At Habitat Health and Fitness in Lakeland, FL, we work with people of all fitness levels. Some are beginners, some are fit and working toward their next level, and a few come because they hit plateaus. It might be a weight loss, strength, flexibility, or endurance plateau. It can be anything that stalls your progress. Finding the cause of the plateau is the first step. Creating a program to counteract it is the second.
Make sure it's a plateau.
If your weight loss slows down, it may be perfectly normal. When you first start a weight loss journey, you'll lose weight faster. Some of the weight is water weight. Water retention can make weight fluctuate dramatically. You weigh more, so your body requires more calories. A 20-pound excess is like carrying a 20-pound weight everywhere you go. You'll burn more calories. As you lose weight, you don't have to work as hard to do daily tasks, so you don't burn as many calories. If you're still losing weight, just not as much, you may still be on the right track.
Are you pushing your hardest?
If you've been doing the same workout for several months without adjusting for your fitness improvements, you'll plateau. Mix it up and make the workout harder by adding sets and reps. The more you do any movement, whether it's an exercise or dance routine, the more efficient your body becomes. That efficiency causes it to use fewer calories. Switching your routine more often can help you burn more calories. It also can help you work muscles on different planes, improving endurance, strength, and flexibility.
Are you pushing too hard?
Over-exercising is just as bad, if not worse, as not doing enough. If you're strength training the same muscle groups every day and pushing hard or doing HIIT---high intensity interval training---daily, you aren't giving your body a chance to recover. Recovery is when all the magic takes place, especially for muscle building. When you push hard, micro-tears form on the muscles. It takes between 48 to 72 hours for them to heal. Not allowing recovery time continues to tear down the muscles without any time to rebuild them. Alternate your strength-building or HIIT workouts with recovery exercises.
- If your weight loss plateaued, you may eat more than you think. Are you counting the fancy coffee drinks or colas? Do you always count the handful of M&Ms or those last bites of food left in the serving dish?
- Are you getting enough sleep? When you sleep, your body heals. It helps build muscle tissue. Lack of sleep slows you. You don't burn as many calories. Lack of sleep increases the hunger hormone and diminishes the satiety hormone.
- Are you sitting longer than an hour at a time? Studies show sitting longer than an hour at a time diminishes all the hard work you put in at the gym. Every hour, get up and move around for a few minutes.
- Check your exercise program. If you're working with a trainer, the trainer continuously does this to ensure it's effective and matches your potential. Look at the program itself, the intensity, and the frequency.
For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness
