I count and eat, I exercise every day, but my weight doesn’t budge. Not even by a gram!
Sounds familiar?
One of the frequently asked question is “I am doing everything right but not losing weight. Or in other words, weight has stopped reducing further. How to lose more weight and keep on losing it?”
At one stage in life, we all think of losing some weight. Then comes exercise and diet plan with added zeal to become fit overnight. When we start new regime, we start losing weight quickly in initial days which adds double motivation and an idea that losing weight is easy! Then comes a phase where weight stops reducing further. This phase is hard and surprise most of the people as they still want to keep on losing weight and they are also doing everything right but no matter how hard they try, weight stops budging. This phase is called “weight loss plateau”.
This stage is a tough one and requires further changes, but it often happens, people lose zeal and they become easy with their regime. They feel, why to go hard on body when nothing is happening? Maybe it’s just my metabolism! And as a result, all the weight which they had lost is gained back quickly and often at wrong places. In some cases, a bit more weight is gained back than what was lost.
Let’s dive in this topic which often takes people by surprise.
When we focus on losing some weight to get fitter, we often start a new regime which usually include an exercise plan and a low-calorie diet. As expected, we start losing weight faster in initial days. The main reason behind this is low-calorie diet and added exercise. Whey body burns calorie through exercise and simultaneously gets low calorie from diet, it creates calorie deficit, which means calorie output is more than calorie input and it forces body to use spare glycogen which is usually stored in liver and muscles. Due to this, we lose fat, muscle and water which leads to weight loss.
At one stage body accustoms to the added exercise regime and due to weight loss, it can function on fewer calories than before. Due to this, we stop losing weight further. Let’s understand what should be done at this stage.
1) Diet: One needs to understand, a low-calorie diet is not always the only way to lose weight. If less than 1200 calorie diet is consumed in a day with added restrictions, it does more harm than good. Often low-calorie diet puts trauma on body and body starts hoarding fat than using up stored energy. As a result, body is constantly hungry, on low-energy and fatigue, often irritated and bored. Excessive restrictions add cravings in folds and when mind loses control, the possibility of eating/overeating of sugary/salty/junk food which gives mind comfort, increases. At the end, all the restrictions which one has put, come to the same level of calorie intake.
It is utmost important to understand, weight loss is a long journey. Our body requires sufficient and good quality calorie to run the show. Eating in moderation and especially a good quality fat will help you in a long run.
2) Evaluate habits: Even after eating simple food in moderation, if weight stops budging, it’s best to reevaluate habits. Do you have any habits which can add unwanted calorie to your diet? Few examples are;
• Staying up late at night to unwind or finishing work and end up eating packaged food (chips, chocolate etc.) just to munch on something without any physical hunger.
• Eating snacks while watching tv or movie theatres.
• Munching on chocolate/ chips when sad or angry or just to kill time.
• Eating biscuits in long meetings.
• Eating fried/sugary sweet with every single meal (as one piece never hurts but if eaten every day it might hurt!)
We all have different habits. It is worth to evaluate habits when you feel, you are doing enough.
3) Exercise: As mentioned above, at one point, our body and muscles get used to one kind of exercise. It is important to add variety and increase intensity simultaneously. Think of options like zumba, dance, swimming, cycling, pilates, functional/strength training with regular work out, yoga, brisk walking, running etc.
Variety is a spice of life and variety in exercise gives extra flavor called “weight loss”.
Apart from adding variety, one needs to evaluate their habits related to physical activity throughout the day. If one does intense exercise in the morning or evening and sits ideal throughout the day, it also prevents from losing more weight. To break this, stay active throughout the day.
These are the basic things related to weight loss plateau. However, there are few other factors/ physical conditions which affect weight loss, e.g. genes, level of stress, less number of sleeping hours, hormonal conditions like pcod/pcos, thyroid, pms, insulin resistance, neurological conditions, consumption of few medicines etc.
Make positive changes in your lifestyle and target for 3 to 5 years weight loss journey instead of desiring for an overnight result, you will gain more for sure.
Thank you.