Have you reached a plateau of weight loss? It's time to learn why and what you can do about it.
The fat almost fell out of your body a few weeks ago and you're wondering now if your scale breaks, because whatever you do, your weight will not go down.
What gives?
Why did your routine suddenly stop working and what can you do to break this plateau of weight loss?
Understand the weight loss against. Big loss
"Weight loss" is a complicated heck because it makes no difference between changes in fat, muscle and water.
Of course, the goal is to lose maximum fat and muscle and keep the water healthy. When you step on the scale and record a lighter pound than the day before or the week before, you probably assume that you lost a pound of fat; If you weigh the same weight or more, you will probably assume that you have not lost or gained fat. Unfortunately, it is not so simple.
Nothing swings upward or downward as easily as water retention, eg. If you eat a lot of sodium and charcoal and drink a little water, you will retain a little, which will give you a clean and smooth appearance. This can easily add 3 to 5 pounds a day, which can be quite annoying if you hit the scale in this state. On the other hand, you eat little sodium and carbon and drink a lot of water. Your body will pour water, which will give you a harder and more defined appearance, which may make you think it was a great day to lose weight.
The unpredictability of water retention is one of the reasons I only weigh myself once a week, the same day, in the morning, naked. Weighing you several times a week, or worse every day, will quickly kill your self-confidence and hit you head.
I also recommend choosing a "hard day" that does not contain a cheat meal, as this can often add a pound or two of water that will come out at the end of the next day (at least my experience).
What is Plateau Weight Loss?
A real plateau of weight loss is a situation in which you do not lose fat anymore.
I think I have reached a plateau if my weight has not changed in two weeks. Because I'm only looking for one pound of real fat loss per week, no change of scale after a week of dieting is not necessarily a cause for worry - I might have lost that pound of fat but I would keep some water, or my intentional movements might not have been so regular in the previous two or three days. No change in weight after two weeks of diet tells me that I am definitely stuck.
Some facts about fat loss to raise awareness
Before you explain how to break these trays, I want you to know some information about fat loss.
1. High platforms are to be expected
Almost everyone experiences trays. If you're not sure what I'm talking about and if you're able to easily achieve one-digit body fat percentages, count yourself. It is very common for people to touch several trays during their travels to six baggage because, well, the human body is stubborn when it comes to losing weight.
I found that I could not keep less than 9 to 10% fat by my diet alone (you can only reduce your caloric intake or start eating muscle) -I need to add cardio if I want to continue to to lose. When I accumulate, I usually maintain about 14-15% body fat and I can get the first 5% or more, but then I reach a plateau that allows me to do cardio only 3-4 days a week ( 20-25 minutes per session).
Then the next plateau for me is about 8%. If I want to become weak, I have to increase my cardio up to 4 days a week for 30 to 40 minutes per session.
All the people I trained or helped experienced the same phenomenon, but the thresholds vary. I've known a few people who can go on a diet less than 10% without using cardio, but most people can not reduce the body fat percentage of a bike without a very strict diet and follow a routine regular cardio.
2. The more you lose, the harder it is
The more you lose weight, the longer you need to lose fat in health (the key, because you want to keep as much muscle and strength as possible while losing fat). If you are at 25% body fat, it is very likely that you will lose 2 to 3 pounds of fat per week for the first two weeks. If you are at 10% body fat and want a one-digit number, however, 2 to 3 pounds of fat per week would be impossible without dangerous drugs.
For me, once I'm down about 12%, I'm very happy to lose only a pound of fat a week and I have to work on it.
3. Your body has a "comfort zone"
Although it may sound a bit brassy, it's the best way to describe a phenomenon experienced by myself and millions of other athletes around the world. The body seems to have the weight (and therefore the percentage of body fat) with which it is most comfortable. Your natural appetite tends to support that weight and if you eat less, you are hungry. If you eat more than that, you feel full.
For some, this "comfort zone" is relatively thick, while others are quite thin. For example, I find that my body is more comfortable with about 11% body fat (which would make me weigh about 200 kg today). I do not need to watch my calories too much and I can cheat several times a week, and I will only stay 11%.
Now, maintaining a weight under this comfort zone requires constant work in the form of calorie and cardio limitation. To age, you must eat regularly and if it lasts too long, the comfort zone becomes higher and higher.
5 ways to lose weight
Now that you know the difference between weight loss and low fat, here are three safe ways to dry up again in the oven to eliminate fat.
1. Recalculate your daily calorie goal
Your metabolism slows down as you lose weight because your body does not need to expend as much energy to maintain its now leaner physique.
