BREAKING A WEIGHT LOSS PLATEAU

Published on November 29, 2019

One of the most common barriers to weight loss is the inevitable weight loss plateau. If you are on a weight loss journey and have hit one – don’t panic, you are not alone!

Our bodies tend to get into a routine easily and when you are eating the same meals at the same time each day – we can get stuck. When this happens, it is essential to change up your routine and jump-start your metabolism. Remember, a true plateau is when you stay at the exact same weight for more than two weeks. If this happens, here are few things to consider…

Cut the grains

An effective first attempt to breaking a plateau is cutting your daily grain consumption. This includes removing all:

Quinoa
Brown rice
Pasta
Sprouted bread
Whole wheat wraps
Crackers
Oatmeal

Watch this clip for some great grain free ideas and substitutions.

Try caloric cycling

Caloric cycling is an effective approach to break a plateau. With caloric cycling, you will be consuming a different amount of calories each day to day to boost your metabolism and promote weight loss. We recommend starting each day with a warm glass of lemon water to boost digestion and detoxify the system. Do not eat the same meals every day. Our bodies can sense change and when you have hit a plateau, the most effective thing to do is to change it up. That way your metabolism has to work a little bit harder. Change your calories up day to day for one week. This means:

Having less protein, healthy fats, and fruit on day 1 (i.e., 2-3 oz of protein, 2-3 fats, and 1 fruit serving) and increase back up to your regular intake the next day (i.e., 3-5oz of protein, 3-4 fats and 2 servings of fruit). Continue this cycle for a week.
Do grain free alternating days (i.e., go grain free one day and the next day reintroduce the grain again). For some grain free ideas, click here ( link ---- https://www.shulmanweightloss.com/blog/index.php/2017/09/15/grain-free/)

Increase exercise

If you are stuck – your body may need some extra exercise to boost your basal metabolic rate. We recommend 3-5 days of exercise each week for 45-60 minutes. The most effective workouts include:

HIIT training (high intensity interval training)
Pilates and yoga. This is an effective way to support your adrenals and lower your cortisol levels.
This includes walking, running, jump rope, climbing the stairs, swimming, rowing, cycling or spinning.

Boost the healthy fats

Healthy fats are an essential part of weight loss. We encourage a minimum of 3 healthy fats each day. If you are at a plateau, try increasing your healthy fats to 4-5 per day for a week. Bulletproof coffee is an effective way to incorporate good, healthy fats to help boost your metabolism to help break a plateau. Click here for a great recipe.

Try intermittent fasting

This approach to breaking a plateau has gained a lot of popularity over the past couple of years. Essentially, intermittent fasting is achieved by fasting for a specific period of time to boost your metabolism to help achieve weight loss. We recommend aiming for 15 hours between your last meal and breakfast. Here is en example of what your typical day should look like while following an intermittent fasting approach…

Breakfast = 10:30/11:00 am Lunch = 1:30 pm Afternoon snack = 3:30/4:00 pm Dinner = 6:30 pm

Keep a journal

Keep a daily food journal to ensure you are doing what you can to break your plateau. Read it over at the end of each week to see what you can change or add in to the following week. To download your own 30 day food journal, click here. For more information or to book in with a Registered Nutritionist for one-on-one personalized appointments and customized plans, please call our clinic at (905) 889-5326. We are happy to answer any questions you may have!