After
you lose weight, your body operates more efficiently and needs less energy to
do everything, including your workouts, which means you burn fewer calories. At
the time, your system is biologically programmed to get you back to your
former, heavier weight - a survival mechanism to help prevent starvation. The phenomenon,
called adaptive thermogenesis, puts
the brakes on your metabolism. A 10% drop in your body weight will slow your
metabolism as much as 25%. And the more you lose, the greater the effect.
Your
hormones also make you hungrier than ever. If you shed 10 - 15% of your body
weight, your level of leptin - a hormone critical for making you feel full -
plummets by 50%, convincing your brain that you've lost half you body fat. At
the same time, your level of the "hunger hormone" ghrelin also spikes
disproportionately after weight loss.
It
takes a tremendous amount of physical and emotional effort to overcome all the
biological and environmental challenges to weight loss. Initially, you can
stick with it because you see the results and you get a lot of positive reinforcement.
But after a few months, you become tired and discouraged by all the work
required.
But
don't give up! A few smart tweaks to
your diet will get results and help renew your commitment.
Get Back to Basics
If
you used to track your food and exercise, it's time to restart that routine.
Logging meals and workouts can help you see where you need to step up your
efforts. Be careful about portion control. Analyze the weeks that you were
particularly successful, figure out what you were doing differently and go back
to it.
Find Your Happy Weight
Often
people pick their goal weight arbitrarily, which can set them up for failure.
If you’ve hit your plateau and are within 5 or 10 pounds of your target,
consider whether the weight you’re at now might be right for you. You’ve
already improved your health enormously by reducing your risk of diabetes and
heart disease. Don’t be obsessed with reaching a certain number on the scale.
Think about what makes you feel good. That’s your happy weight.
Next
week, I will share three more strategies
for
pushing past a weight loss plateau.
Stay
Active, Keep Moving and
Enjoy Food