Plateauing Doesn’t Mean You’re Not Making Progress

If you’re experiencing plateauing, don’t give up. It’s especially true if your only measure of success is weight loss. While some plateauing can occur if you’re doing the same routine consistently without changing it, some weight plateauing may be natural. When you’re working out, you’re building muscle tissue and muscle tissue weighs more per cubic inch than fat tissue does. It’s denser and far more compact per pound.

A better way to go is to also take measurements. It will give you a better idea of your progress.

If your clothes are fitting looser or don’t fit at all and your measurements around your waist and hips are smaller, you’re probably building muscle and making progress. That can be reassuring. The more muscle tissue you have, the thinner you will look and looking thinner is really what you’re hoping to achieve. Losing weight without looking thinner would be far more concerning.

If there’s no change in measurements, clothing size or weight, it’s time to take a closer look.

Varying your workout makes a difference and can beat plateauing. When you’re doing the same thing repeatedly, your muscles become efficient and burn fewer calories, slowing weight loss. Adjusting your caloric intake is another way to increase the weight you lose. Consider the fact that when you first start to lose weight, it comes off rapidly, but often slows the thinner you get. That’s because the heavy you burnt more calories just walking and doing every day activities. It carried more weight and made those tasks harder. It’s like carrying an extra ten, twenty or thirty pound weight with you wherever you go.

Make sure you’re doing strength training as part of your workout.

Whether you’re at the start of a weight loss program or have done it for a while, strength training should be part of your program. Not only does it burn extra calories while you’re doing it, it also boosts your metabolism, making it easier to lose weight. Muscle tissue requires more calories than fat tissue does and the more you have, the more you’ll burn. Aerobic training definitely burns calories, but it’s not fussy where they come from and it can actually burn lean muscle tissue, making it harder to shed weight.

• Sometimes, temporary situations can give a false impression. Water retention can distort the picture. To avoid water retention, drink more water. That’s right! It’s a diuretic that actually flushes out water and toxins.
• Make sure you’re getting enough sleep. Not only does lack of sleep affect your hunger and satiation hormones, it also slows your weight loss, since you burn fat exclusively during sleep.
• Watch what you drink, besides what you eat. Soft drinks and even fruit juice and fruit drinks are high in calories. You might be drinking enough to maintain a pound every week. Again, water is a great alternative.
• Don’t starve yourself. A starvation diet is the worse thing you can do to lose weight. It slows metabolism. Instead, eat a healthy meal of nutritional foods that not only provide all the macronutrients, but all the micronutrients, too.