Break Through Your Weight Loss Plateau
Pat yourself on the back: You’ve lost weight! Or, at least you had lost weight, but for the past few days or even weeks, the scale hasn’t been budging. You don’t feel like you’re doing anything different with your diet. You’re keeping carbs low, eating the appropriate amount of protein, and you’re moderating all of it with a consistent exercise program.
For most people attempting to lose weight, there comes a time when they reach that inevitable plateau where their motivation is soaring but they’ve stopped seeing results. If you’re nodding right now, don’t worry. What you’re experiencing is totally normal. Plateaus, whether they relate to weight, to your job, or your closest relationship, are a call to charge things up again, refine your strategies and keep moving forward.
So rather than give up and maintain your current weight, or worse yet, drown yours sorrows in a half dozen donuts, there are numerous actions you can take to reignite your program.
Here are our top 5 picks for breaking through your weight plateau:
Consider Intermittent Fasting
Although Conventional Wisdom tells us that fasting forces the metabolism into slow motion causing your body to cling onto fat stores, recent scientific studies have suggested otherwise. According to an article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, alternate day fasting may result in an improvement in insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake, as well as decreases in fat mass. While science is still unearthing the precise mechanisms for why and how this occurs, the previously-held idea that you have to eat six meals a day or more in order to keep your metabolism stoked to lose weight simply isn’t true.
Lucky for you, intermittent fasting (IF) can be done in a number of ways. From daily fasting, by only eating during a 5-hour time period, or setting aside one to three days a week to fast, the combinations are virtually endless. The important thing is to know is what kind of intermittent fasting technique will work best for you and your lifestyle, and this can only be determined by a little experimentation. As long as IF is done correctly, it can kick your body off of its weight plateau in just a matter of days. And keep in mind that IF is not about starving yourself. It’s about eating in a manner that mimics the natural irregularity of Grok’s eating patterns.
Write it Down
A slice of bread here, a handful of tortilla chips there – it all adds up. When we start to lose weight, we might be inclined to loosen the reins on what we can eat. Even though occasional indulgences should be enjoyed guilt-free, when you’re still trying to lose weight, those seemingly benign snacks still count.
So for one week, write down everything that you eat. Everything. From the sugar packet you dropped into your coffee to the two bites of of Cherry Garcia you snuck from cousin Sal’s dessert bowl at your niece’s sweet 16, write it down. A food diary is an honest look into what you’re actually eating, not what you think you are eating.
Need more convincing that you might not be being honest with yourself? According to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, those who kept a food diary in a 20-week study dropped double the weight of the dieters who did not chronicle their food choices. Keeping a food diary makes you accountable for what you eat because it forces you to consider your actions before you take them. This is an effective safeguard against mindless snacking or emotional eating.
If you’re looking for an online food journal, check out the one at FitDay.com. It’s free and super easy to use.
Side Note: The Primal Eating Plan is meant to be intuitive and easy. One of the great things about Primal eating is that you don’t have to count calories and track every bite of food you consume. This is why we only recommend the food diary as a temporary method to uncover any dietary indiscretions. Once you’ve honed in on and refined your behaviors we say ditch the journal and get on with eating Primal in a natural way that requires little to no effort.
Switch Up Your Workouts
They say variety is the spice of life, and this holds true when it comes to your workouts. Without change you might find yourself dreading the monotony of regular gym sessions and simply lose motivation. Additionally, your body can become used to to the same caloric burn and muscle exertion as it becomes more efficient at completing regular movements. Give your brain and brawn the wake up call they need by shaking up your usual routine with some new additions.
Try increasing the speed as you exercise and do short bursts of intense exercises (such as sprinting) for one to two minutes followed by small rest periods. These short bursts of anaerobic activity will stimulate your body to release human growth hormone, which helps to burn fat while maintaining muscle mass.
If that doesn’t do the trick, try getting super Primal by ditching the gym, shoes, and structure for some free form activity. If this doesn’t keep things interesting we’re not sure what will.
