The Dreaded Weight Loss Plateau
Now What?
You’re cruising along on your weight loss journey, and suddenly, the weight stops coming off…
Sigh. The dreaded plateau. So frustrating!
>>> What does this weight loss plateau mean?
>>> Why does weight loss plateau?
>>> How the heck do we start losing weight again?
We’re going to talk about all of this! Unfortunately, there isn’t a coverall answer. I know, it would be so much easier if there were.
But, this post will arm you with enough knowledge to troubleshoot most of the common reasons weight loss comes to a grinding halt, so can get yourself moving in the right direction again.
Before you can “fix” your plateau, there are a few questions we must address first:
1 – Is it really a plateau?
2 – What does this plateau tell me about my body?
3 – What can I do to break this plateau?
Let’s dive in!
Is it really a plateau?
Before we can fix something, we must figure out if it’s really broken.
This may seem silly, but you wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve seen people who are on a great weight loss path change what they’re doing because they think they’re “stuck”. The reality is that they’re losing weight, what they’re doing is working, and they don’t need to change a thing! Where does this confusion come from?
When we first start on a weight loss journey the weight comes off much faster than what can be expected for the duration. Oftentimes going on a diet means cutting out junky carbs and processed foods. When you do this, you lose a bunch of extra water weight that you’ve been carrying around.
This is not a bad thing! In fact, it’s a really good thing. But it’s important to realize that fat does not leave your body that fast no matter what you do. That initial rush of weight loss is water, and it is good, but it is NOT sustainable. Within the first week or two, you will have lost most of that excess water and then the long process of losing fat begins.
When the rapid water loss you first experience slows down, it does not mean that you’ve hit a plateau. It is to be expected.
Most resources say you can expect to lose 1 - 2 pounds per week on a sustainable weight loss plan. That of course is going to vary from person to person. It may sound slow but keep in mind that rapid is not always better.
When people say they want to lose weight what they usually mean is that they want to lose fat. You can do some drastic things to lose weight quicker, but that usually means you are causing dehydration and muscle loss along with your fat loss. This doesn’t lead to better body composition. The scale may go lower faster, but you will end up putting more fat on your body in the long run.
Slow and steady wins the race – even if that’s not what we want to hear.
Check out this post to learn a little more about what the scale really tells us about our fat loss!
Weight loss slows quite a bit after our initial rush of water loss, but it also naturally slows the closer we get to our goals. The more fat we have on our body to lose, the quicker fat can be released. The leaner we are and the less we have to lose, the slower it will come off and the more strategic our efforts will have to be.
You may need to mix up what you’re doing to get the rest of the job done, but ya might not! If the needle is slowly moving in the right direction, stay the course and have realistic expectations.
As you build muscle and lose fat, the scale becomes a less effective tool to track your progress. The scale does not tell you body composition. Keep in mind that the leaner you get, the more you need to utilize other means of tracking your progress like how you’re feeling and how your clothes are fitting. More on this idea here. But the last thing you want to do is change a plan that is building muscle and shrinking fat (which is really what you’re aiming to do) because of the number on the scale.
Your body weight is an ever-changing thing. It changes from day to day and even hour to hour. It does not mean that the fat on your body is going up and down that rapidly. This all has to do with water retention, hormones, inflammation, etc. NOT FAT. These natural fluctuations are to be expected and mean nothing. Do not assume you have hit a plateau because your weight goes up the week before your period for example. Note these changes but take them with a grain of salt.
Photo credit: beefrunner.com
What does this plateau tell me about my body?
Assuming you have truly hit a plateau – it’s not natural fluctuations, being impatient, or changing body composition without changes on the scale – the question then becomes why is this happening?
Before we can correct something, we have to know why it’s happening and what it tells us.
If your fat loss has truly stopped it means you’ve reached a new level of awesome!
Say what?
Yes, hear me out. Weight loss that lasts is really a process of achieving optimal health. The healthier you are, the less fat you’ll have on your body. (To a point – you can of course be underweight.)
