Achieving your weight goal can be a challenging escapade. The first few pounds are easy to lose. However, the weight-loss cycle becomes stagnant once your body becomes accustomed to your fitness routine. Yes, consulting a personal trainer would be your best bet. However, this might not always be possible. You might be stuck somewhere with no access to a gym. Or worse yet! You could be dealing with a worldwide pandemic as is happening currently. So, the best move on your part would be personal training software.
Before we get to the tips to solve your weight loss plateau, let us understand why this happens.
Why does weight loss plateau happen?
Let us first understand this. During the initial few weeks, weight loss is rapid. This is especially true if you didn’t have an active lifestyle previously. This sudden change in body activity helps you lose weight faster. When you reduce your calorie intake, the energy required by your body is compensated via glycogen. These are the energy stores in the body. It is a carbohydrate variant that is found in your liver and muscles.
Glycogen is made partly of water. So, when your body burns glycogen for energy, the weight loss is mostly water weight. However, this effect tends to be temporary. With weight loss, your body loses some muscle in the process. However, the more muscles you have, the higher is your metabolism. So, you would do better with a higher muscle density to keep your calorie-burning ratio up.
The initial weight loss will cause your body’s metabolism to decline. With time, this will make you burn calories at a slower rate compared to the calories you burnt initially. Even if the calories consumed currently is the same as before, you might not lose more weight. This is when the calorie being burnt is equal to the calorie consumed.
This point is termed a weight loss plateau. If this is still confusing to you, help is always close by. You can consult the best online personal training software. You can get the answers to your queries from expert trainers ready to serve as and when needed.
Tips to Avoid Weight Loss Plateau
Now that you know the reason behind the weight loss plateau, let us get down to some quick and efficient tips to help you conquer the weight loss plateau.
1. Revise Your Weight Loss Strategy:
The first step is to revisit your existing weight loss strategy & decode the exact point where you are at fault. If you plan on working with personal trainer software, the tracking process can become easier and better. This progress and compliance tracking software can help pinpoint the exact issues.
It could be a lack of commitment or consistency, which might induce a plateau. Once the program has been reviewed, make sure you identify the factors that have led to the issue. To evaluate each factor, you need to backtrack things like:
- Workout schedule
- Changes in time commitment
- Food intake
- Daily activities
If you had any cheat or rest days, you might need to consider that as well. Again, figuring this out could be a confusing task. To get the right answers, you can use personal training software for trainers.
2. Adjust the Training Regime:
The worst culprit that causes plateau issues is monotony or boredom. Following the same exercising routine can cause your body to get accustomed. This allows the onset of a plateau and hence stops the weight loss progress. If you tend to use personal trainer management software, it can help you diversify the routine. You can follow the preset guidelines included with the software. Additionally, you can consult your personal trainer for a personalized routine with a few tweaks.
If you practice resistance training 3 times/week with cardio on alternate days, you need to switch it up! You can move the resistance training to 4 times/week or increase the cardio cycles. The key is to challenge your body slowly yet steadily. Doing this allows you to lessen your fatigue issues while eliminating monotony. It also increases the variety you get. This will keep you interested for a few weeks or more.
The key is to break out of the comfort zone and experiment with exercises. However, you shouldn’t try and experiment on your own. The key is to seek the best personal trainer software, UK, and practice caution. You shouldn’t injure yourself in chasing new routines. Your personal trainer can guide you better. Even if you are far away, using personal training software can be helpful.
New exercises help invigorate the beast inside you & help you achieve new results. Next, you should also consider dietary changes & techniques such as intermittent fasting. This will help spice up the weight loss process. Make sure you are consuming the right amount of food that prevents loss of muscle mass.
3. Periodic Resting:
If you tend to feel the exhaustion from fasting or working out, do not avoid resting. Keep in mind that fatigue can slow down your weight loss process. So, you should not overtrain yourself. Most individuals tend to exhaust themselves, assuming that it will cause faster weight loss.
However, this doesn’t happen and overcoming this plateau can be more frustrating. Taking rest mid-workout or once /twice a week can be beneficial. It allows your body to heal from exhaustion and helps you push through. This might have a major impact on the plateau and help you overcome it.
When you exercise, your body tends to experience some muscular injuries. Although these injuries, like soreness or inflammation, are minor, your body needs time. By giving it a rest of a day or two, you can help the body heal. It will also allow you to come back stronger.
If you have trouble deciding the resting-exercising combination strategy, consulting online personal training software is recommended.
