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Are We Experiencing a Plateau?
Are we experiencing a plateau, a weight loss plateau that is? Most of us have experienced a weight loss plateau at one time or another while on a weight loss journey. Why? There are numerous reasons when we do and it takes a strong commitment on our part to see it through. Here are a few questions we can ask ourselves, along with a few tips to move things along if we're battling the bulge:
Have our food portions slowly but surely gotten bigger?
Have we prepared our food with more hidden calories such as more fat (butter, oil, etc.)?
Have we added more alcohol to our diet?
Have we been exercising less or not at all?
Have we added even just one extra high calorie snack each day, or are we eating more snacks, more often?
Did our initial weight loss come from a deprivation diet?
Many times as we lose weight, we hit a plateau and then as long as we keep up with our weight loss plan, the weight mysteriously comes off in a few weeks!
If we can truly answer the above questions with negatives that is. If not, maybe weve hit a plateau because our body is adjusting to a lower weight, or a new set point weight. Sometimes we may need to readjust our caloric intake a bit to reflect our new lower weight. This commonly occurs when we initially eat a high calorie diet and then, when we change it even a bit, we can loss quickly at first. Of course, I like to suggest increasing our daily activity or exercise time rather lowering our food intake!
Many times however, we slip a little here and there and the little things do add up! So, by asking ourselves if we've been eating a bit more, exercising a little less, or if we've been unrealistic in the amount of loss each week we expect, we may realize that we have not really reached a plateau at all. We can usually start a diet and lose a bit faster in the beginning and this naturally slows down as time goes on. This happens because we start to lose water weight, stored carbohydrates, along with some fat in the begining. But, real fat loss is slow!
Lastly, has our lifestyle changed where we're traveling more, eating out more or walking less during the day etc.? These can affect our weight loss too! So, let's brainstorm, because it just might help us to develop a new strategy, or help to keep us from falling off the wagon. Because there is loss after a plateau! June www.junefit.com
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