If you have been losing weight regular but results have started to diminish then you have probably reached a fat loss plateau where fat loss is very slow or has stopped. There can be a few causes but the most common cause is that the body is adapting to the level of activity and calorie intake. To overcome this problem I often take some time out. Yes, I REDUCE exercise and up calorie intake slightly plus I lower the intensity of the exercise.
The reason is that regularly forcing the body to lose weight with lots of exercise AND coupled with insufficient energy and nutrient intake can easily push it into an over-trained state. The body is struggling to recover from all the exercise. If I were to continue exercising the stress would probably cause catabolic hormone levels to rise. This encourages the loss of muscle protein thus lowering metabolic rate. A lowered metabolism is the main reason weight loss slows. Learn more about the plateau when losing weight.
The idea is I raise calories especially protein to help my body recover completely. Less exercise also aids slow recovery and repair minor injuries picked up from all the months of regular training. At this time I also get chance to refresh mental drive and motivation. After about 5 days I slowly start exercising again. The resting period has helped my body become stronger and I then tackle further workouts with new vigor to start boosting fat loss again!
The body needs to recover from the stress of exercise it’s actually one of the most important factors for developing strength and fitness!
As an example, if I'm on around 1800 calories per day and fat loss starts to slow, so within the last 5 days I haven't lost any fat, I stop exercising completely for 5 days. At the same time I up calorie intake to around 2300 per day. After the 5 days I start back with 15 minutes light cycling every other day and again reduce calories slowly beginning at 2000 for a week.
When I’m attempting to lose weight if I hit a slow fat loss plateau, which tends to happen about every 4-5 weeks, I use this method, I also try to change exercise routine or I change the previous one slightly.
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