Weight Loss Plateau - What Now?
You’re in a weight loss phase.
Everything is going well and then suddenly you hit a plateau.
What to do? Should you adjust calories?
Should you just continue to be patient?
Is there something else you can do to help move things along?
Use this guide to help you make the right decision!
Step 1: Ask Yourself The Following Questions And Answer Honestly!
ADHERENCE
Has my weekly AVERAGE WEIGHT been stagnant for two weeks or more?
Have I been CONSISTENT with my macros the entire time?
Have I been ACCURATE with my logging?
→ If you answered all these questions with YES, move on to the next section.
If there was one or more NOs, please work on that first and see if things are changing for you.
LIFESTYLE
Have I been sick or inflamed (injury, allergies, etc.) or on inflammatory medication like Antibiotics?
Have I been under more stress (emotional, mental, training, …) than usual?
Have I had any travels or unusual meals (more salt, more processed, foods I am not used to) that could have lead to water retention and therefore higher scale weight?
Is there anything hormonally to consider (ovulation, period, high cortisol, …)?
Have I been sleeping less than usual?
→ If you answered all these questions with NO, move on to the next section.
If there was one or more YES’, please see if you can somehow work on that first, before potentially making things worse for yourself by lowering calories even more.
DIET & EXERCISE
Have my food choices been 80-90% whole foods (foods without a barcode with one or two ingredients) with a good amount of fiber?
Have I weighed out most of my foods with a kitchen scale?
Have my bowel movements and supplement regime been somewhat the same as in the weeks prior (e.g. no new supplement like creatine)?
Has my activity level, including NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis like walking, standing, chores around the house) been the same as in the weeks prior to stagnation?
→ If you answered all these questions with YES, move on to step number 2.
If there was one or more NO’s consider paying attention to this for another week
before making any adjustments.
Step 2: Make Adjustments
Consider -
Would I rather eat less or exercise more or a bit of both?
What is realistic with my time availability?
Is my biofeedback (energy, mood, sleep, hormones, etc.) so low that I should stop the dieting process instead and focus on health for a while before returning to a cut?
Is my life only going to get more stressful for a while?
→ If you decide to focus on health due to low biofeedback or foreseeable increasing
stress levels, START A REVERSE DIET and resume the cut later on. It will likely
be easier and faster then!
→ If you simply want to work with INCREASING ENERGY EXPENDITURE at first,
add something like 2 x 40-60 minutes of LISS cardio (low intensity steady state)
or 3-4 x 10-15 minute HIIT (high intensity interval training) to the end of your
strength training sessions, but LISS is especially preferred for people with higher stress levels, hormone imbalances and low quality/quantity of sleep, due to a lower impact on cortisol. Or it could be even simpler and just adding another 3-5k steps to your current daily goal.
→ If you want to work with DECREASING CALORIES only:
Reduce daily calories by 5-15% through carbs and/or fats.
The preference should depend on activity level (reserve more carbs for rather active individuals, current fat goal (avoid dropping fats lower when they are already at or below 0.3 x body weight in pounds to keep hormones healthy) and personal preference (i.e. what do you enjoy more).
For a small female this could be something like a reduction in 20g carbs and 3-5g fats.
→ If you want to work with both
- a REDUCTION IN CALORIES AND INCREASE IN ENERGY EXPENDITURE
Reduce calories by about 5-10% and something like one 40-60 bout of LISS or 2 HIIT sessions over the course of the week.
Step 3: Implement and continue to monitor your AVERAGE WEIGHT!
We want to find the minimal effective dose again!
So no need to cut a huge amount of calories or add a huge amount of exercise right away.
BUT sometimes we do need to cross a certain threshold before we start seeing changes, so if nothing further has happened after two consistent weeks, it may be a sign that you were to conservative with your approach…
However, don’t neglect the pointers given through the questions in the beginning!
Focusing on sleep, stress management, food quality, more accurate logging, keeping NEAT up and so on can do a world of wonders for our metabolism and are often just as effective, if not more, than making rash calorie adjustments!
Lastly, don’t forget that we don’t want to be in a calorie deficit for too long (for metabolic and hormonal health), so do make sure you periodize your nutrition and that you adjust this periodization if needed!
Need a little support with your weight loss journey?
Schedule a strategy call with us, we’d love to support you!