Keep in mind that 80% of your body composition is a result of your diet. The remaining 20% is determined by how you effectively manage your sleeping patterns and stress levels, how you exercise and other lifestyle factors. Increasing your workout intensity is but one way to tweak an otherwise optimized weight loss plan.
Reduce Carbs
Try reducing your carb intake to 50-100 grams per day to reduce insulin production and fire up your fat metabolism. Make sure that you’re eating enough protein for your weight (we suggest using the .7-1 gram per pound of lean body weight formula), eating the right vegetables and snacking on high-fat foods to keep you feeling satisfied.
Keep on Keeping on
Remember that losing 10 lbs when you are starting at 300 isn’t nearly as difficult as losing 10 when you are approaching your ideal weight (say, going from 170 to 160 for a male). Don’t let this come to you as discouragement. Just recognize that changes might not come as quickly as they once had and resolve to stay the course.
Also, know that The Primal Blueprint lifestyle is about long term goals. Though you can lose weight quickly on the PB, keep your head straight and remember that the emphasis should always be on a healthy, Primal lifestyle – not a get-fit-quick routine. You can do it, but it may take time.
Final Tips
If you haven’t done it already (or even if you have!), consider taking the 30-Day Primal Health Challenge. It may sound daunting, but employing the “act as if” tips will be sure to get you through those tough moments when a piece of dry toast looks better than a killer omelet (does this really ever happen?).
If you’ve tried all of these strategies and you’re still stuck, don’t hesitate to hit us up with a comment. Our experienced Primal community will likely be able to help.
Further Reading:
The Primal Blueprint: The Ultimate Way to Break any Weight Loss Plateau
A Primal Blueprint Sample Menu
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Posted By: Worker Bee
“Also, IF is going to do you harm if your in a healthy range and still trying to drop BF. You will end up catabolizing muscle to feed your brain. It takes 3 days for you brain to switch to ketone bodies for fuel. It takes another 3 weeks for your muscles to switch to stored fat for the majority of energy needs.”
Sounds nice, but I don’t agree with this at all. Primal man had times of feast and times of famine. The whole REASON humans and other animals store bodyfat in the first place is for times of famine so we can LIVE off our bodyfat without food and not die! In modern society there is no time of famine. If it’s all FEAST 24/7, of course you’ll get fat. I think a day of fasting makes perfect sense. This “OH don’t do THAT or you’ll catablolize muscle!” is conventional wisdom rubbish. I refuse to believe our precious metabolisms are THAT delicate. I think the body WANTS to burn fat in a time of famine, not hoard it and burn muscle. A day of fasting will do far more good than harm, burn far more fat than muscle.
…..and I don’t need to ask a body-builder anything, I’m asking Mark. Mark has the medium build muscle mass and “elite level” low body fat I aspire to. It sounds like he achieved that at least partly through the use of IF. And in the “success stories” part of the site I can find 4 or 5 other guys with similar builds.
The REAL threat to muscle mass is cardio. When I surfed hard for a month I lost 4 pounds of muscle. Look at marathon runners and tour de france cyclist. Excessive cardio is kryptonite to muscle mass.
Why do I want single digit bodyfat? Are you kidding?! I’m shallow. I want to be HOT. The same reason everybody wants it. At least I admit it. I’m a single man. Single women are THROWING themselves at me now -Vs- 7 months ago at 26% bodyfat. …turns out they’re shallow too.
I don’t feel bad about that at all. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to LOOK good. That’s the image conscious world we live in. ….why would you want to? Jeeeez! You crack me up.
“Sounds nice, but I don’t agree with this at all. Primal man had times of feast…”
Exactly. Primal man was not fat and did not have unlimited fat reserves like we do now for the reason you mentioned, however, 1 day is not famine. The body will resist using precious fat stores and will use a more metabolically expensive tissue (muscle) until it is perceived to be in a real famine.
“I think the body WANTS to burn fat in a time of famine, not hoard it and burn muscle”
Agreed but again one day is not a famine. I am not saying IF is bad or useless. I am saying to get down to single digit BF IF is counter productive.
