In the beginning, your weight loss result may be huge and for a while you will lose weight with ease because you have a new eating and exercise routine that your body isn’t used to.

Eventually, your body gets used to it and you will see the weight loss slowing down or even stop.

All of a sudden, a weekly 2lb loss becomes an impossible task and the food that you were eating is backfiring.

The weight either stays the same or slowly starts creeping back up.

Sound familiar? You’ve hit a weight loss plateau!

This eventually happens to everyone who tries to lose weight and it can come as a shock to an individual who is eating a healthy balanced diet and exercising regularly.

The frustrating reality is that even well planned weight-loss efforts can stall.

As you lose weight, you lose some muscle along with fat. Muscle helps keep the rate at which you burn calories (metabolism) up.

So as you lose weight, your metabolism declines, causing you to burn fewer calories than you did at your heavier weight.

Your slower metabolism will slow your weight loss, even if you eat the same number of calories that helped you lose weight. When the calories you burn equal the calories you eat, you reach a plateau.

This is your bodies way of telling you that its time to switch things up a little!

Here are a few tips to help get you out of a plateau.

1. Be in more of a calorie deficit

You will find that cutting back your calories a little more will help kickstart the process again. Calorie deficit = fat loss. WARNING: always ask for advice before cutting your calories ad never go below 1200.

This could result in increased hunger pangs, which could lead to overeating. It’s also wise to use My Fitnesspal to track your calories or keep a food diary just to make sure you are sticking to your calorie limit. Quite often we exceed our limit without even realising which results in weight gain/a plateau.

2. Switch up your workouts

What you were doing worked well for you but now your body is no longer responding so it’s time to make a few changes. Don’t change your whole program; change a couple of things first.

This could be something as simple as changing the amount of sets and reps you do per exercise or doing an extra 10-minutes of cardio. If it doesn’t work, think about changing the intensity and duration of your workouts.

When I hit a plateau, I started spinning….and it worked!

3. Rest and recover

You may not realise it, but your muscles may be overworked and tired. When you rest and refuel, your body breaks down muscle and then builds new tissue in its place.

You need to give your body sufficient rest time between workouts so that your muscles have a fighting chance at fully repairing.

Take a full week off every 6-8 weeks. Rest, recover and return to the gym stronger and refreshed.

It's important to remember that a plateau is totally normal AND temporary.

It’s a sign that you have already make significant weight loss progress and now it’s time to adjust to continue making more.

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