If you have ever started a diet in your life chances are you also hit a fat loss plateau. During the first few weeks fat practically falls off your body but then all of the sudden the scale doesn’t move anymore and you’re wondering what changed. 

 

Did your diet suddenly stop working or is there something wrong with you? 

 

In this post, I will show you what you can do to break past fat loss plateaus and get back on the diet train again.

 

The first thing you need to keep in mind is that changes in your weight aren’t always due to changes in your bodyfat percentage. Most people think that when they step on the scale and see that it displays a pound less than last week that the lost exactly one pound of body fat.

 

However, this is not always the case.

 

Weight loss can happen because any number of things change, not only your bodyfat percentage but also your muscle mass, your glycogen level, the food you carry in your stomach or… and that’s the thing that changes the most and fastest…

 

…Water

 

Nothing brings your weight up or down as fast as water retention.

 

For example, if you eat a meal heavy in carbs and sodium your body will usually retain more water than usual which can add anywhere from 1 to 3 pounds to your bodyweight. Women are affected by this even more than men because of menstruation. 

 

What do you have to do to get rid of unwatned water rention?

 

In most cases eating less sodium and drinking more water will do the trick. Why drinking more water you ask? Because your body retains water only because it thinks it’s not getting enough on a regular basis and has to store some for later. 

 

But what if water is not the problem and you hit a plateau because of other reasons?

 

Then there are a few thing you can do to start losing fat again.

 

First, you have to keep in mind that the more fat you lose the harder it will get. The leaner you become, the longer it takes to lose fat in a healthy way and wihtout sacrificing msucle mass. 

 

For example, if you have a body fat percentage of 25 or 30% you can easily lose 2-3 pounds of fat per week at first. Your body will still have enough calories for overall health and muscle maintance. But if you at or under 10% for men and 15 to 20% for women things will get a lot more complicated.

 

So just a slowing of your rate of fat loss is normal and to be expected.

 

The next important factor is that the lighter you become the fewer calories you body needs. This means the daily amount of calories that used to create a deffciti might jsut be enough to maintain your weight after a few weeks. This is why you proabaly want to reacalculate your calorie needs every so often. 

 

Another aspect of dieting is that your metabolism also slows down as you lose weight to retain energy. This definietly sucks because it means you would have to eat even fewer calories to coounteract this.

 

However, lowering your calories more and more is not always sustainable and why you should take diet breaks reagularly. I explain diet breaks in a different post so be sure to check that one out.  

 

Last but not least there is one more factor which is oftern resonsible for weight loss plateus. And that’s hidden calories, meaning people consuming more calories than they think. You propably think you are tracking correctly, but if your weight has been stagnant for several weeks than make sure to check again.

 

Calories can be hidden in many places. Small snacks or eating out at restaurants are just two examples. Not tracking butter, oil or sauces is another common mistake. 

 

Also check your alcohol intake as it can add up to quite a few calories and the truth is that 200 or 300 additional calories every day can break your diet and stop your progress completly.

 

200 is only a bit of olive oil or a bunch of nuts so remeber to track those too. Unfortunately, dieting is that tricky sometimes, but if you track correctly then you will see results.