Achieving the weight you desire is a challenging task. In the beginning, weight may tend to shed off rapidly, but it comes to a point where no matter what you do, it won’t budge.
This phenomenon is often referred to as a weight loss plateau or a stall. Although it is widespread, when the same efforts that once created great results no longer work, most people feel discouraged and even frustrated.
Here are a few tips that will help you re-start your weight-loss and beat that stall.
Cut on your Carbs Intake
Research reports confirm that diets with low carb contents are useful for losing weight. A review of thirteen studies showed that those who took 50 or lower carb grams daily lost a lot more weight compared to the ones that followed traditional diets.
Some studies show that menus with low carb levels increase the rate of burning of body fats and also promote metabolic changes, which intensify weight loss.
Diets with low carb levels have proven to make you feel less hungry and fuller as compared to other foods. They stimulate the production of Ketones: natural chemicals that reduce appetite. This makes you eat less and makes it easier to start shedding off weight without experiencing discomfort and hunger.
Increase the Frequency and Intensity of Physical Exercise
Reviving your physical exercise routine will help in beating the stall effects. As your weight reduces, there is also a reduction in your body metabolic rates, and this makes it difficult to continue losing weight.
Resistance training will help promote muscle mass retention – this is the primary factor that influences the number of calories burned when engaging in an activity and when at rest. Resistance training is quite efficient when it comes to weight loss.
In a study that was conducted within 12 weeks, obese women who strictly followed diets with low calories and engaged in weight lifting daily for twenty minutes lost 13 lbs and 2 inches from their waists averagely.
If you engage in physical exercises, work out for 1 to 2 extra days weekly, or increase your workout intensity to help boost the body’s metabolic rate.
Track every Food you eat
At times, it may appear as if you aren’t consuming much, but you still find it difficult to lose weight. Researchers report that people tend to underestimate the food amounts that they eat. In one of the studies, people with obesity were reported taking around 1200 calories daily. However, when an analysis of that intake was done, results indicated that their consumption was twice the amount stated.
Tracking your macronutrients and calories intake will make you more accountable. It will provide the necessary information about the amounts you’re consuming. This will be of great help if you need your diet modified.
Research indicates that keeping track of the food you take will improve your efforts towards weight loss.
Practice Intermittent Fasting
This is a popular trend that involves staying without eating for around 16-48 hours. Besides other benefits it has for your health, this practice promotes weight and body fat loss.
In alternate-day fasting, you will alternate between consuming minimal quantities of calories on a day and a controlled amount on the next.
This helps lower your calorie intake, prevent muscle mass loss, and keep metabolic rate high as you try losing weight.
Increase your Protein Intake
Increasing protein intake may have tremendous benefits if you are experiencing a weight-loss plateau. More than fats or carbs, proteins boost the body’s metabolic rate. This is due to the food’s thermic effect and the increased metabolism that follows food digestion.
Digestion of protein intensifies the burning of calories by twenty to thirty percent.
In a study, young, healthy women strictly followed a diet that provided 15 or 30% of protein calories in 2 days. After meals, they experienced double the metabolic rates on the day they consumed higher protein amounts.
Proteins also stimulate the production of the PYY hormone, which reduces appetite and produces a sensation of fullness.
Moreover, maintaining high protein consumption protects you against muscle mass loss and metabolic rate drops. Both of these happen in a weight loss process and contribute to the creation of a plateau.
Be Stress Resilient
Stress is likely to affect your weight loss journey. It promotes comfort eating and triggers food cravings. Also, it stimulates cortisol production. Commonly referred to as the ‘stress hormone,’ cortisol assists your body is responding to stress. Also, it increases the storage of belly fat. This effect is stronger in females.
Too much cortisol production will make losing weight difficult. However, you can counteract this by learning about stress management.
A weight-loss plateau is almost inevitable when taking on a long term body-transformation journey. Don’t let it discourage you! There are various strategies to beat the stall and get the results you deserve.
