You have been doing everything to get fit: eating clean, counting calories every step of the way, and busting your butt at a local gym. And it has worked wonderfully as you have seen pounds melting away. But when the pounds decide to cling to your body, that’s when your body needs a weight loss plateau breaker.
A weight loss plateau is a pause in weight loss that you cannot trace back to your lifestyle or dietary changes. It usually happens in the later stages of the weight loss journey, after when you have lost the “easy” pounds.
Fortunately, a weight loss plateau is not permanent. The following strategies have proven to be the most effective weight loss plateau breakers to restart your fat burning furnace.
Detox
It is possible that you may have lost weight initially by focusing on small meals and cutting your calorie intake. However, if you are still eating Lean Cuisine a frozen dinners or grabbing an energy bar every day, it can be a problem.
These eating habits may cause harmful chemicals to accumulate in your body. As the chemical levels become high, they cause inflammation and contribute to weight loss plateaus.
So, what can you do to get rid of these chemicals? Follow a detox diet plan.
Take three days to detoxify your body from the hazards of chemically processed foods. This does not mean fasting or restricting yourself just to drink lemon water.
Focus more on cooking fresh vegetables and drink plenty of water and green tea. Be generous when it comes to eating a veggie salad since three cups of this type of salad could add up to only 100 calories or so.
When you feel like munching, make some bone broth because it has extremely powerful inflammation-lowering and gut-healing properties.
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is yet another popular weight loss plateau breaker which requires you to go for long durations of time without eating anything. But don’t worry, these periods of starvation do not exceed 48 hours.
Intermittent fasting has been credited with the promotion of weight loss and fat reduction, in addition to a number of other benefits.
A review of studies focusing on intermittent fasting has successfully proven this practice leads to 3 to 8% reduction in weight and 3 to 7% reduction in the waist circumference. What’s even better is that these effects can be seen within 3 to 24 weeks only. [1]
You can try the 16/8 method which involves fasting for 14 to 16 hours every day and restricting your eating window to 8 to 10 hours. Within this window, you are allowed to fit 2, 3 or even more meals.
It may seem hard to follow intermittent fasting but in actual, it is quite easy. There are several fasting methods. You may chose a method that requires is not eating anything after having dinner and skipping breakfast every morning. For example, if you have had your dinner at 8 pm, do not eat anything until 12 noon the following day.
As it pertains to women, it is recommended to fast for 12 to 16 hours since they do better with a bit shorter fasts.
More information on various intermittent fasting strategies can be found in the article below. Check it out.
HIIT or HIRT
Revving up your exercise schedule can actually be a great weight loss plateau breaker. As you lose weight, your metabolic rate tends to slow down. Fortunately, the right type and amount of exercise can help reverse this effect.
HIIT or High-Intensity Interval Training is a smart way to lose weight and reduce body fat while growing the total muscle mass. It includes shorter workouts to burn a higher number of calories as compared to the prolonged cardio workouts.
Interval training includes accelerating the exercise speed for a short time followed by resuming the normal speed for a slightly longer period of time. Keep switching between the faster and slower speeds for the duration of your cardio routine.
For example, if you are using a treadmill, take 5 minutes to warm up followed by a minute of going into an all-out sprint. This can then be followed by two minutes of simple walking. Repeating this cycle for 20 – 25 minutes makes a great HIIT workout and can serve to be a great weight loss plateau breaker.
Here is a good HIIT workout. Try it. You can increase the intensity by doing more reps or performing the workout twice.
High-Intensity Resistance Training or HIRT is another excellent weight loss plateau breaker which helps retain the muscle mass, a major factor in determining how many calories you burn at rest and during activity. In fact, HIRT is the most effective form of strength training to lose weight. [2] [3]
You can perform HIRT in the form of sets, each lasting for 10 minutes. For example, you can include ten pushups, tuck jumps, squats, and Medicine Ball Slams per set.
Here are a few HIRT workout resources
Sample HIRT Workouts
Exercise on Empty Stomach
A great deal of research suggests that to jumpstart your metabolism you should perform exercise early in the morning on an empty stomach. Why do they suggest this?
Data supports the idea that you are likely to burn 20% extra calories if you work out before breakfast or before having the first meal of your day. The logic behind this is quite simple.
As you get up from 6+ hours of sleep, your blood levels of insulin, sugar, carbs, and glycogen are drastically reduced. If you force your body to work out in such a condition, it will have no choice but to burn more calories since there won’t be very many carbs or sugar left to obtain energy. In this state you will force your body to burn stored fat for energy.
Also, low levels of insulin trigger the release of certain fat burning hormones such as HGH and adrenaline and improve the calorie burn.
Instead of losing hope and giving up on everything, try this effective weight loss plateau breaker tip to continue shedding pounds. I can personally attest to this one. I used fasted cardio to help me lose 40 pounds for my first figure competition.
Cycle Carbs
On days when you are working hard at the gym, carbs are your best friend. Your body uses them to generate energy instead of breaking down proteins. But on days when you feel like a couch potato, even a little extra amount of these carbs can be slow or stop your weight loss.
With no physical activity, most of the carbs you eat get stored in your body in the form of fat. And what does this eventually lead to? A weight loss plateau.
To avoid this cycling carbs could prove beneficial. Instead of entirely cutting them out of your diet, consume carbs more on days when you are performing long-duration workouts. On other days when you don’t feel like leaving the house, try eating fewer amounts of carbohydrates.
Eat Fiber
During your weight loss journey, as you focus daily calorie intake, it is important that you focus more on weight loss plateau breaker foods. The best plateau breaker foods are those with higher levels of fiber.
Soluble fiber helps slow down the movement of food through your gastrointestinal tract. This helps you feel satisfied and full. Tanya Zuckerbrot, R. D., author of The F-Factor Diet, says “Fiber binds with fat and sugar molecules as they travel through your digestive tract, which reduces the number of calories you actually get.”
Increasing the daily intake of fiber from 18 to 36 grams can reduce the amount of caloric absorption by 130, as per one study. [4] So, be sure to eat more barley, whole grains, oranges, sweet potatoes, and lentils to gain maximum fiber.
Drink Water
Many people tend to overlook proper hydration as a part of the weight loss plan. Drinking sufficient amount of water can flush out toxins, keep hunger at bay, and empower you to perform exercises regularly. All these effects can help accelerate weight loss.
So, always keep a water bottle by your side and remember to sip through the entire length of the day.
Additional Tips to Keep in Mind
Keep a Journal
If you are not fond of counting carbs and are just guessing what your daily intake must be, it is time, to be honest with yourself. Get yourself a journal and develop a habit of writing down everything. This will help you have a realistic idea of what you are eating.
Stop Weighing Yourself Daily
Losing weight is not easy, especially during a weight loss plateau. It may be easy to stick to the plan when you are losing pounds at a steady pace. But during a plateau, you may require extra patience. Do not weigh yourself every day to check progress. There are so many things that affect the number on a scale (water retention, salt intake, a woman’s menstrual cycle, etc.). Don’t weigh yourself everyday and let your emotions ride the roller coaster of the number you see on the scale. Relax!
Choose Water-rich Foods
The total storage capacity of your stomach is about three pounds. It does not actually matter whether you fill this capacity with 500 calories or 5000. So, try eating more water-rich foods instead of focusing on fat-loaded meals to fill this capacity.
If you are experiencing a weight loss plateau, try on of these seven methods for at least a week. If you find one method isn’t getting you the results you want, then try another one. One of the methods is sure to break your weight loss plateau and get you back on the road to your weight loss goal.