Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight for life can be an absolute challenge.
Although weight tends to drop fairly rapidly during the first few weeks of losing weight, there are times that it seems as though the scale has stopped budging - this is called a weight loss plateau or stall.
It can be frustrating and discouraging but don’t lose hope. That is normal, and it is not like there is nothing you can do about it.
In this article, we give you 15 simple strategies to get past a weight loss plateau and help you begin to lose weight again.
1. Increase Fiber Intake
Increasing your intake of fiber-rich foods is one excellent strategy to get past a weight loss plateau.
Soluble fiber, in particular, helps you feel full and satisfied by slowing down stomach emptying.
Although all types of fiber have been suggested in research to be beneficial for weight loss, viscous fiber—a soluble fiber—has been found in several studies to be most effective at suppressing appetite and keeping your food intake under control.
What’s more, fiber also reduces the number of calories your body absorbs from other foods, thus helping you lose weight.
2. Load Up on Protein
If you feel like you’ve hit a weight loss plateau, increasing your intake of protein may help.
Protein is known to help boost metabolic rate more than carbs or fat.
In fact, one study in healthy, young women found that participants’ metabolic rate increased twice as much after following diets that provided 15% or 30% of calories from protein on two separate days.
In addition, protein also stimulates the production of hormones that play important roles in reducing your food intake and making you feel full and satisfied, such as PYY.
Research shows that incorporating protein in every meal is beneficial for muscle mass retention and weight loss.
For example, increased protein intake has been shown in one study to help prevent a drop in metabolic rate and protect against muscle mass loss—which can both occur during weight loss.
3. Reduce Your Carb Intake
Low-carb diets have been found in research to be exceptionally effective for weight loss.
For example, people who ate ≤ 50 grams of carbs per day have been shown in one large review of 13 studies with follow-up lasting at least a year to lose more weight than those who followed traditional weight-loss diets.
Reducing your carb intake when you feel like the scale has stopped budging can help get you back on the path to weight loss again.
Whether a low-carb diet causes your body to burn more calories is yet to be determined by nutrition and obesity experts.
Very low-carb diets have been shown in some controlled studies to promote metabolic changes that lead to weight loss, such as increased fat burning, but other studies didn’t have the same findings.
However, other studies have shown that very low-carb diets promote feelings of fullness and reduce hunger more than other diets. These diets also cause your body to produce ketones, which can help reduce appetite.
This effect makes you eat less unconsciously, leading to weight loss.
4. Fill Your Plate with Vegetables
Most vegetables are weight-loss friendly. They are high in fiber, low in carbs and calories, and nutrient-dense.
In fact, diets that include lots of vegetables have been found in studies to produce the greatest weight loss.
Thus, filling your plate with weight loss-friendly veggies is an excellent idea to help get past a weight loss plateau.
Try adding raw or cooked vegetables in every meal recipe you prepare - whether that be for breakfast, lunch, or dinner - to get enough veggies.
5. Keep Track of Your Calorie Intake
There are really times that the scale would stop budging even though you are not consuming much.
Some people tend to underestimate the amount of food they consume.
For example, obese people in one study reported consuming about 1200 calories every day, when in fact, and based on a detailed analysis of their intake over a period of 14 days, they were eating nearly twice that amount.
Keeping track of your calorie intake, as well as macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fat), can provide the exact information as to how much you are eating, thereby allowing you to modify your diet, if necessary.
What’s more, recording your food intake has been suggested in research to improve your weight loss efforts.
6. Try Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting has gained increasing popularity recently.
This practice involves cycling between eating and fasting (between 16 and 48 hours) periods.
Intermittent fasting results in body fat loss and weight loss, on top of several other health benefits, such as reduced diabetes risk.
This eating pattern has been found in one review to cause a 3–7% decrease in waist circumference and a 3–8% weight loss within 3–24 weeks.
Alternate Day Fasting for Weight Loss Plateau
Alternate day fasting is one of the few types of intermittent fasting in which people fast one day and then eat as much as they want the following day.
This eating pattern has been found in one review to help protect against loss of muscle mass during weight loss more than daily calorie restriction.
7. Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol consumption can hinder weight loss.
Alcoholic drinks provide no nutritional value, and many people tend to drink more in one sitting.
In addition, too much alcohol consumption can loosen inhibitions, making you want to eat or overeat anything on the table, which is most likely unhealthy.
Reducing alcohol intake has been found in one study of 283 adults to also reduce overeating and promote weight loss.
What’s more, alcohol has also been shown in research to suppress fat burning, leading to belly fat accumulation.
Thus, consuming alcohol in small amounts or totally avoiding alcohol is an excellent idea to get past a weight loss plateau.
