How To Beat A Fat Loss Plateau
A few new clients come in with complaints that they were working out on their own before they came to the gym in Stamford, but hit a wall when they reached a certain weight and couldn’t lose any more. My clients don’t have a problem with plateauing. That’s because our program has built in ways to beat a fat loss plateau. Even with a great program, it can sometimes occur, which is why we diligently track your progress, so we know when changes must be made. Plateauing can occur when your body burns fewer calories in a workout or requires fewer calories to maintain the weight. It happens for several reasons, you can correct both of them and start getting great weight loss results again.
Plateauing can occur when your body becomes too efficient at doing the workout.
Efficiency is a good thing, unless you’re talking about how your muscle groups work together. When the body becomes too efficient at a specific movement, it burns fewer calories. That can occur if you never vary your workout. It’s one reason I like to change things up frequently. Of course, the other reason is to avoid boredom and keep people more focused on each movement. If you find you’re plateauing, switch your routine about every four to six weeks.
The first few months are always the easiest to lose weight.
This fact is often forgotten when people start to get into shape. You’re heavier the first few months, so you’re carrying more weight around continuously. Imagine carrying a 10-25 pound weight all day. That would certainly burn more calories than not carrying it. When you lose weight, you don’t require as many calories for maintenance. You either have to build more muscles to boost your metabolism, eat less or be more active. The fitter you become, the harder you have to work.
Sometimes, the problem is not with the program, but how you measure success.
If you’re literally working your butt off and wearing a smaller size of pants, but the scales aren’t registering weight loss, it might be because you have more muscle tissue. Muscle tissue weighs more per cubic inch than fat tissue does. It takes a far smaller container to hold ten pounds of muscle than it does to hold ten pounds of fat, so the more muscle you have, the smaller your size of clothing and the fewer inches you’ll have around the middle. When your goal is to be thinner, you’re really accomplishing the goal by losing inches. You’re successful, but you are measuring the success wrong.
- Maybe your problem isn’t what you’re eating, but what you’re drinking. If you down several soft drinks in a day, you’re consuming loads of calories. A large cola from a fast food restaurant has three hundred calories. One or two a day can destroy your weight loss program.
- Don’t weigh yourself several times a day. Sometimes, water weight varies and that can make you feel like a failure. Fluctuations in weight are temporary. Weighing once a week will give a truer picture.
- Get adequate sleep. Lack of sleep can increase the hunger hormone and suppress the satiety hormone, making you hungry all the time and not for necessary foods, but sugary treats.
- No matter what weight you are, love yourself. You’re a unique individual and should be your own best friend. Hating yourself can make you feel less worthy. Remember, you aren’t your weight. Losing it is just a way to be healthier and take care of yourself.
It’s hard to find anyone that loves everything about how they look, but it’s extremely easy to find people who hate everything. That poor body image is a deterrent to getting fit. While you might think it drives you to do better, it’s really counterproductive. Feeling bad about how you look affects your elf-confidence and often detours progress in all areas, including fitness. Having a good attitude toward your body will drive you harder to treat it right, eating healthy and exercise. Finding ways to improve your body image is important to successfully improving your body.
Getting a clean start for the year isn’t a bad idea, but a fad detox that’s radical and unhealthy doesn’t fit into anyone’s idea of a healthy way to treat your body. Luckily, there are many different types of detoxing and a mild one can be quite beneficial. It can be anything from intermittent fasting to ultra clean eating to give your immune system a boost and start the year right. Here are some techniques I suggest to clients in Stamford, CT that will boost your energy and give you a head start.
There’s a reason that your personal trainer doesn’t push you hard every day to lift to your maximum or workout to exhaustion. It’s because it’s counterproductive to your ultimate goal. Muscles need to rest after a workout. Those long hours at the gym won’t help you achieve your goals any faster and can cause problems that can put you out of commission for a while.
Don’t stand in your own way if you want a healthy lifestyle. I’ve had clients come up to me in the Stamford gym and tell me their friend, mother, cousin or husband wants to start, they’re just waiting to get finished with a big project or any other excuse you can fill in the blank. While some of the excuses are valid, like recovering from a serious injury, others aren’t. They’re just people standing in their own way on the road to fitness. I actually respect people more who say they simply don’t want to workout and own up to it, even though I don’t understand it.
People who workout, do so to get results. While there may be some people who go to the gym as a pastime or for social reasons, most people want to look and feel better. Just sitting on an exercise bike pedaling lightly as though you’re making a short ride through the park won’t get you where you want to be if results are what you’re hoping to achieve. It takes work and consistency to get results. One hard workout a month is definitely not enough to give you the endurance or strength that most people want from their exercise program.
Boxing is a great way to learn how to defend yourself, while you burn calories. People come to our gym in Stamford, CT with one goal in mind. It’s either to learn how to box and the art of self-defense, or to shed those extra pounds. After they’ve worked out a while, they realize they get a bonus. Those who want to learn self-defense, get ripped and lose weight. Those who wanted to lose weight, find they love their new found skill and want to get better.
If you’re away from Stamford, CT, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve traveled to relatives, are enjoying yourself on a sandy beach or enduring a conference, it’s not a reason to let your efforts to be fit slide. While working out while traveling isn’t always easy, it’s not impossible either. You have to plan for it, rather than just hope there’s a way to make it happen. Just like sticking with a healthy diet is important every day, so is keeping up a schedule of regular workouts.
I’m always glad to hear when people try different types of workouts. Variety is the spice of life and also a reason many people opt for boxing at our Stamford, CT gym. Yoga provides other help for weight loss, while still burning calories, just fewer than those of regular workouts. The classes are often longer than other types of workouts, so it’s not as intense of a workout, yet a calorie burning experience. There are forms of yoga that are extremely grueling, like Bikram or Vinyasa Flow yoga that burn between 477 and 594 calories an hour.
If you’ve been eating healthy, you know that protein is an important addition to your diet. Fiber is too. However, eating protein plus fiber can be a real boon to weight loss. Whether you’re eating the two together in a main meal or as a snack, you’ll feel fuller, even if the calorie count is far lower than other meals or snacks. That feeling of satiety can help you shed extra pounds without feeling deprived and makes it far easier to shed pounds.