6 Factors that Could Contribute to Weight Loss Plateauing
The road to weight loss is one of the most
arduous journeys you can take. It is full of cravings, dietary changes,
and intense workouts. To begin with, you may see some quick results as
the body sheds off some of its excess weight rapidly, but then you may
hit a plateau and find that losing weight past that point is exceedingly
hard. Why is that?
1. You’re looking at the wrong metric
Many people seem to be under the impression
that our weight consists of all that fat we want to burn, but that is
very far from the truth, as water takes up a lot of our weight, as does
muscle tissue. When exercising regularly, you may find that your weight
changes very little, if at all, but that doesn’t mean you’re not burning
fat. Rather, what this means is you are converting all of that flabby
fat weight into more compact muscle mass. For these reasons, using
weight as a tool to measure fat loss could present you with a false
image. If you want a better metric for your fat-burning efforts, you
should measure waist circumference.
2. You need to increase your workout’s difficulty
One of the reasons you might have hit a
plateau is that your current training regimen just isn’t hard enough for
you, anymore. If you’re focusing on cardio try to lengthen your
exercise or add resistance or incline, if you’re using an exercise
machine like a treadmill or elliptical. If you’re doing resistance
training, add more weights, repetitions or tougher techniques.
3. You need more protein
Protein is the single most important part
of any diet aimed at transforming the body. It inhibits appetite
hormones, helps the body retain muscle mass while it’s burning fats and
it promotes a faster metabolism.
Popular foods rich in protein include:
• Eggs
• Almonds
• Chicken breast (but watch out for white stripes on your meat)
• Tuna
• Salmon
• Nearly all legumes
4. You’re eating too much salt
Salt is a global addiction. We eat
salt-rich foods because we like their savory taste, but salt has two
nefarious ways it messes up with our body weight. You might have heard
that eating salty food may dehydrate you. Well, that’s wrong, as eating
salt actually causes the body to conserve more water, not less. This is
why dehydrated people are often given salty foods. The flip side of this
is that it may cause the body to retain more water than it actually
needs, which may account for a lot of weight you can’t seem to shake
off.
Another way salt may be sabotaging your weight loss program is by making
you hungrier. The process of water conservation is draining on the
body, and so you find yourself eating more to satisfy your body’s energy
requirements. And once you stop munching on those salty snacks, you’ll
often find yourself looking to balance the saltiness with some sweet
treat or drink.
5. You need to lay off of alcohol
Most alcoholic drinks are high in calories
and low in beneficial nutritional values, but that’s not the worst thing
about them. Alcohol notoriously does away with one's inhibitory
control, which includes your sense of moderation and willpower.
Consequently, you will often drink more than one glass and will find
yourself noshing on pretzels, fries or nuts while you’re downing drinks.
Moreover, several studies have demonstrated that alcohol consumption
impairs the body’s ability to build muscle mass after a workout.
Drinking a glass every now and then might not ruin your entire diet, but
you will have to be extremely vigilant about how much you drink and how
often, and not let alcohol dictate it for you.
6. You aren’t drinking enough water
Weight loss plateau: water hydration
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It doesn’t take a genius to know that drinking water is important, but
not many necessarily know that it can have a beneficial effect on your
diet. Several studies on the topic have demonstrated that loading up on
water before meals might make you feel fuller, thus allowing you to
fight off the desire to clear your plate.
There is also some evidence that drinking more water, and cold water, in
particular, enhances energy expenditure while resting, as it promotes a
faster metabolism.