Health is a continuum. It is not that we’re either healthy or not healthy, fit or not fit. There is a whole wide range that we can be on. As we begin to move the needle to the side of health, we lose fat. When we get stuck or hit a plateau, often times it tells us that we have reached a new level of health. And this is a very good thing! But, it also means we may have to up our game if we want to hit a new level of health – and weight loss.
To level up that fat loss, you may need to level up the way you care for your body.
This is why there is not one size fits all approach to breaking a plateau. It largely depends on what you’ve already been trying and what is going on with your body that is keeping the fat there in the first place.
Put another way, your body is no longer as unhealthy as it was when you started on your journey. When we are super unhealthy, any little change towards health will produce some results. Once we’ve made these changes, our body becomes healthier. Eventually, what we’re doing may take us as far as it’s going to take us. If there are changes we need to make to reach a new level of health, then we need to implement those changes to further aid our fat loss goals.
Even though these stalls in progress are frustrating, I challenge you to change your thinking and recognize that it means all of your hard work until this point has produced the exact results you were seeking – a healthier and leaner body!
Now, to further move the needle, we have to figure out what piece of the healthy body puzzle to implement next.
What can I do to break this plateau?
And to what we really want to know…
How to break a weight loss plateau!
Looking at fat loss through the lens of making our body stronger and healthier, we can begin to solve the puzzle of what to do about this plateau.
Often the biggest bang for our buck when it comes to fat loss is what we are eating. This can be what we’re getting too much of, like processed food. But, it can also be what we’re not getting enough of, like protein, vitamins, and minerals.
Evaluate what changes you’ve already made to improve your diet, and where there may be room to make further improvements. Stalled weight loss does NOT always mean that you need less food. This may be the case, but it may also be the case that you need DIFFERENT food or even more of certain foods. In general, sticking to a whole food diet can go a long way for weight loss.
There is a free Clean Eating Guide in the resource library if you want more information on how to get started. Clean eating is weight loss magic.
Exercise is also a key component to having a strong, fat-burning body. If you have not been exercising to this point, consider adding it in. If you’ve been doing light activity, consider adding in some resistance training or increasing what you’re currently doing.
Remember, what gets results, in the beginning, may become your new maintenance level as your body becomes stronger. When we’re very sedentary just going for a 15-minute walk may be strenuous and give us some decent results. As you get stronger and this is less challenging, it’s still a good activity but it may not be enough to take you to a new level.
Maybe you’re doing everything right with diet and exercise and the weight still isn’t coming off. This is so frustrating, and there can be many reasons why this is happening. One possibility is a lack of adequate sleep. Your body needs sleep to repair and to burn fat.
Prioritize sleep into your schedule and if you have a hard time getting to sleep or staying asleep, you may consider developing a sleep routine.
Here’s a few things that may help you get into a better sleep cycle.
>>> keeping a consistent wake-up time
>>> avoid blue light after dark
>>> don’t do things that annoy you in the evening, like reading work emails or paying the bills
>>> do something relaxing like read a book or take a bath
>>> if needed try natural sleep remedies like melatonin or magnesium
Food, exercise, and sleep locked down but the weight isn’t moving? How are your stress levels? Stress is not a bad thing when it is an occasional thing. But, if your body is feeling stress constantly, this can actually lead to weight gain.
Can we eliminate all of our stress? Probably not. But, we can implement things to help our bodies handle that stress better. Everything we’ve mentioned so far can help your body better handle stress, but there are other things you can add to the mim like meditation and adaptogenic herbs.
If possible, slow your schedule down and add in hobbies and social activities that you enjoy. Yes, taking time to enjoy life can actually help you lose weight!
Wrappin' it up
Plateaus are frustrating, but they’re usually just telling us what we’ve done so far has been a success and it’s time to level up! If you are stuck on what to do next, it may be time to hire a coach, a trainer, or find a ready-made program that you can follow to take the guess work out.
If you feel like you’re doing everything right and the weight isn’t coming off, there can be underlying medical issues going on that need to be evaluated by your physician.
Try and keep the mindset that fat loss is really a process of building a healthier body, and focus on activities that will get you there. The fat will come off as a consequence. And with this focus on health, the weight is much more likely to stay off for good!
A litte rambling about plateaus...
