You are successfully moving forward on the path to your ideal weight and at some point - bam! - as if the arrow on the scales gets stuck. Kilograms of fat that went away without much effort cling to your body with all their might. Whatever you do, whatever effort you make, is in vain. For a week, two, or even a month, the weight does not budge. You shrug your shoulders, ready to raise your hands in the air and say, “That’s it! Enough for me."
Sound familiar? So why doesn't the weight come off anymore? How to overcome stubborn stagnation?
Let's delve into the study of this effect and find ways to overcome it.
Weight loss plateau or fat burning plateau?
A weight loss plateau is a period in which your weight does not change. If this happens within two weeks, does this really mean that the process has stalled?
Of course not!
The phrase “weight loss” does not describe changes in fat mass, muscle mass, or water volume in the body.
We always trust the scale, sincerely believing that it shows changes in body fat mass. When the value on the scale shows minus 0.5 kg, then we hope that this is a loss of pure fat, and not muscle or water.
If you weigh yourself every day, or several times during the day, you have probably noticed that your weight constantly fluctuates by 0.5 - 1.5 kg. In 85% of cases, fluctuations occur due to changes in the amount of fluid in the body.
For example, if you consume a lot of salt, carbohydrates, and drink little fluid, your body will retain a large amount of water and your weight will increase. But if you drink enough fluids, control your carbohydrate intake, eat little salt, and just finished a sweat-intensive workout, your weight could drop a couple of pounds. Believe it or not, the more water you drink, the less moisture your body retains . This unpredictable behavior of water in the body is one of the reasons why it is enough to weigh yourself once a week, for example on Monday mornings. Unless daily weighings serve as the main motivator for losing weight.
Weighing yourself several times a day is a direct path to loss of self-confidence and confusion in your head.
Possible reasons
Most often, a weight plateau is associated with the following factors:
- Too strict diet. If you decide to lose weight quickly using an extreme low-calorie diet, at some point your weight loss will slow down. Typically this effect occurs within 1-2 weeks after starting the program. Calculate how many calories you need for your lifestyle using any of the publicly available formulas. Subtract 20% from this figure and then get the value you need for weight loss. Reducing calories by a greater amount is not advisable.
- Cutting down on fats and proteins. With a balanced diet, proteins should account for about 30–35% of calories, and fats 15–20%. Reducing the content of these nutrients in food negatively affects the body’s condition and provokes a plateau effect.
- Long-term use of mono-diet. Mono-diets have nothing in common with healthy eating. If you limit your diet to one product, for example, kefir or buckwheat, your metabolism will inevitably slow down. Remember that the use of mono-diets is allowed only during fasting days and no more than once a week.
- Alcohol consumption. Even low-alcohol drinks retain fluid in the body. And this is not to mention the rather high calorie content of many drinks and snacks. A complete abstinence from alcohol will have a positive effect on the process of losing weight.
In general, any actions aimed at losing weight at the very beginning lead to visible results. By limiting your diet and adding physical activity, you lose a kilogram, then a second... But few people wonder what exactly is lost in the first days. But, in fact, it is just water that has been retained in the body. After some time, the body adapts to the new harsh conditions and a pause occurs. There is no more excess water, but the fat remains in its place.
Such a plateau can be considered a normal reaction of the body, which should not be feared. Continue to train and continue to adjust your diet and the results will not be long in coming.
The dietary plateau depends on the adequacy of the chosen weight loss program. If this condition occurs quite often and lasts more than 1 month, think about revising your nutritional principles and reworking your training system. Specialists – a nutritionist and a trainer – can help you with this issue.
The tendency to gain weight as a genetic component
Undoubtedly, lifestyle (sedentary or active) affects weight, but a considerable amount of research indicates that genetics may also be a reason for the tendency to gain extra pounds. In rare cases, it all comes down to changes in just one single gene associated with regulating feelings of satiety and hunger. Many studies (mostly conducted on twins) have clearly shown the importance of genetic factors in weight gain.
For example, a study on the relationship between weight gain and environment conducted with adopted twins found that the weight of adoptive parents and children may differ significantly, while a direct relationship was observed between the weight of children and their biological parents. Another study, also conducted on twins, showed that if several pairs of twins are fed the same food for 3 months, then the weight gain between brothers or sisters will be almost the same, and between pairs there can be a huge spread of two to ten kilograms. Similar results were found in weight loss studies.
There is also a body of evidence for differences in basal metabolism between people from different ethnic groups, which further demonstrates the importance of genetics in weight gain, loss and maintenance.
Body weight is controlled by a myriad of metabolic pathways and feedback circuits, coordinated at the molecular and hormonal level.
The amount of food consumed is regulated by the central nervous system through a series of interconnected neuroendocrine feedback loops. Energy expenditure is regulated by the autonomic nervous system and a number of hormones, the most important of which are thyroid hormones. But hormones such as insulin, leptin, ghrelin and many others also play an important role in the process.
| The scientific literature has documented many examples of successful weight loss, but the main problem is that most people are unable to maintain their new weight in the long term. |
Ways to overcome a plateau
How to overcome a plateau? There are several strategies that will gently shake up your body and get you back on track to losing weight.
Continuation of the diet
We have already found out that a dietary plateau is a normal physiological reaction of the body. If you are following a healthy and nutritious diet, just stick with it. Sooner or later your metabolism will adjust and you will see the desired results. How long you need to wait depends only on your body. On average, changes begin within 1–1.5 months.
