Plateau Busters

When the needle on that weighing scale refuses to budge despite your best efforts, you may have hit what is known as a weight loss plateau. Don’t fret! There are ways you can get around it.

You embarked on a new exercise and diet program and have been seeing steady results. Then all of a sudden, the progress comes to a grinding halt. You do everything right, maybe work out harder, cut down on your calories even further, but instead of getting closer to your weight loss and health goals, it leaves you feeling tired, dejected and de-motivated.

What is wrong here? Well, you have hit a plateau. The good news is that there are ways to bust the plateau and attain your goals. With proper knowledge, dedication and hard work, you will be on your way to attaining your ideal results.

What is a weight-loss plateau?

A plateau is a stage in your weight loss program where you are not losing weight in spite of continuing with your exercise program and healthy eating habits. In the beginning of any weight loss program, as you decrease your calorie intake and increase your exercise, the body uses energy from the stored glycogen and fat in your body and you start losing weight. However, each body has a set point of metabolism beyond which the body resists all effort to lose weight. Once you reach this point, it becomes more difficult to maintain the previous rate of weight loss.

So how does one overcome a weight loss plateau?

Fear not. All is not lost. With a few changes in your diet, exercise and rest, you will be able to overcome and prevent a plateau.

Diet – While it is tempting to cut down calories, too low a calorie intake will only slow down your metabolism further. The idea is to kick-start your metabolism while ingesting an adequate amount of calories. Take a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, switch to whole grains, and have adequate protein. The body needs more energy to burn a gram of protein than either carbohydrate or fat while keeping you feeling fuller for a longer time. Increase your water intake. Drink water before, during and after your workout and through out the day. Have a meal within 30-60 minutes of your workout. The post- workout meal should ideally consist of both protein and carbohydrate.

Exercise – Add variety to your exercise routine. Muscles become efficient in doing the exercises they are accustomed to. Switching up your exercise routine so that the body is continually challenged will help burn more calories, build more lean tissue and prevent or overcome plateaus. It is important to incorporate variety into both your strength training and aerobic routines. Change the type, duration and intensity of your workout program

• Aerobic exercise – Change the type, duration and intensity of your workout. If you run, try cycling. If you cycle, try the elliptical. Try to incorporate different activities such as running, swimming, dancing, kick-boxing, spinning, cycling etc
• Strength Training – Change the mode, the exercise and the resistance and/or number of repetitions. If you normally work out on machines, switch to free weights. If you use body weight, try resistance bands instead. If you haven’t tried it before, do your strength training on a stability ball. If you have been doing chest press with barbell, do it with dumbbells or switch to pec dec machine. Try new exercises for each muscle group so that they are continually challenged. Increase the weight regularly. Start with low weights and increase the weight in each set one day and do the reverse the next time you work the same muscle group.
  Read why strength training is good for women.

Rest – Adequate rest is essential for the success of any weight loss program. During strength training, tiny tears occur in the muscles. These tears repair themselves during rest and the muscles grow stronger and bigger than before. Without proper rest, this repair process is hampered and muscles become weak. To get the full benefit of your workout, wait a day or two before you work the same muscle group again.

By following these principles of diet, exercise and rest we can give our weight loss program a boost and continue to see amazing results.

Written by Dr Jayati Talukdar

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