This will help to increase your metabolism, and essentially take it out of a stress mode.
#3 Be patient, all is coming.
Nothing says ‘weight loss plateau’ more than body stress.
Allow yourself that time to get to know how your responds in different phases and embrace the process. Maintenance can be an amazing period of refeeding the body with the things you may have given up. Enjoy it, reboost your metabolism and enjoy the holiday seasons knowing full well that this might actually be the thing you need.
Turns out, your weight loss plateau solution is simpler than you had imagined because all you need is a little self compassion and consistency and the rest will come.
Happy December everyone!
