It’s challenging to lose weight, and we understand that it’s especially un-bear-able when you hit a stall right after you begin losing body fat. A weight loss plateau is when you stop losing weight even though you are still eating right and working out. This is a normal thing that can happen to anyone, but it can be discouraging and make you stop trying to lose weight. As such, read on to find out some tips on breaking weight loss plateaus, and why continuing losing weight can sometimes be tough.
Maintaining Weight Loss Result: Is Stagnant Body Weight A Sign of Failure?
Weight loss is a process that depends on many factors, like what you eat, how much you exercise, your metabolism, your hormones, your genes, and how you live. Even if a person tries to lose weight, there may be times when their weight doesn’t change much despite their efforts. This is called a plateau or standstill in weight loss.
Putting it in a simple way, weight loss plateaus are a state when you stop losing weight even though you are still eating right and working out. This can happen even if you eat healthy foods, work out often, and are in a calorie loss. Your metabolism has slowed down because your body has gotten used to the way you live. Even if you do everything right, this may make your weight loss efforts be in vain. In fact, there are so many things that can cause a weight loss halt, such as:
- As the body gets used to eating fewer calories, it gets better at using energy, which slows down the metabolism.
- The body drops fat and muscle mass at the same time, which makes it burn less calories at rest and when doing things.
- Changes in hormones, inflammation, or being dehydrated can cause the body to hold on to more water, which adds to the weight on the scale.
- Fatigue, boredom, an injury, or worry, the person moves less or burns fewer calories than before.
- The person underestimates their calorie intake or overestimates how many calories they burn. This makes their calorie loss smaller than they thought it would be.
A weight loss stall isn’t always a sign that you’ve failed or that you should give up. It’s a normal and usual thing that can be fixed with a few changes and some time.
Know Your Body to Break a Weight Loss Plateau: Why We Usually Lose Body Fat Slowly?
Even the best fitness expert experiences time when their weight loss stalls. In order to overcome a plateau, it is crucial to understand which substances influence our weight fluctuations, and you might even be surprised that the “culprit” behind the scenes that causes you to lose weight slowly might be more than you think.
Reason why we have these plateaus is because humans have hormones. Hormones have an effect on body mass, and certain hormones in the body rigorously regulate fat storage and breakdown. Consequently, fluctuations in hormone levels may result in weight gain or loss, as well as fat accumulation in specific areas. Insulin, leptin, ghrelin, cortisol, and thyroxine all play a role in weight loss.
Insulin
Insulin helps our cells get energy from glucose and store any extra glucose as fat. When we eat too much sugar or processed carbs, our insulin levels go up, which makes it harder for our bodies to burn fat.
Leptin
Leptin tells our brain that we’re full, which makes us feel less hungry. But if we have too much body fat, our leptin levels go up and we stop being affected by it. This makes people eat too much and gain weight.
Ghrelin
Ghrelin makes us feel hungry and makes us eat more. It is made when our stomach is empty and goes down after we eat. However, when we drop weight, our ghrelin levels rise and make us feel hungrier.
Cortisol
Cortisol is a stress hormone that makes blood sugar go up and slows down the defence system. When we are always stressed out, our cortisol levels stay high. This makes us store fat, especially around the stomach.
Thyroxine
Thyroxine controls our basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is how much energy we use when we’re not doing anything. When we have hypothyroidism, our thyroid doesn’t work as well as it should, so our BMR slows down and we burn fewer calories.
These hormones can cause a loop that makes it hard to lose weight and easy to gain it back. To keep these hormones in balance and help us lose weight, we need to do things like eat a balanced diet, exercise daily, deal with stress, get enough sleep, and stay away from toxins in the environment.
Be Friends with Hormones: How to Keep Them Stable with the Right Weight Loss Diet
As we mentioned above, hormones like insulin, leptin, ghrelin, cortisol, and thyroxine are chemical signals that control many parts of our health, like our metabolic rate, hunger, mood, sleep, and ability to reproduce. What we eat and how we live can actually change how these hormones work, so it’s important to choose foods that can keep them stable if you want to keep a good balance.
Insulin – Low GI food
As Insulin is a hormone that helps cells get energy from glucose, when we eat carbs, our blood sugar goes up, and insulin is made to bring it back down. But if we eat too much sugar or processed carbs, are overweight, or don’t get enough exercise, our cells can stop responding to insulin, and our blood sugar can stay high. Diabetes and other health problems can come from this. To keep insulin stable, we should eat things that are low on the glycemic index (GI), which means they don’t raise our blood sugar too much. Whole grains, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, fruits, and veggies are all low-GI foods.
