12 Ways to Overcome a Weight-Loss Plateau

Losing weight is hard, but when it’s working out well for you and the pounds are dropping as they should, it is almost always worth it. If, however, you try your hardest to lose weight only to see no movement on the scales whatsoever, for a week or three, it can be tempting to give in to…well temptation. Before you do that, it’s important to learn how to change your relationship with food to stop dieting. Check out our list of the most effective ways to overcome a weight-loss plateau because it might just get the scales moving again, and all of your hard work will be rewarded!

 

1. Adjust your calorie intake

Most of us, when trying to lose weight, will start out by working out how many calories we need to eat in order to maintain a decent deficit and drop the pounds. The thing is, though, as you get slimmer, the number of calories you require is likely to drop as a result. So, if you’ve been on the weight loss journey for a while, and you’re experiencing a plateau, it could be that you need to readjust your calorific intake to be more in line with your new weight. There are a number of excellent calculators you can use to work out your numbers, and many of them are free, so make this the first thing you do.

2. Increase your fiber intake

Something that can seriously stall your weight loss is not, ahem, being able to effectively relieve waste. If you have a backlog of waste in your body, then obviously you are going to weigh heavier than you should. Fortunately, a few days of eating more fiber should help you to resolve the issue.

Not only that, but numerous studies have shown that people who consume high-fiber diets are more likely to lose weight than those who do not, most likely because fiber is very filling, as well as extremely nutritious, which means people who eat plenty of it are more likely to be satisfied with less.

3. Try herbal remedies

Many people who have reached a weight loss plateau find that various herbal remedies, like green leaf tea and fennel seed, can help to spur their weight loss on and get things moving in the right direction again. Products like Skinny weight loss drops, combine a number of effective weight loss herbs into one handy treatment, which will make life easier for you as you fight to overcome your weight loss plateau. Experiment, see what works for you, and add effective remedies to your daily routine.

4. Drink green tea

If your weight loss has slumped, then throw out your usual coffee or cup of black tea and replace it with fat-burning green tea instead. Research has shown that people who consume more than five cups of coffee each day are more likely to have an excess of belly fat than those who do not. Research has also shown that green tea consumption can help the body to burn fat, so it is a total no-brainer to replace as many of your coffees as you dan with green tea, which is also pretty high in caffeine, so you don’t have to worry about where your energy will come from!

 

5. Lower your salt consumption

When the scales aren’t moving, it is not necessarily because you are still holding on to the same amount of fat – it could simply be that you are retaining more water than usual. This can happen if you’re a woman when you have your period, but it can also be caused by excessive salt consumption. So many people end up getting disheartened and giving up on their diets completely when if they just removed some of the salt from their diets, they would see an almost instant drop in the scales. don’t be like them, and if you feel like you eat a lot of salt, cut it in half, or cut it out almost completely – we do all need some salt in our diet to be healthy – and see how you go.

6. Take a day off your diet

This may sound counterintuitive, but if you are struggling to overcome a weight loss plateau, it might be worth trying to have a day off. Obviously, you shouldn’t go crazy and eat all the things, but having a meal or two that are higher in carbs than usual, and maybe treating yourself to your favorite naughty snack could work wonders. Why? Because having a cheat day can prevent your body from feeling like it is shedding too much fat, which can confuse it into thinking you are starving. Once you get a lot of calories, it will start to understand you are eating enough, and it will ramp up its efforts to burn fat once again.

7. Drink more water

Water is so important for weight loss, but so many of us don’t give it much thought that it is often a key factor in weight loss plateaus. If your body is not adequately hydrated, it can’t flush out any extra salt you have consumed, and your digestion is likely to be more sluggish too. This will register as the body retaining weight, which is exactly what you don’t want.

Not only that, but if you happen to be dehydrated, it can make you feel extremely hungry, which will put you in danger of overeating, and you will probably not be able to perform at your optimum when exercising, which means fewer calories burned overall too. Carry a water bottle everywhere with you and sip from it regularly!

Oh, and if you drink a glass of water before your meals, chances are you will feel fuller faster, which means you’ll eat less overall, too!

8. Give up drinking

If you have been indulging in the occasional drink on your weight loss journey, even if it has been a very low-calorie slimline gin and tonic, there is a good chance that it could be responsible for your weight loss stall. The way the body metabolizes alcohol means that is it more likely to turn into fat than various other substances, and as you will probably know, for many of us, drinking can cause a binge on junk foods that are best avoided when you are looking to lose weight.

 

9. Try a new exercise

When you have been doing the same exercise in the same way for a while, the body adapts to it, and you may not burn as many calories doing said activity as you used to. That’s why it is often a really good idea to try out lots of different classes at the gym or to regularly increase the intensity of the exercise you do if you prefer. This will ensure that your body is always burning the maximum number of calories for you, which means you should start losing weight again in no time at all.  When you work out, your muscles grow and develop. Resistance training aids in the retention of muscle mass, which has a significant impact on how many calories you burn during activity and at rest. A fitness scale is the best option for your weight management,  like on this website.

10. Eat more complex carbs

Eating a low-carb diet works well for many people, but it doesn’t work for everyone. Some people find that their metabolisms slow down when they are eating very few carbs, which means they hold on to the pounds they should be shedding. If you think you could be one of them, you should try adding reasonable amounts of complex carbs like brown rice and sweet potatoes back into your diet. These are healthy foods that will keep you feeling fuller for longer, and hopefully, they kick-start your metabolism so you can start losing weight again, too.

11. Lift weights

Many people, especially women, shay away from weight training because they think it will bulk them out. However, this is not exactly the case, and unless you want to bulk up your body, it is not inevitable. What lifting weight sill do, si tone up every inch of your body, while also helping you to effectively burn more calories, even when you are resting. Muscle uses more energy than fast, which means, if you develop yours, you will effortlessly burn more calories than you were before. You’ll look amazing at the end of it too!

12. Get some sleep

If you’re the kind of person who burns the candles at both ends, this could be contributing to your weight loss plateau in a significant way. The body needs sleep to regulate itself and ensure everything is working right. People who get fewer than 7-9 hours a night are more likely to be overweight or obese than those who get plenty of shut-eye, so do whatever you need to do to make sleep a priority in your life and your waistline will thank you for it too.

 

Weight-loss plateaus can be very upsetting, but don’t let yours get in the way of your health goals. Try as many of the ideas above as you can fit into your day and you are sure to see an improvement on the scales in no time at all. Weight loss isn’t an exact science, so they may not all work for you, but many of them will and that’s what you need to focus on.