So you just started your weight loss journey. You’ve been doing good for the first few weeks. You’ve constantly lost a few pounds after consistently doing your workouts in the gym. Then, you experience hitting a wall. Shedding off pounds becomes a struggle and it could even become another reason why people choose to go back to their old ways.
So what should you do to step out of a weight loss plateau? Here are a few tricks that could help you shed more weight.
Stick with a low-carb diet
Let’s say that you haven’t tweaked your diet yet when you started losing weight. Maybe, it’s time to trim your carbs to lose more weight.
There’s one study that compared a low-carb ketogenic diet with other traditional weight-loss diets. In this study, those who consumed 50 grams of carbohydrates per day lost more weight than those who tried other weight loss regimens.
But then, it is a hotly debated topic among nutritionists and obesity experts. Some studies find very low-carb diets to have the ability to promote metabolic changes that lean towards weight loss. However, it’s a mixed bag. Other studies don’t see this effect.
Time to push the tempo
If you’ve been doing the same kind of workouts every time, then maybe, your body already adapted to it. What felt difficult before, doesn’t feel difficult anymore because your muscles have developed already. And with the body becoming more efficient with your workouts, it also means fewer calories burned.
In one study, it has been discovered in 2,900 people that for every pound of weight lost, the body burns 6.8 fewer calories.
So how do you increase the intensity of your workout? One, you can start to add more weights for your resistance training. Not only does it promote retention of muscle mass that can help boost your metabolic rate, additional weight in your workout forces the body to exert more effort, therefore burning more calories. If you don’t have the luxury to add weights, then you can slow down each rep or raise increase the reps.
Drink more water
Water can be a simple and effective way to lose more weight. Water can help boost your metabolic rate temporarily. In some studies, water can help boost the body’s metabolism by 24% to 30% for the next 1.5 hours after drinking 500 ml of water.
Aside from your metabolism, water can also prevent you from overeating. Those who drink water before eating their meals consume less food. Also, water can help get rid of salt that makes your body retain water.
Know when to take protein
A lot of people think that protein intake is all about the total. In reality, spreading your protein intake throughout the day can help boost your metabolism. That can be explained by the concept called the thermic effect of food. It’s the number of calories needed to ingest a particular food. Protein has a much higher TEF than processed food.
Manage your stress
Stress is something that can push back on your weight loss efforts. Stressful situations can get your body to respond in a way that it holds on to your body fats. Cortisol, otherwise known as the “stress hormone”, tends to do this.
What are the best ways to fight stress? That differs from one person to the next. Some find it relaxing to get a massage every week while others relax when they don’t do anything work-related. Just be sure that you are going to fight stress in a healthy way. You shouldn’t be fighting stress by overeating.
Intermittent fasting
Another great way to cut more pounds when you’re on a plateau is to do intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting has become quite popular today for several reasons. Unlike the usual diet that people tend to do, intermittent fasting doesn’t involve anything intricate such as counting calories. You will only have to decide the duration of your fasting period.
Those who do intermittent fasting usually don’t eat from 14 to 48 hours. This practice will promote weight loss since your body goes after ketone bodies for energy. There are a variety of intermittent fasting strategies. Some would do alternate-day fasting where you can alternate between fasting for long periods on one day and eating as much as you want for the next day.
If you’re worried that it could make you lose your muscle mass, there is a study to prove this notion wrong. Intermittent fasting is said to have the ability to maintain muscle mass better than other caloric restrictive diets.
Get more hours sleeping
A simple yet effective strategy to lose more weight is by sleeping. Meeting 8-10 hours of sleep every night can alter your hormone levels that dictate your appetite and fat storage.
Also, getting more sleep at night can drive your metabolic rate up. It means that you could burn more calories even at rest.
If you find yourself having difficulty sleeping at night, do things that can make you feel relaxed a few hours before your bedtime. Some people feel sleepy when they read while others find it conducive to sleep after taking a warm shower a few hours before bedtime.
Final Thoughts
Hitting a plateau can be difficult because it might feel like you are no longer making progress with your workouts. Some would even consider quitting and not just go through with their weight loss program thinking that it’s already their body’s limit. With these tips, you can step out of a weight loss plateau and continue hitting your goals.