HOW TO BREAK PAST A WEIGHT LOSS PLATEAU
No one likes to hit a plateau. They are very frustrating. A plateau is defined as a state of little or no change following a period of activity or progress. The reason you hit a plateau is because your body has a natural weight it likes to stay at. To go above it or below it, the body will stall and fight back to keep it at a comfort zone.
I like to attack weight loss in increments of 10 lbs. This depends on how much body fat a person has to lose. Here are some tips on how to break past a fat loss plateau.
1. Increase Or Change The Cardio
By increasing the cardio you are burning more calories which will create a bigger calorie deficit. If a person has been doing HITT for 30 minutes on a bike for 2 weeks, I get them to do 30-40 minutes on a treadmill keeping it at regular pace for a week instead.
2. Schedule One or Two Refeed Meals
I like to do this with my clients only if they are close to hitting their desired body weight and have been in a caloric deficit for a few months. For a refeed day they get to eat one or 2 large carbohydrate meals in order to shock their metabolism. When you have been in a calorie deficit for a period of time, your body goes into a starvation state and tries to hold onto it’s body fat. By giving your body a surplus of calories, it will trick the brain into going back into a fat burning mode.
3. Change The Caloric Intake
In the quest to lose body fat, muscle mass is also lost. To combat this a person could do one or two weeks of bulking and then resume their fat loss attack. The same theory works with cutting also. When you hit a plateau, change your caloric intake and go into a caloric surplus for 1 day to shock the body.
4. Be Consistent
While the other methods may work, being consistent with your diet and training my be the best approach when it comes to weight loss.
It you do not lose any weight in a week, take a look back and reevaluate your week. Did you miss a day tracking calories? Did you eat more sodium in your diet? You may have lost body-fat but it does not show on the scale. Do not stress about it and move forward.
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All in good health,
Paul Nam
