You were initially very pleased with your results as you were steadily losing 1 or 2 pounds per week until suddenly, you begin to notice that your weight loss is getting slower and slower until it grinds to a screeching stop and no matter what you do, the number on your weighing scale refuses to go down. What happened, you wondered in exasperation.
Well, this phenomenon quite a common phenomenon for people who are trying hard to lose weight and yes, you have hit the dreaded "Weight Loss Plateau".
So how can you overcome the weight loss plateau? In order to overcome the plateau, you need to understand why you are at this stage. The answer is actually rather simple.
I believe that you probably know that in order to lose weight, you have to consume less calories than what you burn for energy. So if you were losing weight effectively before and now your weight simply refused to go down anymore, that could mean only one thing and that is that you are longer on a caloric deficit situation, meaning you are no longer burning more calories than you consume. Yes, you can say that you are still eating the same thing and amount of food as when you were losing weight steadily. However, I can tell you this is exactly the problem lie and here are the reasons why.
You see, if your diet requires you to curb calories and since you wanted to get faster result, you cut down your calorie consumption more than what was recommended, your body adapts to this drastic caloric deficit by decreasing your metabolic rate known as "starvation mode" or "adaptive thermogenesis" in the weight loss the industry.
Your body's adaptation is actually a natural survival instinct because your body instinctively reacts as though you are starving and thus is conserving your body fat to keep you alive.
Now, you may not be aware that as you were losing weight, you were getting smaller and therefore you need lesser calories than before when you had a bigger body frame. As this being the case, if you are eating as much as before when you were bigger, then you are now consuming more calories than you are burning. So how can you lose weight if you are eating more calories than that which you are burning? Common sense isn't it? The problem is that most people do not realize this implication or even thought about it this way.
Since now that you have a smaller and lighter body frame, your body will burn lesser calories when you are moving about or when you are exercising. This means that you have to tweak your exercises to burn more calories, don't you agree?
These are commonly overlooked reasons why you often hear people say that it is most difficult to lose that last 10 pounds or so. It is not difficult at all, it is just that they have overlooked these not so obvious but simple facts. So the answer as to why you have hit the weight loss plateau is that you no longer in a caloric deficit state, simple as that.
So how do you overcome a weight loss plateau? For starters, you can get started by giving your body a break. Take a week or two off your program since your body has adapted to it. This is also to give your body a physiological break from the stress of dieting and exercising. It is also time to let your body reset some of those starvation hormones and start stimulating your metabolism again. So when it is time to get back to the state of calorie deficit after your much needed rest, your body will be responsive to your efforts again. Good news isn't it?
So when you return to your weight loss program, tweak it to reflect the current state that you are in and watch your body fat melting away again.
The typical human form is capable of achieving a number of incredible feats that seem to suspend or defy the way science tells us things work. Athletes, through sheer willpower, can end up lifting something that their bodies should not be able to without suffering anything worse than muscle spasms. People can adapt to extreme physical trauma caused by a car accident and defy predictions that they'll never walk again. While, in general, these amazing feats are useful in a number of situations, there are physical reactions that some people look upon with quite a bit of disfavor. Among these “disfavored reactions" is something known as a “weight loss plateau."Essentially, the “plateau" is a term used to describe a situation where the body has become incapable of losing any further weight, usually due to developing a tolerance for the weight loss pills and methods being used. Essentially, the plateau is hit when the body develops tolerance for the regimen's limitations and practices, thus allowing the metabolic rate of the body to adjust to whatever weight loss pills or techniques were being used. Most diet books decidedly ignore the existence of the plateau, primarily because it can be seen as negating the purpose of the diet and is, therefore, bad for marketing. There are, however, ways to counteract the human body building a tolerance for training regimens and weight loss pills.The human metabolism, when presented with a pattern, will eventually adapt to that pattern. It is this natural adaptability of the human body that can cause the weight loss plateau, particularly if the person's diet and eating habits have been altered for weight loss. As such, changing the pattern will, once a sufficient amount of time has passed, allow your diet plan or weight loss pills to become effective again. This trick essentially involves confusing the human metabolism, and is often taken as a rather drastic way to get the body back in “diet mode." There are, of course, several ways to effectively alter that pattern without causing the body permanent harm.Adding strength and weight training and modifying one's exercise program can also help someone get past the plateau, in most cases. The body will still burn through nutrients during physical activity, though the digestive system's metabolic rate can adapt such that more weight is retained rather than burned during exercise. Increasing the difficulty of the exercises, or changing the movements to target less-developed muscle areas, can effectively force the body to re-adapt. While the body is busy adapting to the changes, it can also start losing weight again. This method is best used with alterations to the person's diet, however, to maximize the effectiveness.Another trick used to circumvent the problem of the plateau is to make changes to the time frame between meals. The internal clock that the human body's digestive system operates on can be altered to suit one's purposes, provided one executes the proper alterations to one's diet and eating habits. A simple action like altering the schedule of the meals, such as adding more meals but reducing the bulk of each, can have an appreciable effect on altering the metabolic rate. The key concept of this method is to fool the body into burning the food faster, thus getting one's weight loss program and diet back on track.When considering the options, it is helpful to keep in mind that what works for one person may not work for another person. Some slower metabolisms may require combination of diet program and exercise regimen modifications, while others can get by with merely shortening the break between meals. The critical point is to find a method that works and is effective for a specific metabolism, which can be a time-consuming process.
Both Chrischew & Ricky Hussey are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Chrischew has sinced written about articles on various topics from Weight Loss Surgery, Lose Weight and Build Muscle. Chris Chew is a celeb fitness personal trainer and author of "Burn Fat Build Muscles Fast" at and. Chrischew's top article generates over 60500 views. to your Favourites.