There’s nothing more defeating than a weight loss plateau. You’re doing everything right in terms of eating well and exercising. And yet, the number on the scale hasn’t changed. Instead of admitting defeat and falling back into old habits, tackle a weight loss plateau in 3 simple steps.
When I see a patient for a follow up visit and the scale says they weigh exactly the same (or more) than they did a few weeks ago, I prepare for disaster. I mentally brace myself for a barrage of questions, and I even begin to question my own knowledge and experience with the human body.
Not cool. Now there are two people in the room doubting themselves! The fact is, the human body has way more going on that factors into a weight loss plateau than we commonly think about.
Instead of cracking down and cutting calories or pumping up your exercise routine, follow these 3 simple steps to break through a weight loss plateau:
Track progress outside of the scale
First, determine if you really have a problem by looking at measures outside the scale. Weight in pounds (or kilos) is a single measure and doesn’t take into consideration your body’s ratios of fat and muscle.
Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you’ve been making gains in the gym, it’s likely the scale will go up. Many scales use bioelectrical impedance to show you what percentage of your body is lean muscle mass versus body fat.
Keep track of these measurements over several months. If your body fat percentage is coming down while lean muscle mass increases, you’re good to go. When lean muscle mass is increasing but body fat is staying the same or increasing, that’s your signal to adjust the plan.
If you don’t have the fancy scale, track the circumference of key areas on your body as a guide instead. Use a cloth tape measure to assess your belly area, thighs, chest and arms and track over several months.
Don’t have any of that? Pull out an old outfit that hasn’t fit in ages. How is it fitting now? This can be an equally-effective way to gauge your progress.
Begin tracking key stats DAILY
One mistake many people make on their weight loss journey is not keeping track of exactly what changes they’re making and how they affect progress over time. This makes it impossible to remember what worked and what didn’t several months down the line. Without concrete info, it’s easy to get frustrated and give up.
Here’s a list of my favorite tracking stats and why they’re important:
Weight
Hop on the scale each morning and enter the number into your food logging or fitness tracker. Over time, you will become desensitized to normal (but scary) daily water weight fluctuations and get a big-picture view of your progress.
Many of my clients who begin this exercise during a weight loss plateau realize after a month of tracking that they’re mentally bogged down in the daily fluctuations , but are not in a plateau at all.
Calories in
Use a food logging app like My Fitness Pal to track everything you eat. Strive for accuracy by using a food scale to weigh food so that the data you’re collecting is actually useful. Check out the 2-week Track to Fat Loss program to simplify food tracking to make it work for you.
Compare your calories in to calories out over time to see if you’re actually in a calorie deficit for fat loss. Adjust accordingly, depending on what you find.
Calories out
Wear a fitness tracker like FitBit, Apple Watch or Garmin to estimate how many calories you are burning on a daily basis. Compare your calories out to calories in from food logging to determine how often you are hitting a calorie deficit for fat loss.
If you are in a deficit sometimes but make up for it elsewhere, you are spinning your wheels. Work on adjusting your routines on these excessive days (usually weekends!) to improve your numbers.
Sleep
Wear a tracker like FitBit, Apple Watch or Garmin to track your sleep habits. Poor quality sleep or a total lack of sleep will throw hormones like cortisol out of whack. Hormone imbalances can make it difficult to control hunger and sweets cravings, which may be keeping you from hitting your calorie goals regularly enough to see results.
Take a break from your goal
If you have been in a calorie deficit for a few months, or worse, after a lifetime of chronic dieting, consider this:
Diet and exercise are sources of stress on the body.
When your sympathetic nervous system is activated by stress, hormones may be prompting insulin resistance and overall adaptation to less calories coming in through the diet. Basically, your body is battening down the hatches and rationing out what energy is left in the cupboards for survival.
You’re NOT burning fuel unnecessarily (aka, ‘slow metabolism’) and any time you overeat even the slightest bit, the excess gets stored as fat. If you’ve maintained or gained weight and feel suddenly flabbier, this is likely what’s happening.
If you are losing, don’t think you’re out of the woods. Metabolism is likely slowing if you lose muscle tone and strength with weight. The body is resorting to burning muscle for fuel, and decreasing the number of calories you burn naturally each day.
The goal of ‘taking a break’ is to take your body out of stress mode and allow metabolic speed to recover. What actions you take and for how long will vary depending on your specific goals and circumstances.
Changes might involve eating more, adjusting your macronutrients, adjusting your exercise routine, or working on sleep. Stress management in other areas of your life might be necessary too.
Taking a break doesn’t mean giving up and eating however you want. Weight maintenance is just as strategic as weight loss. Meet with a professional for guidance on speeding up your metabolism without gaining a ton of weight.
Final Notes
Struggling with a weight loss plateau is more a mental game than a physical one. Somewhere along the way, ego and self-worth were tied into your weight and how your body looks. These feelings get in the way of logic and often prevent us from reaching out for help.
The body is well-studied, and it’s usually simple to spot problems. What might be causing a plateau can be found in the data by a trained eye. If you cannot understand what’s happening, get a fresh perspective from a pro to break through a weight loss plateau.