If you do not set your calories to mirror that, you may reach a plateau. The easiest way to avoid this is to recalculate your daily calorie goal after 15 pounds of weight loss. As you can see, the target is creeping lower and lower.
There are many ways to calculate how much food to lose to lose weight, but here's a simple formula based on the Katch McArdle:
1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight
1 gram of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight
1 gram of fat for 5 pounds of body weight
This simple formula based on macronutrients will put you in moderate calorie deficit and allow for regular and healthy weight loss. To convert it into calories, it is enough to multiply 4 proteins and carbohydrates, and 9 fats.
2. Check the "hidden calories"
Most weight loss is caused by nothing more than the "calorie ramp", that is, eating more calories than you think. This, combined with ever-slower metabolism, is a guaranteed formula against stagnation.
Calories can infiltrate many places. Non-target snacks, snack restaurants (they absorb calories in meals with butter, oil, sauces, etc.), excess condiments and alcohol consumption are common ways to add enough calories to slow your weight loss without giving you the impression that you are completely "out of your diet."
The sad truth is that just 200-300 calories a day can completely stop fat loss. To put it in perspective, it only represents a few handfuls of nuts, a few tablespoons of thick dressing or a small bag of potato chips. Yes, fat loss is so whimsical. It is not very complicated, but it requires absolute precision.
So, to overcome the "calorie shift", you just need to know exactly what's going on in your body every day. You can keep lunch or do what I do: figure out what you need every day, divide it into daily meals and consume the same thing every day, every meal. I do not have the time or the patience to bring various foods to my diet, so I adopt the simplicity of choosing nutritious foods that I love and eating them again and again.
3. Increase your cardio
If you know your daily calorie goal is good and you have no calories lost at all, then you need to increase your cardio.
You can add another day if possible (I do not recommend more than 4 days a week if you are also bodybuilding), or add time each day (I like to add 10 minutes to each session and see how my body reacts.).
The idea is to simply tip the scale a little further in the direction of fat loss and observe the results. If the first extra shortcut doesn't do this, add an additional (10 more minutes to each session, for example), and you'll get there.
Oh, and do HIIT cardio, please.
4. Kiss the cheat meal
Yes, believe it or not, the cheat meal actually helps you lose fat.
How?
First is the psychological stimulus that makes you happy and motivates, which ultimately makes it easier to respect your diet.
But there is also a physiological boost.
Studies of eating (a scientific term for food intake) show that this can increase your metabolic rate by 3 to 10%. Although it sounds good, it doesn't really mean much if you consider that you would need to eat between a few hundred and several thousand extra calories daily to achieve this effect.
More important are the effects of cheating a hormone called leptin, which regulates hunger, your metabolic rate, your appetite, your motivation and your libido, as well as your other functions in your body.
When you have a calorie deficit and lose body fat, your leptin level drops. This in turn slows down your metabolism, increases your appetite, decreases your motivation and lowers your mood.
On the other hand, when you provide your body with more energy (calories) than it needs, leptin levels increase, which can then have positive effects on fat oxidation. thyroid activity, mood and even testosterone level.
So if you really want leptin level growth, how do you get the most out of it?
Eating carbohydrates is the most effective way. Second, you need to eat protein (high-protein meals also increase your metabolic rate). Dietary fats are not very effective at increasing leptin levels and alcohol inhibits them.
So, if your weight is blocking and you are angry and unmotivated, a pleasant pull of leptin might be all you need to get on the scale.
Take a good misleading meal, rich in protein and carbohydrates, and enjoy the increase in your leptin levels. This can help your weight loss!
5. Lift heavy trucks
If you know any of my work, you know I'm a big supporter of lifting heavy trucks. Among the many benefits of weight lifting, there is the fact that it helps speed up fat loss.
A study published by Greek sports scientists revealed that men trained with heavyweights (80 to 85% of their maximum rep, or "1RM"), increased their metabolic rates over the next three days, burning hundreds of more calories than men trained with lighter weights (45-65% of their 1RM).
So hit the weights and hit them hard if you want to increase your metabolic rate and speed up your fat loss.
And if you want to earn extra points, focus on composite steps such as squats and deadlifts, as these are the types that burn the most calories after training.
summary
I hope you found this article useful and remember that the journey to a lean and muscular body is a marathon, not a sprint.
Have you ever lived a plateau with weight loss? Did you manage to break through? If so, what did you do? If no, did this article give you a better idea of why? I would love to hear from you on my blog, Muscle For Life!