Leptin – Food that is high in fibre & protein
Leptin levels are usually high when we have enough fat stored in our bodies, which makes us feel less hungry. But if we eat too much or too many prepared foods, our leptin levels can go down and we can stop responding to its effects. This can cause you to eat too much and gain weight. To keep leptin steady, we should eat foods that are high in fibre and protein. These foods make us feel fuller for longer, which helps leptin stay steady. Fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, and lentils are all examples of foods that are high in fibre. Eggs, fish, chicken, meat, cheese, and soy are all examples of foods that are high in protein.
Ghrelin – Stop skipping meals
Ghrelin is usually the troublemaker to many since this is the hormone that makes us feel hungry by making us want to eat. It tells our brain that we need to eat when our stomach is empty. When we eat enough, our amounts of ghrelin go down, and we feel full. But if we don’t eat enough or skip meals, our ghrelin levels can stay high and make us want to eat more. This can cause people to overeat and gain weight. To keep ghrelin stable, we should eat regular meals and snacks that have a good mix of carbs, protein, and fat. Breakfasts like muesli with nuts and fruit, lunches like chicken salad on whole-wheat bread and dinners like salmon with brown rice and broccoli are all examples of healthy meals.
Cortisol – Food that is anti-inflammatory and high in antioxidants
When we’re stressed out for a short time, our cortisol levels go up, and when the worry is over, they go back down to normal. But if we are constantly stressed or don’t get enough sleep, our cortisol levels can stay high, which can lead to inflammation, nervousness, trouble sleeping, and weight gain. To keep cortisol stable, we should eat foods that are anti-inflammatory and high in antioxidants, which help lower oxidative stress and inflammation in our bodies. Berries, cherries, grapes, dark chocolate, green tea, turmeric, and ginger are all examples of foods that can help with inflammation.
Thyroxine – Food that keeps thyroid healthy
Lastly, we have thyroxine, which is the hormone that comes from the thyroid gland and controls how quickly or slowly our cells use energy. When our amounts of thyroxine are normal, our metabolism and body temperature are healthy. But we can get hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism if the amount of thyroxine is too low or too high. Some of the signs of these conditions are fatigue, weight gain or loss, hair loss, dry skin, depression, anxiety, and periods that don’t come on time. To keep your thyroxine levels stable, foods like seaweed, fish, eggs, cheese, and iodized salt are highly recommended.
Busting Weight Loss Plateaus Step by Step: Actions that can Contra Your Weight Loss Efforts
Asides from making allies in your weight loss journey, there are a few mistakes you should try not to make when trying to get past a weight loss plateau. A weight loss plateau is when, no matter how hard you try to lose more weight, your weight stays the same for a while. This can be annoying and disheartening, but you shouldn’t give up on your goals because of it. Here are some common mistakes that can keep you from breaking through a weight loss rut and how to avoid them.
Not getting enough food.
Even though it might not make sense, eating too little can slow down your metabolism and make it harder to lose weight. Your body may go into “starvation mode” and burn fewer calories to save energy. To keep this from happening, make sure you eat enough calories to keep up with your level of exercise and your body’s basic needs. A calorie calculator can help you figure out how many calories you need each day based on your age, height, weight, and amount of activity.
Not changing up how you work out.
If you do the same kind of exercise every day, your body can get used to it and get better at burning calories. This means that you may burn calories slower when doing the same amount of exercise as you did before. To keep this from happening, try to change your exercise routine by changing how hard, long, often, or what kind of exercise you do. For example, you can switch between high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and low-intensity steady-state (LISS) cardio, or between strength training and aerobic routines.
Not getting enough water.
We know that it’s painful to drink this tasteless and colourless liquid everyday especially when we already have to control our diet strictly, but water is important for all the things your body does, like your metabolism and nutrition. If you drink enough water, you’ll feel full, get rid of toxins, and stay hydrated. Dehydration can make you tired, give you a headache, or make you feel dizzy, all of which can hurt your performance and drive. To prevent this, make sure you drink at least eight glasses of water a day, or more if you work out a lot or sweat a lot.
Not getting enough sleep.
Sleep is important for your physical and mental health, as well as for your weight loss goals. Your hormones, hunger, mood, and energy can all be affected by not getting enough sleep. It can make you want more sugary and fatty foods, eat more calories than you need, and burn fewer calories than you usually would. Make sure you get at least seven hours of good sleep every night and stay away from coffee, alcohol, and screens before bed to avoid this.
Not keeping an eye on your progress.
Tracking your progress can help you stay on track with your weight loss goals and keep you inspired. It can also help you figure out what works for you and what doesn’t so you can make changes. Use a scale, a tape measure, a body fat percentage calculator, or an exercise app to keep track of your progress. But don’t get too caught up in the numbers or compare yourself to other people. Remember that losing weight is not a straight line and that many things can cause your weight to go up and down. Pay attention to the long-term changes that are good for your health and well-being.
