Weight loss: avoid plateaus and routines

If you’ve lost a significant amount of weight or followed a weight loss plan for a period of time, you know that even if you continue to follow the plan perfectly, most people will hit a plateau around 6 months . This happens because your body, as Intelligently created as it is, learns to adapt to what you have been doing and no longer responds as before.

It is recommended that for every 10% of your body weight lost, you consume about 20% fewer calories if you want to continue losing weight. At a certain point, if he just continued to do this, he would find himself starving! You can only reduce the amount of food to a certain point before it backfires.

You want to continue burning fat and building muscle, as muscle is more metabolically active and will keep your metabolic rate high enough that you don’t have to reduce the amount of food you eat as drastically.

Another adjustment you may find helpful is to increase your protein intake to minimize muscle loss. Protein is also more satisfying, so you’ll feel more satisfied. When looking to continue weight loss, you may want to increase clean protein to about 25% of your total caloric intake.

Also keep in mind that your body becomes more efficient as you go through your regular workouts. Add to that the fact that you expend less energy to do the same workout as you lose weight, resulting in fewer calories burned. I always recommend changing your exercise routine every 3 or 4 weeks: the frequency, the time, the type of training or the intensity. Keep your body guessing and it will respond. Many fitness experts believe that “confusing” your muscles by varying your exercises from one session to the next forces them to adapt to ever-changing demands, which enhances growth and strength and allows you to avoid plateaus.

While I’m on this topic of muscle confusion, let’s talk about grooves. Maybe you stick with the program but feel unmotivated. Sounds like a routine to me. We all like a little variety. Well, I think changing things up, both in your exercise routine and your diet, can turn things around and renew your motivation, as well as get your body responsive again.

You can change your meals. I mention several ways to do this in Today is Still the Day, in the last section, such as the progression principle and carb cycling. You could try intermittent fasting and switch your fasting windows, doing an 8/16 window for a few days or a week and then doing a couple of 10/14 days and maybe a 4/20 day. Your body is surprised and nothing will get you out of the rut better than seeing your body respond again. With intermittent fasting, just make sure you’re not eating less, just eat less often. Also make sure a meal in your feeding window is substantial enough to keep you feeling full, so your body knows you’re not starving. Otherwise, it will defeat the purpose and your body will keep the fat instead of burning it.

Do you have a preferred way to get over a plateau or avoid a diet/exercise routine?