How can I break through a plateau on weight loss?

First of all - don't give up!! And well done for your progress thus far :)

Throughout my Personal Training experience, I have seen many cases of weight loss plateaus. After altering the client’s diet, giving them a tailored exercise program, there is usually an initial success. Clients adapt to their new healthy eating habits and follow their exercise program and enjoy the benefits. Benefits include increased energy, better quality sleep, increased strength and fitness levels. For most it also includes an initial weight loss. The client gets so excited with their initial loss, it motivates them to stick to their eating habits and exercise plan convinced it will keep producing the same results.

A plateau occurs when you are in energy balance. At this time the calories you consume from food and drink equal the calories you expend as part of your resting metabolic rate and during physical activity. The human body is incredibly adaptive and will do its best to reach equilibrium (homeostatis). Many overweight people are at a plateau. They will say, “I’ve been 10kg overweight for years.” They start a fitness program where they eat less and exercise more which causes an energy imbalance and breaks their initial plateau. They start and will keep losing weight while there is a negative energy balance. But at some stage the energy balance equation balances again and causes another plateau. For example when you are 10kg lighter the energy cost of moving your body during everyday tasks and during exercise sessions is much less. So your total daily metabolic rate can drop, even when you are exercising regularly. When it falls to match your lower energy intake level, another plateau occurs. This can be extremely frustrating for the client. They have changed nothing but suddenly the weight simply doesn’t want to budge. For some, they think ‘what is the point?’ and start reverting back to their old ways, creating a vicious cycle.

It is difficult as a trainer to see your client put in the work, stick to their eating plan and not reap the rewards. There are tears, there is anger, there is desperation all over the clients face. As the trainer you try to explain the reasoning behind the plateau and that it is a normal part of weight loss. It is often hard for them to believe and understand. When weight loss plateau hits it is time to implement change. As their trainer I try to constantly add stimulus to the client’s program to keep ‘shocking’ the body, forcing it to keep adapting and thus hopefully breaking the plateau.

Some changes you can try if you encounter a plateau are as follows:

Change Your Exercise Routine
If you go walking a lot then try jogging, or swimming, or cycling — anything that will change the way your body is working. If you are doing low intensity cardio work, then try some high intensity exercise. You may need to also increase the duration and frequency of your workouts.

Change Meal Frequency
If you are eating three  meals a day – start adding snacks in between (which may mean reducing the portion size of the main meals). Eating often is aimed to boost your metabolic rate.

Alter Macro-nutrient Intake
Although it sounds complicated, the idea is to change what you are eating. For example if you are eating a moderate diet that is higher in carbs – try eating less carbs and more protein. If you have a carbohydrate snack every day at morning tea time – change it to a protein snack. Whatever you are doing consistently – try mixing it up a bit.

Eat less sugar
You may have cut back on fat, but still be consuming too much sugar. Low-fat sweet snacks such as breakfast bars and fruit twists may seem a perfectly healthy option, but they are often are high in sugar. Swapping to fruit can offer calorie savings. Low-fat milkshakes, smoothies and fruit juices also have a healthy image, but are where calories can add up.

Drink less alcohol
Alcoholic drinks may be difficult to cut back on or give up, but may be necessary when you hit a plateau. A reality check on volume is important as alcohol is often underreported. You may have a couple of glasses of wine at dinner each night, but are you having two small (125mL) glasses of wine providing a total of 160 calories or four large (175mL) glasses giving around 450 calories.

Eat smaller portions
Are you eating too much of perceived healthy foods like bread, potatoes or pasta. You may need to downsize your dinner plate and cut out second serves. Keeping a food diary for a short time, is a great way to identify opportunities for change  and is one of the best ways to be accountable for food intake. It may be just these small things that are causing the sticking point.

(please note the above suggestions are simply that, suggestions. If you are concerned about your results or lack there of please consult a health professional)

The most important thing to do if a plateau occurs is to stay positive. Keep in mind and be proud of the changes you have made and focus on the benefits you have such as increased energy, strength, fitness etc. Don’t give up. The human body is an amazing (sometimes frustrating) thing. It is the only one you have so look after it.

First of all, well done your initial success…

As mentioned above weight plateaus do tend to occur. During this stage it is a good idea to record all food and drink intake as well as exercise to assess where you could improve.

Limiting foods such as sugar and breads may help and also try reducing alcohol and other non-water beverages.

Changing up your exercise routine and including resistance based exercise 2-3 times per week may also help. Resistance exercise improves body composition and health outcomes by reducing body fat and increasing muscle mass. Muscle is an active tissue and therefore requires energy (calories) to maintain itself, thus increasing your metabolism and increasing fat burning by the body.

I have been thinking a lot about your question for a couple of days and I think I can add something that might be worth considering - although it isn't an easy fix answer unfortunately.

It sounds like you have been working really hard with your weight loss for 9 months - which is awesome and I hope you are feeling good about your achievement. As the previous professionals have said, plateaus are really common. And the miserable thing is that if you have a tendency to eat for non-hungry reasons like frustration or anxiety etc, it can lead to an increase in weight.

I am wondering if you are in a hurry to loose the last few kg? If not, would you be able to practice weight maintenance for a while? This is such an important part of weight management and in my opinion is harder than weight loss as you don't have the lovely positive reinforcement of the scales decreasing weekly. It might be that after a few months of maintenance you have renewed energy and motivation and are able to loose the extra few.

Or - it might also be worth considering the set point theory - which says that the body has a natural weight range that it will always tend towards - it is different for different people and in my opinion it is difficult to work out what your set point range is until you have a generally healthy relationship with food -  like you eat mainly when you are hungry, you can sense what sort of foods your body needs, and you don't do much non-hungry eating. It is possible that your weight watchers goal weight is different to your body's set point/range.

I hope this gives you something useful to consider.