I’ve done everything I possibly can. I’ve cut right back, I’ve exercised every day, but my weight stays stubbornly the same!” Sound familiar? If you’ve got a fair bit of weight to lose chances are you’ll hit a plateau at some point; the weight won’t shift despite you sticking strictly to your diet. Worse it shifts but in one direction only - back up! “It’s as if my body will only let my weight go in one direction!” says many a seasoned dieter.
What’s the point?
This is when a lot of dieters give up. What’s the point? Why go on cutting out foods you love if it’s not going to make any difference. The gloom we feel from hitting the plateau can easily undo all our hard work. “Why bother trying to lose weight? My body won’t let me! I might as well eat!” And back we go on the yoyo, always bingeing or starving.
Stay with it
There are many ways to beat the plateau. I’ll tell you what I did. It may help. The most important advice I can give is: stay with it. If you keep doing what you’ve been doing it will work again. You have to give it time.
Falling off the wagon
The plateau has its sister saboteur in lapsing, falling off the wagon. Getting so fed up of going without that you binge then think, why bother? I can’t lose weight. It’s too hard. Yes it is hard. It’s incredibly hard. And in a future newsletter I will look at why it’s so hard. Why it isn’t just a matter of willpower.
Don’t give up
Accept you will hit a plateau. If you’re trying to lose a fair bit of weight it’s almost inevitable. Your body adjusts to a smaller food intake. Eating less isn’t the answer - your body will simply readjust again. Here are several ways to break through.
Up your activity
Take more exercise - or take some if you haven’t been taking any. I know exercise is something many people loathe. Reminds them of school or they just hate it. That’s fine. You don’t have to do much. Quality is much more important than quantity. So a 20-minute brisk walk twice a day if you can manage it is all you need.
Try to incorporate more activity into your every day life. Don’t wait to take something upstairs, do it now. Make several trips to the shops not just one. If you drop something and have to pick it up do a few added pick ups. If yours is a mostly sedentary life get up and walk about at least once an hour. Think of it not as exercise but activity. Imagine you’re keeping a pilot light on in your body. A light that burns calories. Find some kind of activity you enjoy. Keep it going. Little and often.
Don’t eat less
It’s tempting to cut back further to kick start your diet into working again. Resist this temptation. If you’ve lost weight on what you’ve been eating up till now you will lose it again. You have to stick with it and keep going.
Change when you eat
Rather than eating less change when you eat. So instead of three meals a day try eating little and often. Try to eat most of your food before the evening if you can fit this into your life. A walk after your last meal of the day then before breakfast the next day will give your metabolism a kick.
Change what you eat
It can also help to change the composition of what you eat. Cut down on carbs, ie bread, rice, pasta and potatoes, and increase protein, meat, chicken, fish, cheese or vegetarian/vegan alternative. A high-protein diet such as Atkins or Paleo can bring fast results and kick-start you back into losing again. Also cut down or cut out alcohol if you drink. It’s only for a few days or maybe a week. And it will make a difference.
What helped me
I lost a stone very quickly when I began. Took just four weeks! Then it took another two months to lose a further half stone. The fast loss at the beginning of a weight-loss regime can fool us into thinking it’s going to keep coming off. What worked for me was walking more and buying some bathroom scales to check my progress properly. Till then I’d been using scales at my local Boots and only weighing in every now and then. I was kidding myself I was losing when I wasn’t. Keeping an eye on it made the difference. Some say weigh in every day. I prefer once a week but do whatever works best for you.
Have achievable goals
And finally make sure your goal is an achievable one. I know BMI measurements aren’t perfect but they’re a guide. I’m aiming for a BMI of 25, the right weight for my height, age and sex. That’s 11 stone 2 pounds/156 pounds/70 kilos. My last weigh-in was 12.8/176 pounds/79 kilos. That’s down from a high of 15.11 stone/221 pounds/100 kilos in September 2020. So while I’ve come a long way I’ve a way to go yet and it will get harder the closer I get.
Sheer bloody mindedness, determination and tenacity is what will get me there. Writing these newsletters is helping me same way slimming groups work. So thanks for reading this. You’re helping me and I hope it’s helping you too.