Ultimately we plateau when it comes to our fat loss goals because our body is smart and it is constantly seeking homeostasis. If you change something, our body will seek to understand it and adapt. That is a good thing because it’s how we stay alive under times of severe stress from work, exercise, starvation, travel, lack of sleep, malnutrition, etc.
For example, if you chronically under eat your body will find a way to survive, doing your day to day tasks on very few calories. Yes, this means your metabolism will slow and you will burn less calories and have less energy, but it will do it. However, if you were to eat 2000 calories a day rather than 1200, you will likely notice that you have more energy, more muscle, etc because your body has more calories it can burn.
So if you always eat the same things, do the same workout routines, etc, you will eventually experience a plateau, ESPECIALLY as you get leaner. Someone with 20 pounds of fat to lose will have a much easier time losing at first because they are likely starting their workout routines and following a clean eating meal plan, than a person with five pounds of fat to lose. The leaner you get, the harder it is to elicit change.
Here are my three tips to break through a plateau:
1.Change your diet plans. For example, if you are used to eating 2000 calories a day, bump it up 200 calories. If you are used to eating 30% protein, 30% carbs and 40% fat, try eating 35% protein, 35% carbs and 30% fat. Do you ever fast? Maybe try adding in a 12 hour fast twice a week. Do you only eat carbs in the morning? Try adding in more at night.
This is why when I start clients on their clean eating meal plan, I start them off slowly. Well, I do this because small adjustments are easier to follow mentally, but I also do it this way because we want changes in our back pocket. At first, going from eating too much processed food, lots of fat and sugar to eating clean, healthy foods from the earth will likely elicit physique changes and fat loss, so go with it. But when fat loss stalls, we want to be able to pull tricks from our arsenal, like carb cycling or intermittent fasting and we want to shock the body by using these tricks.
2. Change your workout routines. If you are lifting three times a week and walking on a treadmill twice, maybe instead of walking, try running sprints outside. Or instead of lifting three times, add in an extra leg day for four lifting workouts. Maybe instead of doing cardio via spin class, try doing high intensity interval training with kettlebells.
You MUST be lifting though, following a hypertrophy based plan (3 – 4 sets of 8 – 12 reps, going as heavy as possible for the volume) that changes every 3 – 4 weeks. The only way to keep the body changing is to build muscle, and this is the only way to do it.
3. Determine if you are truly stuck. Your pants may have started to fit better at first as you were losing fat, but if you are building muscle, they could be getting tight from that. Take progress photos, with the same outfit, lighting, background, time of day, time in your cycle, same angles and posts, etc. You may not notice any difference from one month to the next, but in four months, you may see big shifts.
So be patient and keep trying new things. If you feel like you have hit a plateau and don’t know what to do next, hire me!
I will create a workout routines and a clean eating meal plan for you to help you lose fat, build muscle, get lean and feel your best. Go to commit2fitcoaching.com to learn more and join.
Your Coach,
Kyra