8. Opt for Healthy Beverages
Unlike sugary and alcoholic beverages, healthy beverages, such as water, tea, and coffee, can promote weight loss.
In fact, plain water has been found in studies to help boost metabolism by 24–30% for 1.5 hours after drinking a 500-ml serving.
Plus, drinking water before meals can also help you eat less.
For instance, people who consumed one serving of water before meals have been shown in a 12-week study of older adults following a weight loss diet to lose 44% more weight, as compared with those in the non-water group.
Coffee and tea have also been shown to promote weight loss.
They typically contain caffeine, which has been found in studies to help boost metabolic rate by up to 13% and increase fat burning. These effects are however more common in lean individuals.
Additionally, green tea carries epigallocatechin gallate, which is an antioxidant that has been shown in one study to increase fat burning by 17%.
Moreover, consuming caffeinated beverages has been suggested in research to significantly improve the fat-burning and metabolism-boosting effects of exercise.
9. Get Enough Sleep
Sleep is an absolute need for your overall health.
Not getting enough sleep has been shown in studies to alter hunger hormone levels and lower metabolic rate, leading to weight gain.
In fact, it can even be a contributing factor to the weight loss plateau.
Healthy adults who slept for < 5 hours per night for five nights have been found in one study to experience an average 2.6% reduction in resting metabolic rate, which can potentially lead to weight gain.
Thus, sleeping for 7–8 hours per night is recommended to support weight loss and overall health.
10. Move More Each Day
Being active every day is also important for weight loss, especially when you’ve hit a weight loss plateau. It influences the number of calories you burn during the day.
For example, changing posture, fidgeting, or any non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) can help increase your metabolic rate.
NEAT has been shown in research to significantly affect your metabolic rate, but the effect varies from individual to individuals.
One study found that fidgeting while seated and fidgeting while standing caused an average of 54% and a whopping 94% increase in people’s metabolic rates, respectively, as compared with lying down.
To increase your NEAT, try fidgeting with your feet while sitting or standing up more often.
People who preferred to stand rather than sit during the afternoon portion of the day have been found in another study to burn nearly 200 additional calories, on average.
11. Rev Up Your Exercise Regimen
Increasing your exercise regimen may help get your weight moving in the right direction again.
As you lose weight, your metabolic rate slows down as well, and a continuous reduction in metabolic rate can definitely stop the scale from moving.
Fortunately, exercise can help reverse this effect.
Resistance training has been shown in research to be the most effective type of exercise for weight loss. It encourages muscle mass retention, which is a vital factor influencing the number of calories you burn at rest and during activity.
In fact, obese young women who ate a low-calorie diet and lifted weights for 20 minutes every day have been found in a 12-week study to lose 13 pounds and 2 inches from their waistlines.
Other types of exercise, including high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and aerobic exercise, have also been shown to reverse the metabolic slowdown.
Thus, it is beneficial to rev up your exercise regimen, probably increasing the intensity of your workouts, to also boost your metabolic rate.
12. Learn to Manage Stress
Stress can put brakes on the scale.
It increases the production of the stress hormone cortisol in the body, which can also increase belly fat storage, making it more difficult to continue losing weight. This effect is especially common in women.
In addition, stress can also promote triggering food cravings.
Stress management, on the other hand, has been shown in research to help promote weight loss.
For instance, a stress management program has been shown in one eight-week study of 34 overweight and obese women to result in an average weight loss of 9.7 pounds.
13. Take a Rest
Your mind and body need time to recuperate.
Taking a rest is among the best ways to get past a weight loss plateau. It gives you time to reassess your diet and exercise program and determine what needs to be changed to put you back on track.
So make sure to take a few days off from your diet or intense workout to also ward off overtraining and stress.
14. Try Meal Planning
Meal planning can seem like it is too time-consuming. The truth is, it actually helps you save hours at the store and in your kitchen.
It involves planning every meal and snack for the week, making a grocery list, and preparing those meals.
Meal prepping can also help you make wise food choices for weight loss.
15. Stop Focusing on the Scale Alone
Checking your weight every morning is likely part of your morning routine when you’re trying to shed extra pounds.
However, take note that the scale reading alone does not define your progress. If the scale has stopped budging, it could be that you are actually building muscle and losing fat, rather than losing weight.
Try to look beyond the number on the scale. You can try measuring your waist or see how your clothing fits.
The Takeaway
Reaching a weight loss plateau can be discouraging. However, it is important to realize that it is a normal part of the weight loss process.
Nearly everyone has experienced a weight loss plateau at some point on their weight loss journey.
Fortunately, there are a number of simple strategies to get past a weight loss plateau, including eating more protein and fiber, being more active, and taking a rest when needed.
