Ask Elisha - How To Move Through A Weight Loss Plateau?
Weight loss plateaus can be incredibly frustrating. I have experienced a number of plateaus myself and I’ve helped many of my clients move through plateaus so they can continue to work towards and reach their health & fitness goals. In this article, I’m going to share a few strategies that I’ve found effective when you’re doing all the right things yet struggling to see results -
DEXA Scans
Booking in for a DEXA scan is the best place to start. A DEXA scan is the gold standard when it comes to measuring your body's composition. It measures bone mass (the weight of your bones), lean mass (the weight of your muscles, organs and fluid) and it measures body fat (the sum of all your body fat). DEXA scans can identify changes in body fat and muscle mass as little as 200g to 300g. They are accurate, easily accessible and will tell you exactly where you're at. Scales tell us nothing about body composition and sometimes a weight loss plateau can indicate that you are trying to lose weight when your body fat percentage actually sits within a normal healthy range for your age and weight. Your body naturally tries to maintain a certain weight where it is most comfortable and functions at its best, so it’s helpful to know where that point is for you. A DEXA scan can give you the knowledge to know that you are within a healthy range and pushing your body past that point can result in stress + weight gain which you’ll want to avoid.
Stop Dieting & Restricting
I know this sounds like an oxymoron and counterproductive to what you’re trying to achieve but being more flexible with one or two meals per week is going to shock your body and essentially keep it guessing. This is particularly effective if you regularly practice intermittent fasting. My advice is to loosen the reigns two to three days during the week. Any more than that and your body may start to adapt to that fasted state. Be more flexible roughly 20% of the week and see how your body responds to that.
Introduce Progressive Overload
This one is all reassessing your workouts to determine where you can increase the difficulty or challenge yourself a little more. Can you lift heavier weights? Can you increase the amount of time you’re doing an exercise? Can you add resistance bands or slow down the speed of an exercise? Can you add in an extra day of movement or a few more reps? Strength training can help preserve and build muscle to get your metabolism working as efficiently as possible. If you're not currently prioritising strength training or doing our FEEL BE LOOK Strength & Pilates Circuits, can you make this a priority? If you are already including strength training within your workout schedule, can you up the ante by introducing progressive overload?
Increase N.E.A.T
Increasing N.E.A.T (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is one of my favourite strategies to move through a weight loss plateau. N.E.A.T is the accidental exercise you do outside of a “workout”. One of the most well known ways in which to do this is to aim for the recommended 10,000 steps per day. When a calorie deficit is enforced, the amount of accidental movement you do is one of the first things to decrease, therefore it's not uncommon to stop fidgeting, stop walking as much and you may even lay on the couch longer than you do usually too. During a weight loss plateau, women are quick to restrict their diet or eliminate certain food groups, when they should be looking to increase the amount that they're moving throughout the day - mowing the lawn, making the bed, putting the bins out etc. When you're on the phone, can you walk around and get your steps up? Can you get up to change the channel on the TV? Take the stairs? Park in the furthest car park? Look for opportunities where you can increase N.E.A.T outside of your workout.
Check Your Stress
There are many studies that prove that prolonged exposure to cortisol can lead to weight gain, or if you're trying to lose weight, it can at the very least stall your progress. When looking to reduce stress naturally, there are a number of brilliant strategies you can implement into your daily routine (a topic for another article). For the purpose of this article, take a good look at your nervous system, tune in to how you're currently feeling and see where you can naturally reduce your stress/ cortisol levels.
Count Calories 1 To 2 Days Only
This is controversial and not something I love to advise however counting calories for one to two days only can be an insightful thing to do. It is empowering and often surprising to see how many calories are in some of the foods or drinks that you consume regularly and these often underrated things may be the cause of your weight loss plateau. As your weight drops and your body composition changes, so too does your nutritional needs. As a result, you may need to increase the amount of protein you're eating because you've actually built more muscle yet so many women continue to restrict and lower their calories. Your nutritional requirements fluctuate and the truth is, is that most of us let our guard down after that first initial drop in weight therefore it can be beneficial to track your calories. After one or two days, delete the app. The aim is simply to give you a rough idea of where you can potentially make a few small tweaks.
Have a question you’d like some help with? Please get in touch either here, by email (elisha@feelbelook.com) or DM me over on Insta @feelbelook.
Next month I’ll be sharing my alcohol reduction story and how I changed my relationship with alcohol x