“A day of fasting will do far more good than harm, burn far more fat than muscle”
Agreed. Only if your body is primed to burn fat ie. less than 50g carbs per day for several weeks. The brain uses approx 100 g of Carbs (glucose) a day. It takes several days for the brain to start using ketone bodies as fuel. The brain cannot use free fatty acids for fuel period. This is CW but like “smoking is bad m’kay” CW. To get 100g of glucose for the brain, the best way is to break down amino acids in the liver. The amino acids come from “stored protein” aka muscle tissue. Do a google search on ketosis. Very, very interesting stuff.
“..and I don’t need to ask a body-builder anything, I’m asking Mark.”
I only mention this because bodybuilders do what you are trying to do 1-3 times a year. Also I don’t think Mark was 26% BF at the time of developing PB if ever.
“he REAL threat to muscle mass is cardio. When I surfed hard…”
By aerobics I mean “low to mid intensity steady state activity” like marathon running, marathon cycling, and shivering in the ocean for 4 hours a day. So again agreed.
“Why do I want single digit bodyfat? Are you kidding?! I’m….”
Agreed! Again! Haha I see a trend. Anyway, my goals are also single digit BF (again). I am 34 just divorced and was at 26% BF only 4 weeks ago. I am down to 22% since applying the PB to my lifestyle. I also want to be Hot! I am doing a 4 week stint at ketosis levels starting this week to see how fast I can drop the fat.
I don’t mean to offend or come off as a know it all. I just thought I would add my 2 cents since we seem to be in the same boat striving for hottness!
I hope Mark reads our little Necroposts and chimes in to see if I am off base here.
Good luck! I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing if you have any other views!
I broke through the plateau! After 3 weeks in a row with the scale reading 14.4% bodyfat, this week it dropped to 13.6%. You may argue that BIA bodyfat scales aren’t accurate. I would agree with you, IF you just jump on them whenever you want, you’ll get wildly different readings. But if you get on them under the same conditions with the same hydration levels they are extremely accurate. I hop on mine once a week on Wednesdays, same sleep schedule, same time of day after breakfast and the gym, but before lunch. And the readings are very consistent. So much so that I read a consistent 14.4% for 3 weeks straight. Even if I’m not 14%, and I’m actually 17% or 11% the RELATIVE accuracy is valid. And that’s what I care about, is it going UP or DOWN?
It was NUTS. I realized I was eating over a POUND of nuts every week. While I’m sure Grok came across nut bearing trees in his travels, he had to pick them (possibly climbing the tree) and then he had to crack open the shells one at a time. That is an entirely different proposition from the 1 pound shelled, salted, roasted goodness available at Trader Joes. It’s a lot easier to over-do it that way.
I also started sprints on Friday. But only 2 for my first go at it. Two 800 foot dashes. That’s not much. It probably helped. But I think it was ditching the nuts mainly. I’m pretty sure I ate MORE food overall. But it was more fruits/veggies/meat, less nuts. I don’t do cheese, because it’s not primal.
I have not had to incorporate IF yet. But we’ll see, I’m still a ways out from 9% bodyfat. I kinda’ want to save that one for when I REALLY need it. …like being stuck at 10% bodyfat. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” So this week, I’m going to do exactly what I did last week. Primal, no nuts, no cheese.
Oh, for all the cardio-holics, I did ZERO cardio this week. None. Na-da. Don’t cardio off the fat, DIET it off.
when you say “lower the carbs,” does that include vegetables?
i understand that carbs drives insulin drives fat, but vegetables are so low in carbs and calories that eating three huge salads a day with some eggs or a piece of meat seems like a reduction in calories which would reduce bodyfat…so when we say “lower the carbs,” are we just talking about fruits and nuts???
Oh, those dreaded Plateaus! I found that if I cut way back on the carbs AND did IF by shortening my meal window (eating within 8 hours and fasting 16) I got off the plateau within a few days. Keeping a food journal has been a boon to me on this journey.
I think that the best way to break through a weight loss plateau is to constantly change your workouts to challenge your body. Most people keep the same intensity level throughout their workouts.
If you are doing this you will most likely reach a plateau and it will be very hard to get past it until you intensify your workouts.