4. Control the Intensity:
Given the routine involved, losing weight needs mental toughness and commitment. Weight loss isn’t just about the gym. If you spend an hour or two at the gym while resting the entire day, your weight loss can reach its plateau. Your daily activities, along with the food you eat, does matter a lot.
The intensity of exercises should match with the food intake. You cannot deprive yourself of nourishment and expect the body to lift 80-90kgs or run that extra mile. If you fail to do so, your body might stop shedding the weight and enter survival mode. You might even notice that you have put on some weight instead of losing it.
You can try and bring variations to your workout intensity to kick off that plateau. If you haven’t indulged in HIIT sessions, you can start doing so. You can also increase the number of sets or reps you practice. You can come to the right number with the help of the best online personal training software.
Your personal trainer will help update the workout plan and ensure that you control the intensity.
5. Hydration is a Must:
The worst thing you can do to your body is to keep it away from water. Hydration is a must when your body is shedding those extra pounds. Imagine you aren’t drinking as much water as needed. How would that fat come out of your body? The best way to shed weight is via sweating, and this won’t happen unless you drink enough water.
Start by following a routine and schedule alarms to help you drink better. Although drinking water isn’t a big deal, we often forget to do so. However, with the help of personal trainer software, you can evaluate your daily needs. You can keep track of whether you are following your daily quota. If you fall back on the same, these applications can remind you.
However, make sure you don’t drink a lot of water right before or after exercising. Doing this can cause issues like vomiting as your body is still dealing with the intensive exercising session! Drinking the right amount of water can replenish the water lost during the workout. You also need to stay healthy. The key is to practice the consumption of a balanced diet.
Make sure you avoid consuming food supplements or processed food as it might interfere with the weight-loss process. Diet might also be the prime reason for one to experience a weight loss plateau.
6. Document the Milestones Achieved:
Hand documenting everything you do throughout the day can be a tiresome process that takes a long time. With the help of personal trainer management software, you can opt for progress tracking. It automatically highlights one’s achievements to help you keep track of the changes.
Reviewing these changes every once in a while will help you stay motivated. Despite your weight loss issues, you can stay motivated and work towards your goal. Map out the key metrics of your journey and focus on sections that require improvement. It helps get rid of guesswork & allows you to focus on the plans. Moreover, recording the milestones help you push through when implementing the weight loss plans.
7. Balanced Diet is Important:
Your weight loss strategy tends to revolve around the change in certain habits. This includes bad habits like binge eating and a sedentary lifestyle. Once you fixate on losing excess weight, you need to adhere to the latest practices to achieve your goals. Keep in mind that inconsistency can lead to a plateau.
That being said, connecting with your personal trainer via personal training software for trainers is your best bet. You can ask to be connected to a dietician that will help you regulate the calories consumed throughout the day. Eating a balanced diet is recommended. Yes, starving yourself might cause some rapid weight loss.
However, you will reach a plateau soon if you keep practicing this for long. Moreover, it could also put you in danger. It also affects how fast the body burns fat and calories that you consume. Significant calorie loss over a shorter time frame is never recommended.
8. Massage Therapy:
As mentioned earlier, your body needs to rest in order to heal from the intensive exercising routine. However, resting isn’t always enough. You might need to go a step ahead pamper your body to get the best. Seeking massage therapy is your best bet. It can help relax the body and mind while releasing muscle tension.
It might be so that your plateau has surfaced due to tension or stress. If this is so, massage therapy would be of great help. Keep in mind that the weight loss progress should be gradual. Any abrupt change always results in a plateau as the next stage. Try to invest in something that gives you peace. Do things that relax you like gardening, listening to music, painting, etc.
Plan the meal, monitor the progress, plot the workout schedule, & reward your body with a good massage. When you follow this, it will lift off any unwanted stress that contributes to your plateau phase.
Conclusion
When you take a look at yourself in a mirror, watching that weight being laid off is nothing less than magic. Apart from making you look fit and healthy, it helps boost your confidence. It is also a chance to meet your better version. Keep evaluating the progress and if you are ever stuck, consult your personal training software. Do not ever quit. Instead, seeking help from your personal trainer is recommended to strategize the weight loss plans.
Are you a trainer looking for personal training software to help your clients? Invest in The Workout Coach. Our personal training software allows you to remotely train the clients. Our software is easy-to-use and highly professional, making it an inviting system for clients as well as trainers. To learn more about our training software, give us a quick call at 020-7871-0900 or write to us at support@theworkout.coach.
