Can't Lose Weight? How To Break Through the Weight Loss Plateau

It's not fair. You've dieted, you've exercised, and you've been consistent. But the weight loss has stalled and the scale is stuck. You've lost some pounds, maybe even dropped a size or two, but you have yet to reach your goal weight.  And at this point, you'll never get there.  Your efforts seem futile, and your motivation is faltering. You have officially hit a weight loss plateau. Why is this happening and what can you do to break through it?

Simply put, the human body is incredibly adaptive and when change occurs, the body goes into defense mode, adjusting to the demands of its environment.

As part of your weight loss diet, you've probably restricted your calorie intake, which in turn has caused your body to burn fat for the energy it requires. Most likely, you've developed a pattern where you eat the same types of foods in similar portions. You may have also included an exercise regime in your weight loss efforts. Faithfully, you work out at regular intervals, for the same duration, and at the same intensity. You've stayed with what's worked--up until now.

After a few weeks, your body has adapted to your new habits. While you've fallen into a routine, so has your body. It knows how many calories you're likely to consume each day. It knows when and how much energy you're likely to expend. Your body doesn't have to work quite so hard any more to adapt. The result? A slower metabolism.

The weight loss plateau is a real motivation-killer. Getting past this obstacle is the key to reaching your goal weight, however. It's not necessary (or desirable) to further restrict your calorie intake to unhealthy levels. It's also not necessary to condemn yourself to more exercise than is possible on a permanent basis. Yet there are many approaches you can take to boost your metabolism to break this plateau.

The key to breaking the weight loss platuea is change. Your body will resist any change and work hard, thus increasing your metabolism. As a result, your weight loss will increase. Here are some specific types of change that will do your body good.

1. If you're not currently exercising, NOW is the time to start. Diet without exercise can result in weight loss, but adding exercise will not only get you to your goal faster, but you will also see benefits in how you look in spite of what the scale reads as you lose inches vs. pounds. Exercise is beneficial in many other ways too, most importantly by improving your health and well-being.

2. Increase the duration of your exercise. Even adding 5-10 minutes to your workout will be beneficial.

3. Increase the frequency of your workout. For instance, if you currently work out four times a week, add a 5th day, even if it's a lighter workout.

4. Intensify your workout. Add boosts to your cardio workout by including 1-minute intervals of increased intensity. This could involve jumping, running or just picking up the pace. This will not only help you burn more calories during your workout, but you'll also gain more benefit after your workout. This is called afterburn and means that you'll burn additional calories for the next few hours, even when your body is at rest.

5. Alter the type of workout in your regime. Replace or alternate your walking workout with an aerobics class or DVD. If you participate in aerobics classes already, try a different instructor or a different type of class, such as spinning or Zumba. Swimming, tennis, roller blading, would not only give you the change your body needs, but will work different muscles. Besides, varying your workout will keep you from getting bored. You should be changing up your workout at least every three weeks.

6. Work out with a friend. Keeping pace with a buddy can be the motivation you need to boost your workout.  The social interaction may also defeat boredome, so you're likely to work out for longer.   Just make sure you don't work out with a friend who slows you down.

7. Keep trying to one-up your last workout. Increase your distance, beat your speed, add more reps, whatever. The point is to keep pushing yourself to the next limit.

8. Change the time of day of your workout. If you work out religiously in the morning, try evenings for a few days or vice versa. Or consider splitting your workout into two smaller workouts every so often.

9. If you're not already using weights in your workout, now is a great time to start. It's a fallacy that women will bulk up using weights. Lifting weights will not only increase lean mass, but will ultimately raise your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). This means you'll burn more calories at rest.

10. Review your calorie intake. This does not necessarily mean to eat less, but to become aware of the types of food you are eating, the amount of calories you are ingesting and to ensure that you're getting a balanced diet. Furthermore, it's important to maintain a proper balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat. The best way to do this is to record everything in a food diary. There are numerous online tools available to help you do this easily. Log your meals by selecting from a huge database of food, and the application keeps track of your calorie balance. Depending on how sophisticated the application is, it may even automatically track your carbs, protein and fat ratios as well as provide a nutritional view, showing vitamins and mineral leves. Better yet, many of these applications also allow you to enter and track your exercise calories burned, ensuring that you stay on the right track.

