Fitness Tip - Overcoming the Weightloss plateau

Everyone reaches this stage at some point, usually within 2 to 3 months of first starting a new fitness and weight loss regime.
It can be quite demotivating when you first experience this. But it is a natural part of the process. Basically it means that your body has become accustomed to the exercise and eating patterns that you have been using for the last few months and it needs a new challenge in order to progress. You just need to deal with it and move on. Here's how to do that;


Firstly, unless you are considerably overweight, then weight itself is not a good way to measure progress. A true plateau should apply to several areas rather than just weight alone, for example, your physical appearance (Inch loss, BMI, Body Fat, etc.). Your personal best (Strength, speed, stamina, power etc.)

When you first started your original campaign, you made changes to the ways in which you have been eating and exercising. This initially shocks your body into action, by teaching it to become stronger and utilise your food energy more efficiently, hence increasing the efficiency of your metabolism. But your body is a quick learner and rapidly adapts to these changes, so they are no longer challenging.
The phase at which your body is learning to adapt to these new challenges is known by professional athletes and sports people as GAS or General Adaptation Syndrome. Once your body has adapted to the changes, you then reach the plateau phase and this is the point at which you begin to see a slow down in weight loss and fitness gains. This is the point where you have to make changes and introduce a new stimulus to further challenge your body.

So many people make the same mistake, when a starting a new fitness and weight loss regime. They continue doing the same routine week in week out without ever changing it. Then they wonder why they never reach their goals. Well now you know and here's what to do about it when you reach that point.

Continually test;
Make variations to your diet and exercise routine, by incorporating small changes and then monitor the results. Here are some examples as to how you can do that;

1. Awareness - Know your daily calorie allowance;
Being aware of how many calories you can eat in a day will allow you plan your meals effectively. This will ensure that you are eating sufficient calories to prevent the starvation response, but it will also make you aware of the point at which you could be overeating.
Once you know your daily calorie allowance, this will enable to apply other techniques such as Zig-Zagging, meal frequency and Tapering. See below.

To find out your daily calorie allowance check out the Calorie Counter Demo videos

2. Zig-Zagging
You will need to know your daily calorie allowance to do this effectively. But basically it means, restricting your calorie intake for a number of days and then increasing it again to above your calorie limit for one day. You might do this for several weeks. Generally you would zig-zag +/- 250 calories around your daily allowance for example, if your daily allowance is 2200 calories you would eat 1950 calories for 3 days, then 1 day at 2450. This method allows you to use calorie restriction, without the risk of going into starvation response, hence preserving muscle and maintaining metabolism. Body builders use this technique all the time.

3. Resistance Training - Workout with weights
Muscle is calorie hungry. The more muscle you have the more calories you will use. Many people make the mistake when starting fitness to just do CV training such as running, cycling, swimming etc. Whilst these activities will aid muscle development (tone) and preservation to a degree, they will not increase muscle size or mass. This can only effectively be done by training with weights at the correct intensity and volume. Increasing muscle size (hypertrophy) will raise your metabolism, helping you burn more fat.

4. Progression - Change or vary your CV workout
Make variations to your exercise routine by changing the distance, time, intensity, terrain etc. Even change the type of CV workout you are doing. If you are running, try, cycling or swimming. Include high intensity intervals or fartlek training to boost fat burning. Try anything that challenges your body.

5. Change the ratio of Carbs, Protein and Fats
Try experimenting with the ratio of macronutrients for each meal. This can make all the difference in getting over the weight loss plateau. Try eating less carbohydrate and more protein. Even try increasing your fat intake slightly, but remember to adjust your carbohydrate and protein intake to take in to account the increase in calories.

6. Change Meal Frequency
If you are eating three square meals a day - start adding snacks in between. Try to divide your total daily calorie allowance between 5 and 6 meals per day. This helps to keep your blood sugar levels constant and boosts your metabolic rate. For example, if your daily calorie allowance works out at 2000, divide that up as 6 meals at 333 calories each.

7. Calorie Tapering
As above you would divide your daily calories into 5 or 6 meals. But in this case, the idea is to eat more calories in the morning when you are more likely to use them and taper down the quantity gradually in the day by eating less at each meal serve. So you are eating less in the evening when you are more likely to store excess fat.

Adopting any one of the above is a good way of getting over a plateau. But the important thing to remember is test, test, test. Keep tweaking until you find what works for you, don't just stick to what you have always done. There's and old saying, 'If you always do what you've always done, then you will always have what you've got'.