You’ve been working out and eating healthy to help improve your health and lose some weight. It’s been working and you have noticed the scale going down! But all of a sudden, the number on the scale won’t budge and you don’t know why. You have hit a weight-loss plateau.
Weight-loss plateaus happen for all kinds of reason and it’s important to know why so that you can respond and adjust your healthy habits.
During the first few weeks of your weight loss plan it is normal to see a rapid drop, when you cut calories your body gets needed energy by releasing the carbohydrates it has stored. But when you lose weight you lose muscle and muscle is what helps keep the rate at which you burn calories up. Your metabolism starts to decline and that slows down your weight loss. The solution? You either need to increase your physical activity or decrease the calories you eat.
Here are some tips to help you to get past the plateau:
Reassess your habits: Make sure you haven’t loosened the rules and let yourself get by with larger portions or less exercise.
Cut more calories: You can cut some more calories as long as it doesn’t put you lower than 1,200, fewer than that may not be enough to keep you from constant hunger which can cause overeating.
Rev up your workout: Most people should be exercising 30 minutes a day every day of the week but for those who want to lose weight they need to exercise more often and increase the intensity of their workouts.
Pack more activity in your day: Increase your general physical activity throughout the day, not just in the gym. Walk more during the day, do some yard work or some spring cleaning to help those calories burn.
Don’t get discourage if you encounter a weight-loss plateau, improving your diet and increasing your exercise is helping you improve your health. Even modest weight loss improves chronic health conditions from being overweight. Use the Tanita BC-1500 Plus or BC-1000 Plus to help track your weight loss and keep you from hitting a weight-loss plateau.
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