11. Eat several meals a day. So now you're supposed to eat more? Not really. The point is that if you currently eat three meals a day, you'll now reduce those meals and add two smaller ones, which could just consist of a snack. Oddly enough, eating actually boosts your metabolism slightly . The idea is to turn your body into a fat-burning machine. NEVER allow yourself to go hungry. It's much easier to make smart diet choices when your will power is not compromised by hunger. Ideally, you should eat something every 3-4 hours. Breakfast is a must! It's crucial to start your day with the required fuel your body needs, when you're ready to expend the most energy. Likewise, you don't want to consume too many calories at night when your body is slowing down and less energy is required.

12. Consume more calories temporarily. Add a few hundred calories a day for a week to get your metabolism going, then reduce it back to where you were the next week. This will give your body a little shock to get going, so that it will work harder the next week to get back on track.

13. Zig-Zag your calorie intake. This is also known as calorie cycling. You maintain the same weekly calorie totals, but alternate your daily calorie counts. Let's say your current goal is 1800 calorie a day. Your new approach will be to consume 1500 calories one day, then 2100 the next. Keep your body guessing.

14. Pay attention to the types of calories you consume prior to your workout. Knowing that carbs (glycogen) will be burned before fat, either make your pre-workout meal a no-carb meal or start your workout with intensity. One way to do this is to do weight training, then cardio to burn the fat.

15. Reduce the "bad" carbs. Eliminate white carbs as much as possible. These carbs make you retain water and feel bloated and sluggish, therefore affecting your workout. After a few days, you won't miss white bread, spaghetti, potatoes, etc.

16. Increase your protein intake. Protein fills you up better than a high-carb meal and takes longer to digest, thus keeping you satisfied longer. It also promotes strong, lean muscle tissue. Be careful, though, that you don't eat high-calorie protein meals, such as fatty meats. Think lean chicken, fish or turkey.

17. Consider taking Fish Oil supplements which contain omega 3-fatty acids found only in fish oil. These may drastically boost your metabolism by as much as 400 calories a day.

18. Water, water water. We all know that the goal is to consume 8 glasses of water per day. And we know that certain foods can cause the body to retain fluids which make you bloated and sluggish, as well as add temporary pounds to the scale reading. A consistent water supply can help prevent water weight gain. When the body gets dehydrated, it goes into survival mode and retains water, so ironically, you have to consumer more water to get rid of it. Note that beverages without caffeine can come into this 8 glass/day equation. Caffeinated drinks, however, are dehydrating, so if you do consume them, make sure for each caffeinated drink, you replenish yourself with a glass of water. Alchohol is another cause of dehydration.

19. Keep Moving. Never sit when you can stand. Never stand when you can walk. Make sure you move regularly to get your metabolism into gear, particularly if you sit for periods of time due to a desk job, video game, television, computer.

20. If you haven't eliminated alcohol from your diet, this may be the time. Alcohol adds extra calories, but no nutrients. It can sabotage your diet as your body focuses on using the alcohol as fuel, rather than burning fat for energy. It also dehydrates, which in turn, can make you more hungry.

21. Get enough sleep. Lack of sleep can lower the number of calories your body burns just resting. Your body burns a certain amount of calories a day at rest, i.e. pumping blood, breathing and repairing damaged tissues). This accounts for about 60-75% of your total daily calorie burning, so slowing it due to sleep deprivation can be a serious roadblock to weight loss.

Try one or any combination of the these tips to trick your body and you should find yourself back on track in no time.  Just remember to keep changing up your routines every few weeks so you can avoid the weight loss plateau altogether.  Otherwise, just relax, continue eating right and exercising, and don't get too caught up in what the scale reads.  You WILL break through that plateau.