The fat almost fell out of your body a few weeks ago and you're wondering now if your scale breaks, because whatever you do, your weight will not go down.
What gives?
Why did your routine suddenly stop working and what can you do to break this plateau of weight loss?
Understand the weight loss against. Big loss
"Weight loss" is a complicated heck because it makes no difference between changes in fat, muscle and water.
Of course, the goal is to lose maximum fat and muscle and keep the water healthy. When you step on the scale and record a lighter pound than the day before or the week before, you probably assume that you lost a pound of fat; If you weigh the same weight or more, you will probably assume that you have not lost or gained fat. Unfortunately, it is not so simple.
Nothing swings upward or downward as easily as water retention, eg. If you eat a lot of sodium and charcoal and drink a little water, you will retain a little, which will give you a clean and smooth appearance. This can easily add 3 to 5 pounds a day, which can be quite annoying if you hit the scale in this state. On the other hand, you eat little sodium and carbon and drink a lot of water. Your body will pour water, which will give you a harder and more defined appearance, which may make you think it was a great day to lose weight.
The unpredictability of water retention is one of the reasons I only weigh myself once a week, the same day, in the morning, naked. Weighing you several times a week, or worse every day, will quickly kill your self-confidence and hit you head.
I also recommend choosing a "hard day" that does not contain a cheat meal, as this can often add a pound or two of water that will come out at the end of the next day (at least my experience).
What is Plateau Weight Loss?
A real plateau of weight loss is a situation in which you do not lose fat anymore.
I think I have reached a plateau if my weight has not changed in two weeks. Because I'm only looking for one pound of real fat loss per week, no change of scale after a week of dieting is not necessarily a cause for worry - I might have lost that pound of fat but I would keep some water, or my intentional movements might not have been so regular in the previous two or three days. No change in weight after two weeks of diet tells me that I am definitely stuck.
Some facts about fat loss to raise awareness
Before you explain how to break these trays, I want you to know some information about fat loss.
1. High platforms are to be expected
Almost everyone experiences trays. If you're not sure what I'm talking about and if you're able to easily achieve one-digit body fat percentages, count yourself. It is very common for people to touch several trays during their travels to six baggage because, well, the human body is stubborn when it comes to losing weight.
I found that I could not keep less than 9 to 10% fat by my diet alone (you can only reduce your caloric intake or start eating muscle) -I need to add cardio if I want to continue to to lose. When I accumulate, I usually maintain about 14-15% body fat and I can get the first 5% or more, but then I reach a plateau that allows me to do cardio only 3-4 days a week ( 20-25 minutes per session).
Then the next plateau for me is about 8%. If I want to become weak, I have to increase my cardio up to 4 days a week for 30 to 40 minutes per session.
All the people I trained or helped experienced the same phenomenon, but the thresholds vary. I've known a few people who can go on a diet less than 10% without using cardio, but most people can not reduce the body fat percentage of a bike without a very strict diet and follow a routine regular cardio.
2. The more you lose, the harder it is
The more you lose weight, the longer you need to lose fat in health (the key, because you want to keep as much muscle and strength as possible while losing fat). If you are at 25% body fat, it is very likely that you will lose 2 to 3 pounds of fat per week for the first two weeks. If you are at 10% body fat and want a one-digit number, however, 2 to 3 pounds of fat per week would be impossible without dangerous drugs.
For me, once I'm down about 12%, I'm very happy to lose only a pound of fat a week and I have to work on it.
3. Your body has a "comfort zone"
Although it may sound a bit brassy, it's the best way to describe a phenomenon experienced by myself and millions of other athletes around the world. The body seems to have the weight (and therefore the percentage of body fat) with which it is most comfortable. Your natural appetite tends to support that weight and if you eat less, you are hungry. If you eat more than that, you feel full.
For some, this "comfort zone" is relatively thick, while others are quite thin. For example, I find that my body is more comfortable with about 11% body fat (which would make me weigh about 200 kg today). I do not need to watch my calories too much and I can cheat several times a week, and I will only stay 11%.
Now, maintaining a weight under this comfort zone requires constant work in the form of calorie and cardio limitation. To age, you must eat regularly and if it lasts too long, the comfort zone becomes higher and higher.
5 ways to lose weight
Now that you know the difference between weight loss and low fat, here are three safe ways to dry up again in the oven to eliminate fat.
1. Recalculate your daily calorie goal
Your metabolism slows down as you lose weight because your body does not need to expend as much energy to maintain its now leaner physique.
