Let me start by asking you these few questions … Are you eating right? Exercising enough? Still no results? I know it’s frustrating but what if I tell you it’s not something you are doing wrong? Yes – what you are seeing is actually a term called ‘plateau’. A ‘plateau’ is when your scale stops moving even after following the right steps. Your body adapts to less calorie intake or your metabolism might slow down as you lose weight. Let’s understand how you can outwit your body and strategize overcoming this plateau. It’s important you take the following into consideration in consultation with your registered dietician.
- Start by tracking your portion size – your body needs appropriate intake in order for you to lose more weight.
- Monitor your meal gaps, avoid long fasting windows and introduce mid morning and evening snacks in your diet.
- Keep a check of your exercises, you might have to increase the intensity or duration.
- Include more protein and fiber in your diet which boost more metabolism and you start burning fat.
Along with this, make overall changes in your lifestyle; improve your sleep cycle and reduce your load of stress which prevents water retention in your body.
While you are at it, DO NOT waste your time on mainly two things;
- Hours of cardio which will get you tired further.
- Cutting out whole food groups like carbohydrates and fats which will just result in cravings and more binge eating.
Your results might not show on the weighing sale but what’s important is how your inner self feels, do you feel lighter? more energetic? That means your strategy has worked! By now you’ve got a gist of what a plateau is, what causes it and what are some key solutions to overcome it. Lastly, here are two main tips on how to go about after breaking the plateau; - Consistency is key
- Shift to sustainable lifestyle habits – prioritizing, reassessing and tracking your food intake.
Now that you’ve lost weight after taking these measures, you have changed the rules. You’ve worked through the misconception of less misery and more strategy. The key is to work with your body, not against it and you will see the scale moving again because ‘Progress after a plateau isn’t luck. It is engineered’.
