Long term weight loss can be a miserable business. The way your body loses weight is through calorie deficit. This means your body has to be using more energy than you take in/eat. If you have a lot of weight to lose you are looking at doing this for the long term. During the time you are trying to lose weight your body adjusts and you find you are no longer losing weight. You have to learn how to deal with the weight loss plateau or you risk giving up. If giving up means going back to your previous lifestyle, the weight will come back on!
I have no training in nutrition nor any relevant qualifications so I am simply sharing my experience in this blog. At 54 years of age, I started the year at 16 and a half stone (105 kg). You can read some of my weight loss journey here. Nine months on and I am now just on the edge of the healthy weight zone for my height. I have lost 3 stone 10 lbs but for the last two months progress has been very very slow. It is so demoralising and I found I needed to learn how to deal with the plateau!
I don’t think I am at immediate risk of giving up and putting the weight back on. The lack of progress is wearing me down despite the lifestyle changes. My approach to most problems is to read a lot and then make a list 🙂 I have been looking into things that I can do to kick start my progress again. Here is the best advice I have been able to gather on how to deal with the plateau.
Five ways to deal with the weight loss plateau
- Mix it up! If you do the same thing day in day out you will get bored and it can feel like everything has stagnated. Look at your exercise regime and make a few changes. Try doing something you never thought you would – have a go at running or cycling. Swimming or rowing – whatever your cardio has been – change it! If you started gently and have just been walking – consider switching it up but do take medical advice before starting any new regime.
- Make sure you rest properly. This is the sort of instruction I really like to follow. It might seem counter intuitive but it is important to rest. Adequate rest and recuperation is even more important if you are following a heavy exercise regime. If your weight loss is slowing it is tempting to go overboard on the exercise but actually resting might be a better route. This gives your body time to repair.
- Remember that this is a marathon not a sprint. You are making lifestyle changes and as long as the long term trend is positive you are on track. Much as it feels amazing to knock down milestones and reach targets, take a moment to consider the longer term. Work out how far you have come. Consider where you would be if you hadn’t made the changes. Celebrate the long term successes. For example – how many weeks is it since you put on any weight? Before I started my new regime I was putting on weight steadily every week!
- Consider putting in one amazing week. If you are already on a super healthy diet all the time then this tip won’t work for you! For me this means looking at where my calories come from and knocking out the items of low nutritional value. I then replace those with additional fruit and veg! This means no weekly latte treat and no wine. But only for the one week just to give a bit of a boost to progress. I am considering dropping the alcohol for good – more on that in another post!
- Increase your resistance work. The amount of fuel your body needs in calories is influenced by a number of different factors, one of which is the amount of muscle you have in your body composition. Increasing the lean tissue/muscle should result in an increased calorie requirement. This means you can eat a little more and not gain weight OR you can carry on with your current calorie intake but see an increased weight loss. There are a number of different ways to increase your resistance work. I was recently given a recommendation to follow HIT workouts on YouTube. Just search on HIT workouts. Joe Wicks does has a huge number so you would never get bored and they start at complete beginner level. I also invested in ankle and wrist weights which I wear when doing exercise or just knocking around the house. These then increase the work my body is doing during the course of an average day and hopefully work my muscles just a little more.
I hope you find these tips on how to deal with the weight loss plateau useful. My own weight loss battle continues and I will keep you posted on the progress. All the best with yours!
Annie 🙂
P.S. if you would like to read more from me then please check out my sister blog which has more crafting and planning content. You can find me over at Stickytapeandstring