Your Diet Has Reached a Plateau: When you first start a new diet and exercise regimen, you force your metabolism to switch gears by lowering available calories and increasing the amount of calories you need to burn. Hitting a plateau means your metabolism has successfully adjusted to the amount of calories taken in and what’s being used by the body for daily activities (including exercise). To lose those last few pounds, start by reevaluating both your caloric intake and physical routine:
- Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate, which is the amount of calories (energy) your body needs to maintain your current weight. One pound of fat = 3500 calories. To lose 1lb/week you should cut 250 calories/day PLUS burn an extra 250 calories/day with exercise. You can double that and lose 2lbs./week, but any more (cutting over 500 cal) can be too hard on your body (and torture!), and kick it into starvation mode. Calories provide the energy your body needs for survival, and severe deprivation of calories will slow your metabolism and sabotage your diet.
- Readjust your exercise routine. While cardio routines have many benefits, consider strength training to build muscle. Muscle burns calories even while you are at rest, and this may be what you’re missing. On the other hand, if you’ve been more focused on strength training, try adding more cardio to give your metabolism a quick jump. Also, switching the time of day you normally exercise may give you the boost you need.
- Your newly acquired muscle may be the reason for your plateau. If you’ve upped your activity level, you probably have more lean muscle mass than you realize. As mentioned earlier, muscles burn calories even at rest. In fact, you need five times as many calories to maintain muscle mass compared to maintaining fat mass. Again, check your basal metabolic rate. You may not be getting enough calories, and causing your metabolism to slow down. Also, be aware that muscle weighs more than fat.
Technorati Tags: weight loss plateau
Related posts:
{ 1 trackback }
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Drinking plenty of cold water will also help!
Yes, the calories intake can be often forgotten in people who exercise a lot. If you don’t eat enough, your muscle mass can go down and you start to have a lower metabolism, so you may need more. but don’t go overboard as too much will mean fat gain as well.