You've managed to drop quite a few unwanted pounds and not only are you feeling good about the way you look, you're proud of yourself because you've been able to stay committed to a healthy diet and exercise program. Then all of a sudden you notice that you've stopped losing weight. You're doing everything right, but weeks go by and nothing happens. Those weeks then turn into months and you begin to realize that you've hit a big weightloss plateau. This is one of the most frustrating yet inevitable consequences of weightloss.
Plateaus are all too common because the body adapts easily to diet and exercise and becomes very efficient at burning calories. It requires less energy and sometimes more calories to handle it's new demands. In a way this is good news because it means that you're in better shape but in order to start losing again you will have to make some dietary changes and introduce some variety into your exercise routine in order to challenge your body again.
Exercise Tips
Variety
If you've been strictly using the treadmill, crosstrainer, or stairmaster, the first thing you can do is switch to a machine that you've never used. You can also try a combination of different machines by doing 10 min. on one, 15 min. on another, then 10 min. on another. Even if you keep it at the same intensity, you will notice a difference immediately after you get on a different machine. You're heart rate will increase because you're using different muscles that are not accustomed to being used. If you want to try something completely different, check out a class like step aerobics or tae boxing, maybe even a walk through your neighborhood or a challenging hike over the weekend. The point is to do something completely different a couple of times a week.
Intensity
For a long time fitness experts believed that longer periods of lower intensity cardio were the most effective way to burn calories but more recent findings suggest that shorter periods of higher intensity cardio burns the most calories and creates a more significant caloric deficit which is one of the main contributing factors to weightloss. Try an interval training workout on the crosstrainer or an interval training style run twice a week. Alternating between long and short high intensity cardio sessions throughout the week also works great.
Strength Traning
If you have not incorporated weight lifting into your routine then this would be the perfect time to start. Adding muscle will definitley help you burn more calories because muscle burns 50 calories per pound while fat only burns 2 calories per pound. If you are strength training and wondering how you could change what you're doing, the possibilities are endless. You can change the order in which you do your exercises and which exercises you do for each body part. For example, if your leg workout has consisted of leg extensions first, leg curls second, and seated calf raises third, reversing that order or trying something completely different such as leg press, lunges, and standing calf raises, could make all the difference.
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