You have been on a new diet and exercise regime for the past few months. You have been making phenomenal strides as far as weight loss and added energy. However, gone are the days when the pounds just melted off— you’ve hit a weight loss plateau!
So before you just throw your hands in the air and give up. It’s time to re-evaluate your exercise and diet program by establish some new rules…
1. Back to the food diary
The best place to start is to track your food intake via a food journal. This will help you track your nutrition and reveal any trouble areas or foods that are sabotaging your efforts.
2. Re-evaluate your calories
As you lose weight, your metabolism will naturally decrease, which means it will be harder to lose weight at the rate you have been. Now is time to look at your daily caloric intake to ensure you are eating fewer calories than you are burning via exercise.
3. Change up your exercise routine
If you want to stay consistent with your weight loss and fitness results, you’ll need to intensify change things up by intensifying your fat program now that your body has become accustomed to your current workout.
4. Change up your diet
The same goes for your diet, and the worst thing you can do is become complacent with nutrition due to weight success. So re-evaluate your weekly diet to make sure you are doing everything you can to progress in a healthy way.
5. Be aware of celebratory calories
If you’ve lost a significant amount of weight, you might be celebrating with food—i.e., eating out more, having more social drinks. I call this the “calorie creep” and it happens if via mindless eating and drinking.
6. Stay consistent with activity
Continuity is one of the most important aspects of weight loss. Without the regular exercise (i.e., 5 workouts per week) you’ve become accustomed to, you won’t see improvements in your strength and fitness levels.
7. Don’t resort to food deprivation
Many individuals striving to lose weight will resort to starving themselves in hopes of continued weight loss. However, this dangerous tactic will do more harm than good—slowing your metabolism, putting your body in starvation mode, and potentially causing an eating disorder.
8. Indulge a little
Losing weight is pointless if you don’t enjoy your new body and celebrate. That means indulging every once in a while and forgetting your strict healthy regime. That’s why many nutritionists recommend a cheat once weekly meal to boost your metabolism, followed by healthy eating for the remainder of the week.
9. Consider hormones
Hormonal imbalance affects metabolism just as much as diet and exercise do. If you believe hormones may be stalling your weight loss efforts, speak to your doctor.
10. Be patient
Have you ever watched a kettle boil? It never does! The same goes for weight loss—often the closer we are to reaching our goals (i.e. that last 5 or 10 pounds); the more difficult it will be to shed. Patience really is the key. Stick with your diet and exercise regimen and eventually you will reach your goal.
Looking for other fun ways to lose as a couple weight? Check out these articles:
- 10 Fabulous Fitness Moves You Can Do At Home!
- 10 Foods Proven to Burn Fat!
- 10 Fun and Unique Ways to Blast Belly Fat
