What a Plateau Means During Your Weight Loss
September 20, 2021
What a Plateau Means During Your Weight Loss
We know that having a stall on the scale can be very discouraging, but did you know that experiencing a plateau can actually be a good sign?
Plateaus show us that our body is burning from all of the right places. This will ensure that you are losing weight safely and effectively. It will also increase your ability to achieve long-term weight maintenance!
The Science Behind Weight Loss Plateaus
While losing weight, our bodies will experience water retention from time to time to maintain the shape and configuration of our cells as fat is lost. Picture an empty space (like a little pocket) from where fat was burned, and your body then filling that space with fluid to make it full again. That is when the plateau occurs. Water is heavier than fat, so while your weight may remain the same or even increase, you are actually losing fat. As the water is maintaining the shape of your cells, fat is being lost. So even though your scales may indicate otherwise, you are still succeeding towards your goals!
A typical plateau can last anywhere from a couple of days to as long as a week or two. This gives your body ample time to flush the water that it was retaining during fat loss. If your plateau continues past that, it’s time to take a deeper look at what you are eating. There could be two other causes for a halt in your weight loss!
1. You Need to Change It Up
Weight loss occurs when we are eating the right combination of nutrients to allow our body to burn fat. But over time the body gets used to eating the same foods, and as it gets comfortable, it doesn’t fully utilize all of the nutrients you are consuming. If you tend to eat the same foods over and over again, try switching it up to jumpstart your weight loss. Like if you typically have eggs for breakfast, pick a different protein source instead like egg whites, or even a turkey burger. If you typically always have cooked vegetables with dinner, try a salad instead. By changing up your food choices, you can help keep your body from getting used to the same foods!
Now, if you feel like you already give yourself a lot of variety, it might be time to change up the menu completely. Same reasoning as before, your body is used to the foods you are eating, even with the variety. That is why we are here! We can help make changes to the combination of foods you are eating at your meals to restart the fat burning! Talk to your virtual coach so that they can help you make any changes needed.
2. You May Have Increased Your Caloric Intake
Having an increase in our calories is a very common cause of a plateau. We aren’t necessarily eating badly, we’re just getting in a tad too many calories to achieve weight loss. We have found that it can be easy to consume extra calories without realizing it. Those calories, no matter how small, can be detrimental. We call these the 3 Main Saboteurs:
- Hidden Calories: These can come up when eating out in a restaurant or even when someone else is doing the cooking. We may be eating something straight off of our menu, like grilled chicken and broccoli, but the amount of butter and/or oil that goes into the preparation can completely change the balance of nutrients we are consuming.
- Unconscious Calories: AKA while on auto-pilot. Have you ever cleared your child’s plate from the table and that one last chicken nugget on their plate just never makes it to the kitchen? Or while you are cooking dinner, how many times did you taste-test before ever sitting down for your meal? Sometimes without realizing it we will have BLT’S (bites, licks, tastes and sips) that, however small, add up resulting in no loss on the scale.
- Calorie Variation: These occur when we give ourselves small allowances. This includes still using the salad dressing you’ve always liked even though it isn’t technically on your weight loss plan. Or using creamer in your coffee that is too high in sugar and fat. You can get away with these variations in the beginning, because with all of the other healthy changes you are making you will still show success on the scale, but then after a while, these small variations can cause us to stop losing.
7 Tips for Breaking Past Your Plateau
Breaking past the plateau isn’t as hard as you might think. You’ve made it this far on your weight loss journey! Feel confident that you can get past this too. Here are seven tips to help.
- Breathe: First, take a deep breath and remind yourself why these occur and how they can actually be a good sign!
- Drink plenty of water: Keep up or even increase your H20 consumption to help your body flush water retention by giving it ample hydration. Here’s more information on how much water you should be drinking to enable weight loss.
- Stay consistent: Stay determined and stay motivated. Don’t let a stall discourage you from moving forward.
- Compare your menu to your meals: Make sure you are giving yourself variety and are getting in all of your servings, not skipping nor having any extras.
- Try hot lemon water: It’s a natural diuretic. Have 8 oz. of hot water, like you were going to have tea. Cut a fresh lemon in half, and squeeze as much of that half you can into your hot water. Drink this while it’s nice and hot, and it will naturally help your body with inflammation. We of course recommend not doing this at night as it may keep you up with frequent trips to the restroom.
- Add some extra protein: There are several benefits of upping your protein intake. 1) Protein makes you feel more full for a longer time period. 2) A higher protein intake helps you decrease cravings. And 3) 20-30% of protein calories are burned while your body is digesting and metabolizing the protein. When you eat carbs, only 5-10% of those calories are burned during digestion, and when you eat fats, 0-3% are burned.
If you’re looking for a tasty, low-calorie way to up your protein game, check out our variety of High Nutrient Supplement drinks. Each contains under 100 calories, 0g of fat, and 15g of protein.
Try a digestive support supplement: Fat is processed through your liver before being flushed out. But the timing of that process really depends on the person and the health of their liver. If your weight loss is at a standstill, try our Internal Cleanser. Not only will it help improve your digestion and increase nutrient assimilation, but it will also support optimal liver function for fat and waste removal.