Well, my dear dieter. I think you already know what I’m talking about.
Here you are, ten pounds lighter, enjoying the happiness of being able to tell everybody that all your efforts were rewarded, when suddenly…YOU STOP losing WEIGHT.
Frequently there are still those final pounds you need to get rid of, the most stubborn ones.
What the @&%(#!
The Plateau effect has been known for about twenty years as the phases where the body “refuses” getting thinner. It’s like the metabolism enters a slow-motion state. Even reducing calories and increasing physical activities don’t seem to work.
It usually comes when you reach 10 to 15% of weight loss. Some causes may be:
– Overestimated goals: You don’t need to lose anything and your body knows it.
– Less exercise: Maybe you didn’t notice it, but you may have diminished the time or frequency of your workout.
– Doing only aerobics: It’s known that weight exercises are an essential complement to any fitness program.
– High restriction diet: Some people fail to eat enough! Too many hours without food are equally bad for your metabolism.
Your body has a memory and all your glands, subcutaneous fat cells, and digestive system are programmed to respect what they think it’s a healthy weight.
The problem is that the fashion magazines keep pushing in on what THEY think it’s as ideal weight.
Your metabolism has hundreds of years of “experience” in hunger and disease, since the cavemen. It gets scared when you try to eat fewer calories and start to “save” for the future, by slowing the consumption.
This is not bad, it’s a defense mechanism, that has protected a lot of pregnant women and entire ancient civilizations from dying during winters and wars.
Now we have plenty of food (In some countries. Don’t forget to thank God for this), microwave ovens and tasty malevolous carbohydrates. With the abundance of food, we don’t need that defense anymore.
But you will just have to accept it. You can restart your metabolism using these tips:
– Change and increase your activity: You can exercise up to five times a week with a sixty-minute program. Ask your Personal Trainer for orientation and avoid ultra-low calorie diets if exercising.
– Start resistance training: Use weights to create more fat-burning muscles.
– Drink more water: Water is an essential catalyzer for a lot of biochemical reactions in your body, don’t overlook it.
– Reassess what and how much you are eating: Never skip breakfast, and try to stick with a three or four maximum intervals between meals. Is your calorie table accurate? Are you really counting everything? Desserts too!
Don’t forget that sometimes your weight is stationary, but in reality, your organism has replaced fat with muscles. This is good, but doesn’t show on the scale! Only the fat percentage exam can show this.
Avoid weighing yourself around the menstrual period. It’s a hormonal mess and frequently causes overestimation of your weight.
Always empty your bladder before, and weigh only in the morning.
The plateau effect is a matter of “WHEN”, not “IF”. It WILL happen, but the closer you get to your healthy weight, the least important it will be.
