Weight loss plateaus, a quick Q&A...

Published: Sun, 06/09/19

Hi

Following on from my email in weight loss plateaus yesterday I've put together a quick couple of issues and suggested solutions that will hopefully help when those plateaus occur:

The 'Adaptation' Phase Ends

  • When you start a new exercise program, your body responds because it is required to make numerous changes to adjust to different workloads. So, your muscles are rebuilding themselves and this consumes all kinds of calories. But, at some point your body will stop adapting to the new workload and, as a result, you burn less calories for the same activities.

Solution:

Don't let your body get used to the exercise. Maintain your body's adaptation period by changing the intensity, duration, frequency and/or the mode of exercise and include interval training if necessary.

  • Exercise Efficiency
    The more you do something, the better you get at it. As your body becomes better at performing your exercises, it can actually use fewer calories during the exercise.

Solution:

Don't get used to the exercise. Concentrate on more dramatic changes such as trying brand new activities.

  • Over-training
    Just like not eating enough can lower the amount calories you burn, so can over-training. When you exercise too much, there is a point of diminishing returns when an increase in exercise energy expenditure is negated by an equal decrease in non-exercise energy expenditure. In other words, when you increase your exercise intensity, your body responds by decreasing the amount of calories you burn during the rest of your day.

Solution:

Take time to recover. If you reach exercise burnout, this is a great time to take a break for a few days, or try something gentle like yoga or a stretching routine. After you've rested, get back to exercise but lighten up your original routine and increase your intensity only as necessary

Diet Creep:

This is what happens when people go on a diet they can’t stand: they white-knuckle it for a few months, but then start cheating more and more because it’s just not sustainable.

It’s not a big moment of “I give up;” it’s a hundred smaller moments of “well, I’m still losing weight, and I’m sick of eating steamed spinach all the time, so I deserve this treat” – until one day, you aren’t losing weight any more.

This is what the researchers found in the typical 6-month “stall.” When subjects had to live in a lab and didn’t have the opportunity to cheat on their diet, they didn’t stall at 6 months at all.

But....in the real world, without professional researchers to keep them on track whether they liked it or not, 6-month stalls were common – and the reason was typically diet creep.

Always remember that a plateau occurs just before another big leap in forward in progress.

Whether it is the extra effort you put in or our body almost building up to a change we can't be sure.

What we do know that is with consistency, embracing and celebrating EVERY small win and being intuitive with your nutrition often leads to success!


Always here to help...hit reply and we always reply!

Kim
Kim Chandler
Nutritional Therapist
07875 163901
www.eatwellandworkout.com


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