When you hit a weigh loss plateau, it can feel like you’re stuck in the mud! You’re doing everything you can – but the scale still isn’t budging. Here’s six things you can do to un-stick yourself from any weight loss plateau.
Follow These Simple Steps to Overcome a Weight Loss Plateau
1.) Keep a Food Journal
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy – just a notepad will do. You want to keep your food journal for at least a week! Chances are you’ve started to eat a little bit more of the things you avoided to lose weight in the first place. So keep track of the things your eating to start to get some perspective on what you’re actually consuming – you’ll be surprised what you might be eating (and in what quantities) when you stop keeping track! Be honest with yourself and write down everything – it will help you to get a handle on your habits before they spin out of control.
2.) Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!
Drink lots of water! Your body is mostly water, and when you hydrate, you’ll experience a lot of benefits like extracting and diluting a lot of toxins that come with unhealthy eating and stress. Upping your water intake to recommended levels has been proven to increase the efficiency of your digestive system and other organs, and help you lose weight. You might even find that fitting more water into your schedule will leave less room for sugary drinks or diuretics (like excess coffee) that can put a stop to your weight loss progress.
3.) Eat More Vegetables and All-Natural Whole Foods
When time constraints and stress kick in, it’s easy to reach for seemingly time-saving packaged snacks and processed foods. This can inadvertently dismantle your weight loss progress by reintroducing various sugars, simple carbs and preservatives that you were previously avoiding. Instead, try planning your snacks and scheduling your meals! If you’ve planned in advance to eat the things that are good for you, you can prepare them when you’re not in a rush and eat them when you are on the go! Veggies and other natural foods keep your body in top working-order, especially under stress and time constraints, because they typically contain higher levels of water, nutrients, complex carbohydrates and nourishing compounds you just don’t get with refined foods. This will help you to handle the day-to-day grind more effectively, with more focus and energy and with less of the bad stuff putting a stumbling block in front of your progress! It’ll also keep you feeling full for much longer than refined or “fast” snacks and foods and keep you free from bloating (which might account for the weight you’re not losing) and various other uncomfortable side effects. Check out our blog on healthy snacking tips to learn some new strategies on smart grazing!
4.) When You Exercise, Increase Your Activity Levels and Add Some Variety!
If you’re doing a lot of cardio, it’s important to add some resistance training 3-4 days a week (if you’re just starting out, avoid consecutive days of resistance training and give yourself some rest in between). This can come in the form of using resistance bands, doing some weightlifting, adding yoga or other bodyweight exercises into your routine, or even making a point to get some of those more laborious house chores finished up – like landscaping, moving furniture to clean underneath or packing boxes up for your next garage sale!
If cardio is lacking, start to work in more cardio 3-4 days per week. Start slow – your body needs to adjust to using various muscle groups and you can risk injury if you go hard from day one. Join a running club or aerobics class and make it clear to your coaches that you’re just starting out! Make sure you give your body adequate rest in between and make it a regular routine to alternate between resistance and cardio exercises.
5.) Increase Your Protein Intake
Especially when you’re working out more, you want to add more protein into your diet to account for all the work your body is doing to use and repair its lean muscle mass. Studies have shown that higher levels of protein in your diet (with reduced sugar intake) can increase the rate of fatty weight loss. It’s very important where you get your protein from – most sources such as meat are very high in calories. Using meal replacement options such as low-sugar protein powders, protein shakes and protein bars is often the appropriate lower-calorie option when you’re trying to break your weight loss plateau.
6.) Get Enough Sleep and Learn to Relax!
Getting enough sleep and regularly finding ways to reduce stress are two very effective components of breaking a weight loss plateau. Stress and sleep deprivation have been shown to greatly increase levels of cortisol, the body’s stress hormone. Elevated levels of cortisol can put your body into “survival mode”, causing it to create more stores of fat to handle high-stress situations. In addition, cortisol causes increased inflammation which can cause joint pain, exhaustion and decreased digestive efficiency, leading to a lower level of motivation to get active and stay on course for a healthy lifestyle!
Accountability Matters – KUDOS Can Help!
KUDOS to you for reading this article! If you’ve found yourself on this web page, we can tell that you’re motivated to develop a healthy lifestyle and reach your goals. Getting the right information is only the first step – investing in a guided weight loss program like KUDOS along with getting into the right coaching program can create the accountability you need for daily, weekly, monthly and life-long progress! Check out one of our programs today and make your way over to the Low Sugar Mall to check out some great low-sugar meal replacements (some of our products even include a bonus coaching session and special offers for our weight loss programs!).
