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Breaking Through The Weight Loss Plateau Barrier
In treating the thousands of patients
that have come through my doors at The Steelman Clinic, I
can’t think of a single instance when a patient I was
helping to lose weight did not reach some type of weight
loss plateau. And it didn’t seem to matter if they were
young, old, on a diet for lesser or longer periods of time
or had a little or a lot to lose. Everyone inevitably runs
into that stone wall where the scales refuse to budge even
though they have done everything right in their dieting
regime. And this is where most dieters lose their
motivation making it even harder to stay on track.
Are there ways to get past this
frustrating time period when the dial on the scales seems to
be stuck? Absolutely! But before we get started on what
you can do to get past those plateaus, here are a few
pointers that you need to keep in mind:
1. If you
have been averaging a weight loss of 2 lbs/week – that
totals up to 104 lbs a year! Even if you are only losing
just under a pound a week, that still puts you on track to
lose at a rate of 40 lbs/year. The rate of weight
loss is set by the difference in the number of calories it
would take you to maintain your present weight and the
number of calories you are eating/exercising. Only folks who
have a 100 or more lbs. to lose will normally lose more than
1-2 lbs per week over a period of time. Averaging 4-6
lbs./month (1-1.5lbs./week) of fat loss is a safe and
appropriate rate for most people who do not have as much to
lose.
If you are
doing everything you should be doing (following your diet)
and still find yourself with a sudden increase of 1 or more
lbs in one week, it is not due to an increase of FAT.
It is usually due to water retention. There are 3500
calories in a pound of fat. So, if you gained 3 lbs, you
would have had to take in an extra 10,500 calories or,
in the case of gaining 3 lbs in a week, 1500 extra
calories/day. Such water weight is usually lost subsequently
and you see a big drop. You can hasten the release of excess
fluid by spending a day or two eating nothing but protein,
vegetables and berries or apples. Also, be sure you are
drinking your water!
Sugar,
starch, salt and alcohol are the usual culprits at causing
water gain. Sometimes, people will have food sensitivities
to certain foods (even good "diet foods") that cause them to
retain water (sort of like an allergy).
2. If you
have not been exercising, then adding some activity to your
daily schedule is the fastest way to get your metabolism
kickstarted. If you are already exercising, then you should
look for ways to change it or mix it up because your body
has become “complacent” with what you have been doing. If
you have not been strength training, add some type of weight
training to your regimen – or if you have conditioned your
body to one type of cardio work, then change it to another
or kick it up a notch – anything to change the routine. Your
metabolism may require a higher level of exercise if you
have had a lot of past conditioning. Decreasing caloric
intake (below 900-1000 calories) is probably not the answer
because it may just lower your metabolism and not be
productive. Increasing exercise, on the other hand,
increases metabolic rate in addition to burning calories
during the exercise.
3. Change up what you have been eating.
Oftentimes, when dieting, you get stuck in a rut in the food
choices to help keep you on track (we all have our favorites
and will tend to go to them regularly for both convenience
and desirability.) Sometimes, just altering the food that
you normally eat (for example, if you have been eating
carrots and apples everyday, change it to tomatoes and
oranges, switch from chicken to fish or turkey, etc.) will
get your body's metabolism going again to burn more
calories. Again, the body gets used to what you have been
eating and changing out what it has been used to (provided
you are making smart, healthy choices) will often get it
going again.
4. To
paraphrase the old proverb about a "watched pot", "A watched
scale never budges." Sometimes weight seems to be stuck for
a short while and then starts moving again. Just like a
basketball player in a free throw shooting slump, focusing
on yesterday's "failure" just maintains the problem. So,
keep your focus on "doing the right thing" and the right
door will open up. It is not uncommon for me to see patients
in my office hit a 2 -3 week plateau and then start losing
at a good rate again...without seeming to change anything.
This is a marathon, not a sprint! It is commitment and
persistence that win in the long run!
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