Learning the difference between "biological adjustments", "water fluctuations", and hitting a real " weight loss plateau" is a skill -- one that you can learn with just a little practice.
Realizing your setpoint - When you hit a real Weight Loss Plateau
Sometimes you stop losing body fat for a period of time or it increase slightly. If you have ruled out all of the above explanations, you’ve probably hit by real weight loss plateau.
You see, you actually ”defend” a certain percentage of body fat. By defend I mean that given your genetics, your daily average activity, what and how much you eat, and the way you exercise, your body tightly regulates the amount of body fat that you maintain and keeps you within a certain range. If you do not change anything that you currently doing (such as increase your level of exercise), you’ll remain at more or less this level of body fat. In other words, you realize your level of set point. Think of your set points as the setting on your body fat “thermostat.” Each setting corresponds to the total amount of body fat that your body will maintain. Everytime you make an adjustment to
your thermostat by changing your exercise or eating habits, you change the setting.
Increase the amount you perform, and you maintain a lower percentage of body fat.
Cut out certain unhealthy foods, and again, you maintain a lower percentage of body fat.
But the important part of knowing when you reach a real weight loss plateau (assuming that you want further results) that it signals when it’s time to add more exercise or move to the next phase of the fitness program/ or both.
The key is to know when you’ve reached a real weight loss plateau, as opposed to one of the many other reasons why your body fat may have ceased to decrease.
So, when you have officially hit a plateau? First of all. Don’t even start the clock ticking until the initial weight gain due to water is behind you.This can take up upto six weeks or even more for some people.(This is the reason why you should not weigh yourself in the early phases just like I told you. To officially consider yourself a real plateau, you need to begin losing weight at the first place!) If you begin to consistently lose weight and your weight loss stops for at least three weeks and you can rule out all of all the explanations we’ve talked about previously the chances are that you’ve hit a real weight loss plateau. If you want to lose more, you need to add more exercise to your week.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that three weeks is an arbitrary amount of time, but I think it is a valid reference point to begin evaluating where you standard whether you need to make some changes in your fitness program. Keep in mind that most of the water fluctuations are temporary, lasting only for two or three days, and for the most part, they are somewhat predictable once you learn your unique water patterns , I am confident that within a few months you will be able to determine the difference between retaining water and whether you’ve hit a real plateau (and therefore realize your set point.) But you must be patient through those few months! Base everything on how you feel overall and how your clothes are fitting.
If losing weight is your primary goal, reaching a real weight plateau will probably not be something to which you’re looking forward. This requires a change in how you think. Reaching a real plateau is exactly what you need to tell you if you are making progress. If you continue to show results, even if they are slow, continue what you are doing and continue the ride down before making any changes!
Once you are ready for further results, simply increase the amount of weekly minutes that you exercise, or if you are ready for the next phase - move up!
Here is a quick looking back at our Goals, to refresh and remind us again of what are the goals that we want to achieve.
Because ”Goals” require you to make specific investments in yourself which will physically and emotionally prepare you for a successful goal.
If you are serious about losing weight and keeping it for good, you will be happy for the rest of your life.
Who wouldn't want to achieve all four of these goals? Unfortunate, many people focus on the goal they believe is the most important one is to them, which is usually losing weight, and they typically select the quickest way to do it. This is where the problem begins, we are like the majority on this planet who have tried to lose weight, you have gone down this road at least once or twice only to eventually fail. If that's the case let's go back to the drawing board and rethink that quick way of thinking about weight loss.
A successful goal is all about patience, persistence, and pacing. It's about self-discipline. self-control, and personal commitment. Most of all, it's about feeling good about yourself. This is realistic life-changing process-for life!
