6 Reasons Your Weight Loss Has Plateaued
The biggest misconception about weight loss might be that if you do everything right, the weight will come off reliably and steadily. Anyone who has tried to lose weight will quickly tell you that’s not the case.
Weight loss does not happen in a straight line. For weeks the number on the scale will slowly decrease, and then suddenly you will hit a plateau.
How do you know when you’ve hit a plateau? Technically, a weight loss plateau is defined as two or more weeks when the scale hasn’t moved. Fluctuation of a pound or two per day is normal, and doesn’t always mean you’re in a plateau.
But sometimes, it feels like your scale is stuck and no matter what you do, you can’t seem to push past a certain number.
As you may have already guessed, our bodies are complicated and there isn’t often just one thing you can point to that is causing the plateau. Instead, here are a few things you might want to consider before throwing the whole scale out with the trash.
6 Reasons You Aren’t Losing Weight
Carb rich foods lead to water retention.
Have you ever consumed a carb-heavy meal and gotten on the scale to see a shocking 1-5 extra pounds on the scale? There is a reason for that. When you consume carbohydrates, your body actually stores 3-4 grams of water per one gram of carbohydrate, in the form of glycogen. This is how your body stores your food for energy.
If you are having trouble losing weight, maybe look at the ratio of carbs in your diet. A slight adjustment by cutting some of the carbs to make room for more protein can help.
You’re eating too much salt.
Have you ever eaten a delicious Chinese takeout and then felt insatiably thirsty? Similar to water retention with carbohydrates, excess salt in your diet can cause your body to retain more water. When you pour salt on a snail (please don’t try this at home), you can see in real time the way that salt molecules pull every bit of water into themselves through a process called osmosis.
Your body will always try to balance what you put into it, so when you consume a ton of salt, it will retain water to restore that balance.
Salt is deceptive, occurring in high quantities in processed foods, even when they don’t taste salty. A good way to reduce salt fast is by reducing processed foods in your diet.
Your weight fluctuates with your menstrual cycle.
When you are about to start your period, estrogen and progesterone will drop. These hormonal changes effect your body in many ways, including causing your body to retain more water. These hormonal changes can also cause your body to bloat due to increased gas in your GI tract. Finally, hormonal changes cause cravings and increased hunger leading you to consume more in the week before your period.
Although they can be frustrating, these side effects are perfectly normal and you can expect to gain up to 5 pounds during your period.
Your metabolism declines when you lose weight, and so does your calorie requirement.
Bummer, right? The ugly truth is that as your body adjusts to a calorie deficit, it becomes more efficient, learning how to function on a lower caloric budget. This means that while the pounds seem to melt off in the beginning, often your weight loss will slow to a crawl as your body adjusts. Your metabolism will actually slow down in an attempt to conserve energy.
Further, as you lose weight, your caloric needs change too. A smaller body requires less fuel overall to keep going. This is why we spend so much time talking about creating sustainable lifestyle changes rather than dieting. You can’t expect to eat what you did at your highest weight and maintain your goal weight.
Your cardio routine is making you hungry.
There is a common misconception that cardio burns fat. The reality is that cardio burns calories, and does so at a more efficient rate than strength training. This can be deceiving for people trying to lose weight in two ways.
First, cardio will burn calories while you are exercising, but building muscle helps you to have a higher overall metabolism, even at rest. Second, burning through all of those calories can actually make you hungrier, leading you to overeat after your workout.
Don’t write cardio off just yet, though. Cardio is great for your heart health and circulation, can help control your blood sugar, and lower your blood pressure. A well balanced routine with a mix of cardio and strength training is the best way to increase your overall health.
Sometimes you just plateau.
Because our bodies are complex and weight loss is influenced by any number of factors, the truth is, sometimes you just plateau. There isn’t always a simple reason or a quick fix you can do to get the scale to move.
Weight loss shouldn’t happen quickly. In these cases, it is good to find other goal posts that exist outside of the scale. Hitting goals such as sustaining exercise longer, hitting a personal best in the weight room, or maintaining a streak of getting 8 hours of sleep every night (ultimate goals) can keep you motivated when the scale is not.
How to Get Off of the Plateau
You may not like this answer, but just keep doing the right thing! There is often not a specific thing you can do to get the scale to start moving in the right direction. If you keep up with your healthy lifestyle changes, your weight will eventually start to go down again.
Instead of obsessing over why you aren’t losing weight, just go back to basics. Log your food to track your calories, stay consistent with exercise, eat less processed foods, drink water, get enough sleep, manage your stress- you know the drill!
The best advice I can give you is not to give up when this happens. Plateaus are inevitable, even if unpredictable. What matters is that you don’t get discouraged, and don’t let it stop you from doing the right thing. A couple of weeks with no results doesn’t mean that you should throw in the towel. This is why it is so important to have your “Why.”
Your health is so much bigger than a number on a scale. When you figure that out, everything else gets easier!