To make this happen faster, use the following ideas:
- Try doing a fasting day once a week. Use any mono-diet - limit yourself to 2 kg of apples, 2 liters of kefir or 5 small portions of buckwheat without salt. If you are losing weight following the principles of proper nutrition and eating nuts and honey, you can simply remove these products from your menu once a week.
- Exercise in the morning. It is absolutely not necessary to go for a run; you can limit yourself to a few yoga poses or stretching exercises. They will help activate your metabolism and speed up weight loss.
- Treat yourself. A cheat meal is a planned diet violation. It is usually used by professional athletes, as it makes it easier to accept constant restrictions and speeds up the metabolism. You can also use this idea. Once a week, allow yourself 1 unhealthy meal. It could be your favorite dessert, grilled meat, or a bowl of macaroni and cheese. The main rule of a cheat meal is to limit yourself to only 1 meal, relieve emotional stress and be able to stop at the right moment. After this, immediately return to your normal diet.
This strategy is suitable for those who adhere to proper nutrition and conduct moderate training 3-4 times a week. But, it will not help those whose plateau arose due to a reason such as a strict diet.
Sports activities
In order to overcome the plateau effect on healthy eating, you do not need to make any changes to your usual diet. Adjusting the sports program will be quite enough. For example, add variable-intensity cardio twice a week.
Below is an example of a 45-minute interval session that can be done on any cardio machine.
- Low intensity warm-up – 5 minutes.
- 15 minutes of medium intensity.
- 1 minute high intensity.
- 2 minutes of medium load.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 4 more times.
- 10 minutes of moderate to low intensity cool down.
This approach to getting out of a plateau is suitable for those who love to exercise and do not have problems increasing their appetite with regular exercise.
Visit to the SPA
Continue to train and diet, but add a visit to the SPA center or bathhouse to your schedule. It's best to go there immediately after a strength training session and try not to overeat that day. Procedures based on heating the body increase the need for oxygen and nutrients. This speeds up metabolic processes in the body.
How many of these procedures per week are needed to overcome a dietary plateau? There is no exact answer to this question, since each organism is individual. On average, 1-2 times a week is enough. If you combine them with self-massage and a contrast shower, the result will appear faster.
This method can be recommended when many methods have already been tried, but the stage of stagnation in losing weight has not ended. Warming is contraindicated for those who suffer from any chronic diseases of the cardiovascular system.
What to do with a plateau on a strict diet?
The plateau effect when losing weight on a strict diet is one of the most common problems faced by nutritionists. The strategy for getting out of the plateau requires abandoning strict restrictions. If the diet has been followed for a long time, leaving it can lead to weight gain. To avoid this, increase your daily calories gradually - by 150-200 per week.
By the time you return to normal eating, your metabolism will have accelerated. The weight loss plateau effect will be overcome and you will be able to lose weight with a healthy diet and regular exercise.
Switching to a healthy diet
If you want to lose weight by eating right, but now your menu is far from ideal, use the plan below. It will help you change your lifestyle without much difficulty and will prevent your body from going into plateau mode.
- Week 1: Focus on your meal frequency. How many times a day should you eat? Eat 4-6 times a day, but in small portions, and remember to drink enough water. In addition, eliminate all ready-made sauces from your diet, leaving olive oil for salad dressings.
- Week 2. Skip fancy pastries in favor of whole grain bread. Replace refined sweets with dried fruits, nuts, and honey in small quantities.
- Week 3. Completely eliminate all alcoholic drinks.
- Week 4: Change the way you cook. Skip frying in favor of stewing, steaming and baking.
- Week 5: Track your protein intake. If necessary, enrich your diet with fish, low-fat dairy products and legumes.
- Week 6. Listen to yourself. At some point, you will be able to hear your body's signals and understand what it needs. With careful attention to their well-being, many people switch to intuitive eating.
Don't make the common mistake of trying to overcome a weight loss plateau by further tightening your diet. This will put your body into a state of severe stress, and it will burn fat even more slowly. In this case, there is no need to talk about effective weight loss.
Improving the quality of your diet and introducing sports activities will give more significant results that will last for a long time.
"Set point"
One possible explanation is the “set point” theory: a “weight set point” is the weight range within which all body systems function optimally. According to this concept, weight is regulated at a given value and the body resists a strong deviation from this value. The hypothesis about the presence of a certain weight constant has been promoted for many years, and over the years of research it has been confirmed by a large number of experimental results.
| First, the weight of all mammals, including humans, fluctuates in response to overeating or underfeeding and usually returns to its original level when normal eating patterns are restored. |
| Secondly, metabolism changes significantly when you gain or lose weight. |
So, when people gained 10% of their initial weight, as expected, there was an increase in energy expenditure, but the most interesting thing is that it was not the basic metabolism that changed, but the energy requirement of skeletal muscles. That is, one of the mechanisms to prevent further weight gain was an increase in energy consumption. Similar observations were made with weight loss, i.e. energy expenditure dropped significantly to prevent further weight loss.
These mechanisms fully explain why it is difficult for people to lose “the last couple of kilograms” and why the weight is so easily gained again if you return to your previous diet, because now the body is more economical in its needs. At this stage, the duration of reduced energy requirements after weight loss is unclear, but there is evidence of normalization of metabolism and restoration of its original level.
