You are working out at the gym hard. You do your HIIT, pushing all the weights you should be pushing, eating healthy year round. So why is it so tough to get rid of that last bit of extra weight? If you hit a plateau, you may want to make some revisions to your existing routine. Here are some of the most common problems that cause your progress at the gym to stall:
High stress levels
Did you know that stress is a major contributor to weight gain? Stress results in secretion of cortisol, which at high concentrations causes weight gain, especially in the midsection. Researchers suggest both external stress and internal physiological stress (in the form of chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract) cause elevation of cortisol.
Control external stress by relaxing as much as possible, even if it is only 10 minutes a day. Also, physical activities like working out, yoga and meditation are great for reducing stress.
A great way of dealing with internal stress is taking a probiotic. They assist with digestion and reduce inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract.
Are you being honest with yourself?
Are you REALLY following your diet program, or are you lying to yourself? Just because a specific food is considered healthy it doesn’t mean you can eat unlimited amounts of it. At the end of the day, you need to put in less calories that you burn. Use a food scale to measure your food, you’d be surprised how evil the “guesstimating game” can be.
In terms of timing your food, a good nutrition plan should call for meals/snacks every 2-3 hours. This means you eat every one of these meals, portioned according to your plan and NOTHING in between.
You are not getting enough sleep
By itself, sleep doesn’t burn calories, but if you are sleep-deprived your metabolism will not function properly. When you are tired you will find yourself eating more and craving foods that will produce immediate energy, like sugar and simple carbs. Sleep deprivation causes a drop in the hormone leptin (that tells you that you are full) and a rise in the level of ghrelin (that tells you that you are hungry). In other words, you will have a harder time to get full when you are tired. Sleep tight.
Skipping Meals
Skipping meals results in a slower metabolism, which is detrimental for weight loss. You may be thinking you are “saving” calories by skipping a meal, but what you are really doing is storing more fat. Fat for the body is like reserved fuel, when you eat small frequent meals your body is happy to use most of the calories for energy, knowing that in a couple of hours more will come. When you frequently skip your meals, your body does not know when the next meal will arrive and slows down your metabolism in order to reserve more calories in the form of fat for later usage.
You do not eat breakfast or eat breakfast too late
For the same reason described above, eating breakfast is crucial to kick start the metabolism in the morning. The 7-8 hours of sleep deprives us from food, which slows down the metabolism. Not eating breakfast will only prolong fat burning process. You must eat within 30mins of waking up to kick start your metabolism.
It is important to always keep make your metabolism work faster. The slower your metabolism the more calories will be stored in the form of fat. Take for example the sumo wrestlers’ diet, which is aimed to make these guys gain weight, by slowing down their metabolism. They must always skip breakfast and eat 1-2 meals a day. So, do exactly the opposite if you are trying to lose weight!
Also, some people may have heard about the Intermittent Fasting protocol.
You don’t eat protein with EVERY meal (yes this means your snacks too!)
There are many good reasons why you should eat protein with every meal. First, protein is hard to break down, so you burn calories just from digesting protein. Second, eating enough protein helps preserve lean muscle mass, the more lean muscle mass you have the more calories you burn at rest. Third, it keeps you full for longer periods of time. Fourth, meals that contain protein will not raise your sugar levels as high as meals with carbs alone. Controlling your blood sugar levels is a key to healthy weight management. Your blood sugar increases at a steadier rate and gives your body time to burn the energy as it comes in.
You do lots of cardio and not enough weight training
Doing hours and hours of cardio a week can actually make you gain weight. Why? You end up with less muscle, your metabolism slows down, and then you have to eat even less just to maintain your current weight or your body will start storing fat instead of burning it off. This is not to say cardio is bad, you just shouldn’t overdo it – 25 to 30 mins a couple of times a week along with weight training a few times a week will give you better results.
When you add weight training to your workouts, you build lean muscle tissue. Adding more lean muscle tissue means you will burn more calories at rest, as opposed to cardio where you burn calories during the time of your exercise. Strength training is essential for weight loss because it will burn fat, burn calories, improve insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake, and make you stronger. So pick up those weights ladies and watch the fat melt off!
When hitting a plateau, it is important to re-evaluate your current routine. Try changing the habits described above, and welcome gains into your fitness journey!
About the Author: Ana Plenter
