HOW TO AVOID A WEIGHT LOSS PLATEAU

December, you are enjoying the festivities; great food, alcohol, Christmas parties meaning late nights and inevitably those next day hangovers disrupting your regular exercise regime.

January, it’s a new year, a month off from drinking alcohol, back to eating healthy, increasing your water intake and upping those workouts to achieve New Year's resolutions.

February, all the hard work is paying off and you are starting to see results from those extra hours in the gym and avoiding the snack draw or office biscuit tin.

Now we are creeping into March and … Nothing!? This isn’t right! However, experiencing a “plateau in weight loss” is common and most of us will start to see results from hard work in the gym and the effort put into meal prepping start to slow down or halt altogether.

But don’t panic, this isn’t the end of seeing those numbers creep down or hitting those PBs. Typically weight loss plateaus do not usually occur until about 6 months in, you may just have to adopt a few little tweaks and changes to keep seeing progress.

Why am I seeing a plateau? When starting out to lose weight, upping exercise and/or decreasing calories consumed to create a calorie deficit, you are likely to see a more rapid rate of weight loss at the beginning. This is partly due to the weight in water that your body is losing. This can be really encouraging at first as the number continues to decrease on the scales and spur you on, however, this fast rate of weight loss will eventually slow down. The speed of weight loss may also be down to the number of calories you are consuming. At the beginning of your weight loss, the energy requirements will be higher as essentially there is more of you to move around therefore, you consume a lower amount of calories to what your body requires, aka “calorie deficit” to start seeing results. However, as you start to lose weight the number of calories your body requires begins to decline, therefore if you are still consuming the same amount of calories as you did at the beginning of the weight loss there will be less of a deficit = weight loss plateau.

OVERCOMING A WEIGHT LOSS PLATEAU

Decrease calorie consumption
It may be worth tweaking your calorie intake slightly (by 100 cals a day to begin with) to see if this can boost weight loss by creating a bigger calorie deficit. Make sure you are still filling up on plenty of fibre rich food and protein to keep you from going hungry!

Are you overestimating your efforts?
A month or two into a weight loss plan it may be easy to become complacent and let yourself think you are being as strict as you were at the beginning, however things may have become slack! Reassess your diet. Are you sticking to the calorie restriction that you need to continue to see results? Are you still exercising at the frequency and intensity that you were to begin with? Hold yourself accountable and remember you will not continue to see results if you do not continue putting in the effort!

Mix up your exercise regime
If you have been sticking to the same exercise programme it might be worth mixing it up and trying something completely new or upping the intensity. For example, if you are running on a weekly basis why not include a sprint session into the mix or try a HIIT class once a week to increase your calorie burn. Alternatively, make small changes to what you are already doing; Increase the weights you are using or decrease the rest time between sets, try increasing your pace or the distance you are running or cycling.

OTHER FACTORS TO CONSIDER

Are you being too restrictive?
If you are not fueling your body efficiently you may not be seeing results from your exercise programme as you simply do not have enough energy to push yourself to a hard enough intensity during a workout. Make sure you are allowing time for your body to rest and recover with adequate sleep and are refuelling on healthy meals containing complex carbohydrates, lean protein, healthy fats and plenty of vegetables. Try one of our Slender Blend shakes to refuel after a workout!

Are you building muscle?
Remember, the number on the scales doesn’t tell the whole story. Just because your weight isn’t decreasing doesn’t mean you aren’t making progress as you may be building muscle from your training. When you first start exercising your weight may be rapidly decreasing however, the plateau that comes along could be due to the muscle weight that you are gaining as muscle weighs more than fat. In this case, weighing yourself on the scales may be deceiving and even discouraging to think all your hard work isn’t making a difference! Although your weight isn’t changing, the muscle that you are building will improve your body composition and also increase your metabolism meaning that your body burns calories at a higher rate.

Could hormones be making a difference?
During certain times of the month, our hormones make a huge difference to various functions including appetite and how much water we hold onto as well as how your body responds to diet and exercise- so don’t be put off in this case. It may be hard to motivate yourself to exercise if you are feeling sluggish through different times of the month. In this case, your body may respond better to more gentle forms of exercise, for example, steady state cardio, yoga or pilates rather that a HIIT class that will be putting your boy through additional stress. If you are reaching a plateau don’t be put off! Losing weight isn’t a quick process and it takes time and perseverance (lots of sweat, maybe a few blisters, and hours of meal prepping) to see results. So keep with it, keep pushing/ sprinting/ squatting and you’ll get there! Check out our Slender Plan which can help to add structure to your daily routine, and help to create a calorie deficit to make sure you’re on the right path to successful weight loss!

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