How Do I Overcome a Weight Loss Plateau?
First let’s set this straight. YOU DON'T NEED TO WORK OUT HARDER AND RESTRICT MORE to get over a weight loss slump.
So you head into this weight loss journey and I am guessing you probably eliminated food groups, started counting macros, restricting foods (possibly sugar and carbs), working out more consistently, possible harder than you ever have. Whatever it may be you probably made some pretty drastic changes in your life to lose the weight in the first place.
So now it is time to re-evaluate. As we know you will always see changes in your body when you implement a new diet or plan BUT eventually your body does hit plateau. One thing to consider is, maybe this is your set weight, your happy weight, the weight you are meant to be at. And if this just doesn’t seem like the case then here are a few of my suggestions.
1. Address the stress in your life. Have you been under more stress than usual? IS YOUR NEW DIET OR WEIGHT LOSS REGIME STRESSFUL? We can only run on adrenaline for so long my friend, running on adrenaline initially can make us feel really good and cause us to actually lose weight, until our body hits burnout and it will... Guess what your body needs when it’s stressed out? More calories, not less.
2. If you did eliminate carbs and sugars from your diet it might be time to start adding those back in. Eliminating carbs and sugars is not only stressful it will affect your metabolism and most importantly your main metabolic gland the thyroid. We need glucose in order to convert the inactive thyroid hormone T4 to the active form T3. Focus on simple sugars that are easy to digest like fruit.
3. Are you killing yourself at the gym? Depending on the workouts you are doing this can be a big stress and cause more harm than good. Take it down a notch and make sure you are recovering. Also, focus on strength training over cardio since putting on muscle will increase your resting metabolic rate (the amount of calories you need just to live and breath). Find out your energy expenditure you might be pleasantly surprised you need to be consuming a lot more calories than you think!
4. Address your protein, carb and fat intake. Make sure you are getting enough carbs and protein and consistently eating every 3-4 hours to balance your blood sugar and keep your bodies stress response down. Also, don’t overdo it on the fats! If you are consuming nuts and seeds and adding loads of healthy fats to your meals that may need to be addressed
5. Sleep! I can’t stress this enough! If you are not getting deep restorative sleep every night you simply can not expect to lose those extra pounds.
Did you see a trend there? Stress in all forms is probably the reason you have hit a weight loss plateau. What’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I know what your thinking- you are scared you will put on weight if you change things up. Girl, i’ve been there and that is a valid fear but I assure you the fear of gaining weight won’t fix anything but may actually contribute to the plateau.If you are still having a difficult time losing weight it might be time to get some labs to address hormonal imbalances, gut probs and mineral imbalances. I offer DUTCH hormone testing, GI Maps, and of course the Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis.
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