If you do not set your calories to mirror that, you may reach a plateau. The easiest way to avoid this is to recalculate your daily calorie goal after 15 pounds of weight loss. As you can see, the target is creeping lower and lower.
There are many ways to calculate how much food to lose to lose weight, but here's a simple formula based on the Katch McArdle:
1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight
1 gram of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight
1 gram of fat for 5 pounds of body weight
This simple formula based on macronutrients will put you in moderate calorie deficit and allow for regular and healthy weight loss. To convert it into calories, it is enough to multiply 4 proteins and carbohydrates, and 9 fats.
2. Check the "hidden calories"
Most weight loss is caused by nothing more than the "calorie ramp", that is, eating more calories than you think. This, combined with ever-slower metabolism, is a guaranteed formula against stagnation.
Calories can infiltrate many places. Non-target snacks, snack restaurants (they absorb calories in meals with butter, oil, sauces, etc.), excess condiments and alcohol consumption are common ways to add enough calories to slow your weight loss without giving you the impression that you are completely "out of your diet."
The sad truth is that just 200-300 calories a day can completely stop fat loss. To put it in perspective, it only represents a few handfuls of nuts, a few tablespoons of thick dressing or a small bag of potato chips. Yes, fat loss is so whimsical. It is not very complicated, but it requires absolute precision.
So, to overcome the "calorie shift", you just need to know exactly what's going on in your body every day. You can keep lunch or do what I do: figure out what you need every day, divide it into daily meals and consume the same thing every day, every meal. I do not have the time or the patience to bring various foods to my diet, so I adopt the simplicity of choosing nutritious foods that I love and eating them again and again.
3. Increase your cardio
If you know your daily calorie goal is good and you have no calories lost at all, then you need to increase your cardio.
You can add another day if possible (I do not recommend more than 4 days a week if you are also bodybuilding), or add time each day (I like to add 10 minutes to each session and see how my body reacts.).
The idea is to simply tip the scale a little further in the direction of fat loss and observe the results. If the first extra shortcut doesn't do this, add an additional (10 more minutes to each session, for example), and you'll get there.
Oh, and do HIIT cardio, please.
4. Kiss the cheat meal
Yes, believe it or not, the cheat meal actually helps you lose fat.
How?
First is the psychological stimulus that makes you happy and motivates, which ultimately makes it easier to respect your diet.
But there is also a physiological boost.
Studies of eating (a scientific term for food intake) show that this can increase your metabolic rate by 3 to 10%. Although it sounds good, it doesn't really mean much if you consider that you would need to eat between a few hundred and several thousand extra calories daily to achieve this effect.
More important are the effects of cheating a hormone called leptin, which regulates hunger, your metabolic rate, your appetite, your motivation and your libido, as well as your other functions in your body.
When you have a calorie deficit and lose body fat, your leptin level drops. This in turn slows down your metabolism, increases your appetite, decreases your motivation and lowers your mood.
On the other hand, when you provide your body with more energy (calories) than it needs, leptin levels increase, which can then have positive effects on fat oxidation. thyroid activity, mood and even testosterone level.
So if you really want leptin level growth, how do you get the most out of it?
Eating carbohydrates is the most effective way. Second, you need to eat protein (high-protein meals also increase your metabolic rate). Dietary fats are not very effective at increasing leptin levels and alcohol inhibits them.
So, if your weight is blocking and you are angry and unmotivated, a pleasant pull of leptin might be all you need to get on the scale.
Take a good misleading meal, rich in protein and carbohydrates, and enjoy the increase in your leptin levels. This can help your weight loss!
5. Lift heavy trucks
If you know any of my work, you know I'm a big supporter of lifting heavy trucks. Among the many benefits of weight lifting, there is the fact that it helps speed up fat loss.
A study published by Greek sports scientists revealed that men trained with heavyweights (80 to 85% of their maximum rep, or "1RM"), increased their metabolic rates over the next three days, burning hundreds of more calories than men trained with lighter weights (45-65% of their 1RM).
So hit the weights and hit them hard if you want to increase your metabolic rate and speed up your fat loss.
And if you want to earn extra points, focus on composite steps such as squats and deadlifts, as these are the types that burn the most calories after training.
summary
I hope you found this article useful and remember that the journey to a lean and muscular body is a marathon, not a sprint.
Have you ever lived a plateau with weight loss? Did you manage to break through? If so, what did you do? If no, did this article give you a better idea of why? I would love to hear from you on my blog, Muscle For Life!
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