Get Past A Weight Loss Plateau With These Great Tips
Losing weight is a long and challenging process. It doesn’t happen overnight, and you can run into a variety of obstacles along the way. From losing motivation to going on vacation or binge eating, we all have various struggles when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. However, sometimes, you might get to a point in your weight loss journey where you begin to notice that your weight is at a standstill despite you sticking to exercise and healthy eating. A plateau can happen for a number of reasons. This is perfectly normal, but it can be frustrating. In any case, there are ways to get past it and continue shedding the pounds that you want to lose!
Change Your Workouts
One reason that you’ve hit a plateau can be due to the fact that you’ve gotten used to doing the same workout over and over again. As a result, your body becomes used to it over time, your muscles adapt to the movements, and it becomes less and less effective – the challenge dissipates. To fix this, all you need to do is try a new form of exercise or even a new version of the kind that you love. For instance, if you like walking more than anything, change the route you take or the speeds on the treadmill. Change things up!
Watch Your Calorie Intake
Weight loss can be thought of as a science. In order to lose weight, we need to eat fewer calories than the amount that we burn in a day. It sounds simple enough, right? Well, at times, people seem to neglect to notice just how many calories they’re consuming throughout the day. They can grab an extra fruit as a snack or eat a few chips absentmindedly, or even add another slice of cheese on their omelets. All these little things can add up in the calories really quickly. People also tend to overestimate how many calories they burned in a workout and allow themselves to eat more than they should. All these things lead to a stall in losing weight since they aren’t burning the calories that they’re eating. To avoid this, keep a close watch on what you’re eating every day, especially snacks and drinks.
Fiber
One of the best ways to decrease body fat is by eating more fiber. This nutrient is very filling, which can lead to eating less overall, helping you get past the plateau. Aim to eat 30gr of fiber a day from fresh vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Not only will doing this help you lose more weight, but it will also help with reducing blood pressure levels and increase sensitivity to insulin.
Lower Salt Intake
There are times when you aren’t losing weight since your body is retaining water. This can be caused by multiple things, but the most common reason is eating too much salt. Most processed foods contain large amounts of sodium, and water clings to sodium. Because of this, your body will retain too much water when you’re eating too much salt. Dial back on processed foods like frozen dinners, canned soups, and boxed cheeses.
Eat Regularly
People seem to think that skipping a meal will help them lose weight quicker, but this is actually completely untrue. Eating regularly will help with weight loss. Skipping meals slows down the metabolism as well as the blood sugar levels, which typically leads to overeating later on. Eating a meal consisting of protein, carbs, and fats every 4 hours or so will keep your body burning calories consistently throughout the entire day.
Keep A Food Diary
In order to prevent over-eating or losing track of your calorie intake, make sure to keep a food diary for a while to keep an eye on everything you’re putting in your body. This will make it more difficult to eat mindlessly and snack too much.
Do Yoga
It’s common that people eat more when they’re stressed, and that can obviously to unwanted weight gain. To avoid this, opt for yoga to relieve stress so you don’t end up eating excessive calories out of stress. Yoga will also help reduce the levels of stress hormones as well as increase insulin sensitivity, so it’s a win-win.
