Will A Weight Loss Plateau Go Away On Its Own

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Will A Weight Loss Plateau Go Away On Its Own

‍You know that feeling when you’re happy and excited about your weight loss, but then the scales fail to budge for a few days or even a week. You start panicking and wondering if you have reached a plateau and will not lose any more weight. These fears are very real, especially if you are on a low-calorie diet. When your body is forced to go through an extended period of time with not enough calories, it adjusts by burning fewer calories every day. This metabolic adaptation tends to happen in anyone who loses at least 10% of their body weight. But if you don’t give up, these plateaus can actually be useful for maintaining long-term results beyond initial pounds lost — as long as you don’t give up!

Will A Weight Loss Plateau Go Away On Its Own?

Yes, if you continue to eat a healthy diet and stay within your daily calorie allotment, your weight loss plateau will eventually go away. However, if you persist in eating more calories than you burn each day, your weight loss plateau will become a weight gain plateau. So it’s important to be patient and keep up the good work until your weight loss resumes.

Why Don’t We Just Lose Weight Without A Calorie Deficit?

1. Metabolism

The human body is an amazing machine. It uses calories to fuel everything from basic bodily functions like breathing and digesting food, to more complicated processes like thinking, sleeping, and walking. Even though you think your body is burning fat during exercise or while you sleep, it’s actually using stored or “rested” calories that were burned during the day.

2. Hormones

Your body also needs energy to produce and synthesize hormones that regulate your metabolism. Your thyroid gland is a great example of this — without enough energy coming in through the foods you eat, your thyroid gland may slow down its production of hormones that regulate your metabolism, which can lead to weight gain.

3. Calories in vs Calories out

The most common mistake people make when trying to lose weight (or maintain weight loss) is not eating enough calories from healthy whole foods and not exercising enough to burn off those excess calories. But if you don’t eat enough calories and you don’t exercise, your body will eventually run out of energy to burn for all those vital bodily functions.

4. Lack of Focus

It’s important to remember that weight loss is a slow process — it takes time to lose weight and maintain your new weight. It’s easy to get distracted, which can cause you to gain back all the weight that you’ve lost if you don’t stay focused on your goals.

How To Break A Plateau

Take a break

One of the best ways to break a plateau is to take a break from your current workout routine. This gives your body and mind a chance to reset, which allows you to restart your training with a fresh outlook. You may not even realize that you are overtraining, which can cause your body to break down and prevent you from making progress. Taking a break can help prevent this so you can get back to your routine feeling rejuvenated and ready to take on the world.

Review your diet

You’d be surprised at how a change in diet can affect your progress. If you are eating a diet that is too high in calories, you may see progress in your training as you gain weight. However, you don’t want this to happen! If you find that you are not making progress, try reducing your calorie intake or eating more lean protein. Another thing you can try is to change your macros and percentage of carbs, fats, and proteins. It may not seem like a big deal, but a few small changes can go a long way.

Change up your routine

If you have been in the same routine for a long time, your body will get used to it and will not see much progress. Although it may seem counterintuitive, you need to change your routine as often as possible to prevent your body from getting used to your workouts. This doesn’t mean you need to scrap your whole routine and start over. Instead, try to switch things up with subtle changes to your training. This could mean doing a different workout each day or adding an extra rest day in between your workouts.

Mix in different exercises

Along with changing up your routine, you should also be switching out your exercises to prevent your body from adapting. You don’t have to completely change your routine for this to happen, just mix in different exercises for each of your workouts. This could mean switching out your bench press for a dumbbell press or adding in a new exercise like weighted lunges.

Try a new training program

If you have been lifting for a long time and feel like you are not progressing anymore, it may be time to change up your program. Changing up your program doesn’t mean you need to scrap your whole routine, but rather you can add in a new program to give yourself a fresh challenge. There are tons of different workout programs that can help you break through a plateau, such as StrongLifts, Starting Strength, 5/3/1, and others.

Track your progress and results

If you haven’t been tracking your progress and results, now is the time to start. This will help you stay accountable to your training and make sure you are on track to break through your plateau. You can easily track your progress by taking a before and after photo, keeping a journal, or using an app like Fitocracy. You can also track your results by measuring your progress in other areas such as your strength, endurance, and flexibility. This will show you that your hard work is paying off and you are making progress in all areas of your training.

Add in weights or resistance training

Resistance training is an important part of any good workout routine. It can help improve your strength and endurance, and provide many other health benefits. If you have been doing mostly cardio and no resistance training, you may be experiencing a plateau. If this is the case, it is important to add in resistance training to break through your plateau and give your body a boost of progress.

Find a BETTER trainer or coach

If you have been working with a trainer or coach for a while and you find yourself stuck in a plateau, it may be time to find a new one. This can be a bit of a tricky situation, but keep your mind open as you search for a new trainer. If your current trainer is not helping you progress, you should approach them about it. You don’t have to quit your current trainer; instead, bring it up and see if they have any suggestions. If this doesn’t work, it may be time to find a new coach. This can be a bit intimidating, but don’t worry! We have you covered with our guide on how to find a great trainer or coach.

Change your diet and nutrition habits

As we mentioned earlier, your diet is extremely important when breaking a plateau. If you are eating too many calories, you could find yourself gaining weight and progressing in your training. However, if you are eating too few calories, you may find that you aren’t getting enough energy to train or progress. You can try adjusting your macros and changing the amount of carbs, proteins, and fats that you are eating. This will allow you to eat a bit more or less depending on what your body needs at this time. Your nutrition habits are also extremely important. This includes the time of day you eat and the type of food you are eating. If you are eating processed foods and not getting enough fruits and veggies, it may be time to make some changes.

Tips To Get Past A Caloric Deficit Plateau

1. Eat more

Eat more, but don’t overdo it. If you find that you are eating too much, cut back on your caloric intake. If you are not gaining weight, cut back even further.

2. Don’t overdo cardio

If you are doing too much cardio and not seeing results, try cutting down on the amount of cardio that you do each week. This will help to keep your body from burning through all of your glycogen stores and start to break down muscle tissue for energy instead.

3. Build up your strength training

If you aren’t getting enough protein or carbs each day, it may be time to start adding in some resistance training into your routine. A good strength training workout should include a mixture of both cardio and resistance training components that will help to build up muscle tissue and increase lean mass. You can also try adding in some metabolic resistance training into your routine as well which is a great way to burn fat and build muscle at the same time.

4. Eat more protein

Protein is essential for building muscle and breaking down fat. Try eating a little bit more protein each day and see if that helps to break you out of your caloric deficit plateau.

5. Increase your intensity and volume

If you are doing too much cardio or strength training but still aren’t seeing results, try increasing the intensity and volume of each workout. As long as you are eating enough calories, this should be enough to help you break through the caloric deficit plateau that you may be experiencing.

Bottom Line

Weight loss is a slow process and it can be a real challenge to keep going when you’re on a caloric deficit. But if you don’t give up, you’ll come out stronger and more confident than before. With a little bit of patience, you can get past a plateau and break through the weight loss barrier. So don’t give up!

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