Weight Loss Plateau – How To Overcome It

Losing weight can be a challenging journey. You've been making healthy choices, exercising regularly, and the weight was showing a steady decline, but suddenly, the scale stops moving. Why does this happen? Well, it is not unheard of to encounter a frustrating roadblock commonly known as a weight loss plateau. Hitting this point may cause you to feel discouraged from progressing in your health journey. Do not give up just yet! Let's delve into the science behind weight loss plateaus and explore ways to overcome them.

A weight loss plateau occurs when your body reaches a point where it is not losing weight despite maintaining your previous efforts. This can be disheartening, but it's essential to understand that it's a natural response of the body. Here are some possible factors contributing to this phenomenon:

1. Metabolic Adaptation

When you lose weight, your body's metabolism adjusts to the lower calorie intake. As you weigh less, you require fewer calories for daily functioning. This reduction in metabolic rate can cause your weight loss to slow down (Sarwan and Rehman, 2022).

2. Reduced Muscle Mass

As you lose weight, you may also lose some muscle mass and lean tissues, which can further slow down your metabolism. Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat tissues. Hence, less muscle means fewer calories burned daily, which could be a possible contributor to your weight loss plateau.

3. Understanding the scale

When we step on a weighing scale, the number displayed represents our total body weight, but it lacks the ability the total amount of body fat or muscle. This aspect is what we often refer to as body composition.
It is important to note that muscle is denser than fat, which means it occupies less space compared to the same amount of fat. Hence, even when you're progressing positively towards your overall health goals by shedding fat and building muscle, the scale might not register a decrease in weight.

Now that we understand why weight loss plateaus occur, let's explore strategies to overcome them:

1. Recalculate Your Calories

Your initial calorie intake for weight loss may no longer be appropriate. Recalculate your daily calorie needs based on your current weight and activity level, to get your new maintenance calorie. Once you know this value, a reduction of 500-1000 calories daily from your maintenance calorie can help you to kickstart your weight loss again.

2. Diversify Your Exercise Routine

Switch up your exercise routine. Introduce new forms of exercise or increase the intensity of your workouts. For example, instead of doing just low-intensity forms of exercise like walking or jogging switch it up a bit with high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or strength training. Introducing variety into our exercise routine is an effective method for developing various muscle groups within our body while enhancing the amount of fat we burn.

Strength training, in particular, can help rebuild lost muscle mass, reviving your metabolism. Engaging in activities like weightlifting, interval training, and various forms of strength training not only assists in muscle development but also leads to continued calorie burning, extending beyond your exercise session.
Scientific research indicates that incorporating strength training and weightlifting into your fitness routine can facilitate weight loss and promote a well-functioning metabolism (Westcott, 2012).

3. Increase protein consumption

Increasing your protein consumption is a great strategy for breaking through a weight loss plateau. Protein promotes a sense of fullness, helps maintain lean muscle mass, has a higher thermic effect, stabilizes blood sugar levels, enhances fat burning, and offers vital nutrients while managing calorie intake (Cava, et al. 2017). By adding more protein to your diet from sources like lean meats, fish, dairy, and plant-based options, you can better manage your appetite, maintain your metabolic rate, and push past the point where weight loss may have stalled, ultimately facilitating continued progress toward your fitness goals.

4. Stay Hydrated

Adequate hydration is vital for overall health and weight loss. Adequate water intake aids in optimizing metabolic processes, ensuring that the body efficiently burns calories and mobilizes stored fat for energy. Therefore, staying well-hydrated is a fundamental strategy to help distinguish and overcome weight loss plateaus by supporting healthy metabolism and curbing unwarranted food cravings.

5. Check your Body Composition

Consider alternative measurements to track your weight loss as well. This could involve tracking changes in your waist size, assessing the fit of your clothing, monitoring your energy levels, or comparing current images with older photographs of yourself. Additionally, to provide a more accurate assessment, one can also choose to do a Body Composition Analysis to evaluate various elements that make up your body weight like tissues, bone density, water, muscles, organs, and fat.