Keeping Your Body’s Composition in Check: Maintain Muscle Mass Is Also a Way to Lose Fat
Losing weight can be hard and satisfying, but it can also change your body composition, which is the amount of fat mass compared to the amount of lean mass in your body. Body composition is important for your health, fitness, and appearance because it affects your metabolism, muscle strength, bone density, and risk of getting chronic illnesses. So, if you are trying to lose weight, it is best to keep an eye on and manage your body composition.
There are a lot of ways to lose weight on the market, from dietary supplements and medications to surgical methods and devices that don’t require surgery. But not all of them are as good for your body makeup or as safe. Some of them can make you lose muscle, hold on to water, or gain weight back quickly, which can hurt your body makeup and health as a whole.
Begin losing weight in a stable manner with the help of technology!
Thankfully, the weight loss journey could be way easier as technology advances rapidly. In current days, HIFEM technology is one of the most innovative and exciting ways to lose weight. It can also change the way your body looks!
HIFEM means “high intensity focused electromagnetic technology.” It is a non-invasive device that sends powerful electromagnetic pulses to your muscles, making them contract quickly and strongly. This makes muscles grow and fat break down, which gives the body more tone and shape.
When it comes to body composition, HIFEM technology has several benefits over other ways to lose weight. First, it doesn’t require surgery, anaesthesia, or downtime, which lowers the risk of problems and infections. Second, it works on both fat and muscle tissue, which is different from other treatments that only work on getting rid of fat or getting muscles to work. Third, it has shown major improvements in muscle mass, fat loss, and waist circumference in clinical trials and in the real world.
So, if you want to lose weight and improve your body structure at the same time, you might want to look into HIFEM technology. It’s a safe, successful, and easy way to get the body shape and health goals you want.
Last Thoughts
Regardless of the amount of weight loss plateaus you experienced, you should remember the scale may not always show how your body has changed or how healthy you are. You could be losing fat and adding muscle, which could keep your weight the same or even make it go up a little. Focus on other measurements, like body fat percentage, waist circumference, strength, endurance, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar levels, to get a more accurate picture of your success!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1.How do I know how much LBM I have, and how I can get more of them?
The best way to gain lean body mass (LBM) is to do strength exercise and eat a lot of protein. There are a few ways to figure out your LBM, but none of them are perfect. Most of the time, they are:
- Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA): This method uses a device that sends a small electrical current through your body and records the resistance it meets. Because water and muscle conduct energy better than fat, the more LBM you have, the less resistance you have. BIA devices are easy to use and easy to find, but they can be affected by things like how well you are hydrated, how hot it is, and when your period is.
- Skinfold callipers: This method uses a tool that pinches your skin and counts the thickness of the fat layer underneath. By taking measurements in different places on your body, you can guess your body fat percentage and then subtract that number from your total weight to get your LBM. Skinfold callipers are cheap and easy to carry, but to use them right, you need to be skilled and consistent.
- Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA): This method uses a machine to scan your body with low-dose X-rays and measure how much they are absorbed by different organs. By measuring how fast fat, bone, and lean tissue are absorbed, you can get a clear picture of how your body is made up. DXA machines are very exact and reliable, but they cost a lot and aren’t used by many people.
2.Can HIFEM help me drop some pounds?
A study found that the area where HIFEM is used can lose an average of 19% of its fat. But since muscle is heavier than fat, you might not see a big change in your weight. Although HIFEM is not specifically designed to aid weight loss drastically, it can help you shape and tone your body by making you have more muscle and less fat, which allows you to have a toned and nicer body shape.
3.What’s a good rate of weight loss?
A healthy weight loss rate depends on your age, gender, height, weight, level of exercise, health conditions, and other things. Most of the time, it’s safe and healthy to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week. When you lose weight too quickly, you can lose muscle, get dehydrated, lose nutrients, and have other health problems.
4.How does HIFEM change the speed of my metabolism?
HIFEM can speed up your metabolism by making your muscles grow and getting rid of fat. Even when at rest, muscle burns more calories than fat, so having more muscle mass can help you use more energy and burn more calories during the day.
5.Do changes in hormone levels contribute to weight gain?
There is a strong link between hormones and weight growth. The amount of calories your body burns is affected by a variety of hormones. When your hormones are out of whack, your metabolism and energy expenditure are both negatively impacted, leading to weight gain. Age, stress, thyroid disease, menopause, and unhealthy habits are just some of the things that can throw your hormones out of whack.