The Weight-Loss Plateau

Plateaus happen to many people at some point in their weight-loss programs. The body adapts to calorie restriction and exercise, causing a person to stop losing weight. The plateau can be broken by adjusting your diet and exercise so that they constantly challenge the body and allow you to reach your goal.

What is a weightloss plateau?

The body responds quickly to changes in diet and exercise when a person first begins a weight-loss regimen. It also adapts quickly. Many people experience a plateau while losing weight. It occurs when the body stops dropping weight in response to a reduced calorie diet and exercise, and can last a matter of days or extend into weeks and months.

Diet and Exercise Keep You Losing Weight

Diet and exercise influence whether or not a person reaches a plateau. When a person reduces calories to lose weight the body responds by conserving energy or calories, which slows the metabolism. This slowing of the metabolism leads to the weight-loss plateau. In terms of exercise, if a person follows the same exercise routine for several weeks without changing the types and intensity of exercise, the body adapts. Since the human body is an efficient mechanism, it will require less fuel or energy, which equals calories to do the same amount of exercise.

Crunching the Numbers to Break A Plateau

There are several ways to prevent or break a weight-loss plateau. In her book, "Winning By Losing," Jillian Michaels, a personal trainer and television personality known for her appearances on "The Biggest Loser," recommends the following dieting tips.

Make sure you're consuming at least 1,200 calories a day if you're a woman and 1,500 calories a day if you're a man.

Eat breakfast lunch and dinner without allowing more than four hours to pass between meals.

Losing weight is a matter of using more calories than one consumes. Michaels provides a formula by which people who want to lose weight can calculate exactly how many calories they need to remove from their diets to create the reduction in calories that will lead to weight loss. Vary the number of calories that you consume daily. This prevents the body from adapting to a set number of calories and adjusting its metabolism to fit that number of calories; it tricks the metabolism into constantly adjusting to burn the maximum number of calories.

Plateau Breaking Workouts

Michaels also recommends combining high-intensity training with circuit training. With high-intensity training, a person exercises their muscles to the point of fatigue, the point at which they can no longer perform the exercise with correct form. During circuit training a series of exercises are performed back to back with little to no rest time between each exercise. The series or circuit is followed by a rest period of 30 seconds to a minute after which the series or circuit is completed a second time, a third time, or more depending on the fitness level of the person doing the circuit.

Keep This In Mind

The most important thing to remember about a plateau is that it's temporary. Take advantage of the opportunity and challenge it presents. Plateaus provide you with an opportunity to learn more about the healthy lifestyle that you've adopted and what works best for you. The challenge is to adapt your diet and exercise plans to break the plateau while staying healthy.