Sometimes it could be something as minor as tweaking your diet a little to get past that point.
HIIT is also great. The original Tabata method only takes 4 minutes
Hey Mark, this is a great article; I always wondered how to break past this cycle.
Many of the people in my inner circle are always complaining how to get past their plateau. This is a GOLDEN article I will take to heart.
Thanks again,
Ontarian
This type of training worked as a short-term kick, and resulted in some good gains. But, it’s important to remember that this type of training isn’t for everyone; and for the long term, I believe it’s not for anyone.
I was at 300 pounds at my heaviest, which was in mid-February. Right now, I’m at about 225, and that’s where I’ve been for about 3 weeks now. I’m working out as hard as ever, my diet could probably be a bit more strict, but I’m doing very well. I had a goal to get to 220 by July 4th (as well as 200 by Labor Day and 180 by New Year’s). As of a few weeks ago, 220 looked easily attainable, but it might be tough to lose these 5-7 pounds in a week. Any tips?
If you really Struck weight loss plateau then you had really doing nothing still now . But by eating Green Vegetables it really help me to reduce upto 2 % within couple of weeks . Also the TRIMMY exercise that give a great lift to me to reduce really the shape of my body. I can see real change in my look now.
I broke through my plateau by reducing carbs down to 50-75g a day + calorie reduction.
Actually when I reduced my carbs which came primarily from RAW milk and fruit, then automatically calories were reduced.
I used to not worry about it because I felt so great but could never get rid of the last bit of flab on my belly. But I got greedy and wanted to be ‘perfect’ so had to take a new approach.
My calorie intake used to be 2500+ with around 150-200 carbs a day drinking a Quart of milk a day.
Now I’m below 2000 calories a day with carbs around 50-75ish and I’m getting leaner. Already lost ~4 lbs within 3 days.
I’d like to lose another 5 lbs of body fat so I can brag my 6-pack around.
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his is an old post but still relevant so I thought I would comment…TThe notion that we tend to slack off a little once we begin to lose weight is something I observe in clients and in myself. In this case success does not seem to breed more success and if your weight loss has slowed or stopped this is very likely the cause.
Bob thanks for the clarification. I just assumed the measurement of proteins i.e. animal protein was just the weight of the food but of course it also contains water. Canned Tuna has almost no fat but only 25% protein.
So I many not be eating too much protein after all, which still leaves my question on why I’m not losing weight even though I have a lot of excess fat to lose.
Have you lost weight on this diet or on low carbing? Did you find you needed to reduce calories and cope with any hunger that comes with doing that? That seems to be the only way I can lose weight on any diet.
Gary Taubes says you only need to eliminate carbs and sugars as they are more or less the only cause of extra fat storage and your body will begin to burn body fat for energy. I’m not finding that to be the case with me as my body seems to be able to hold on to excess body fat even when I’m only eating protein and fat with zero carbs. I don’t gain weight on the zero carb diet but I also don’t lose weight either.
Any tips?
I’m having so much trouble with weight loss, I know I know .. No scales right? I have an obsession. It wont budge … And the days it does I’m so ecstatic! The days it goes up, is well .. rather horrifying.
I’m 19 and 134 pounds Mostly fat. OF course the scale yesterday said 130. I’ve come down a lot from (when I was 14) 170 pounds or so. That wasn’t a healthy loss though. I’ve been on and off primal for a while. I’ve officially stuck to it over a month.
My diet consists of meats, Veggies, nuts, and water usually. I spice it up sometimes with special flowers. But I haven’t acceded 60 carbs at all. And they’re all healthy carbs. Granted I cannot afford grass fed meat all the time, I try my best. I sprint every other day or so, my lungs can only handle small bouts of sprinting a week. I do dancing, and lift weights.
I was 118 10 or so months ago, I felt healthy and I felt good.
I want to get back to that good feeling. I don’t even necessarily need to be 118 again, just have a better body composition. And feel good, but alas its February, Summer is almost here. I haven’t worn a bathing suit since I was 12… these things don’t happen overnight. This I know. But … What am I doing wrong….
I’m interested in this because of recent weight loss and I’m curiously stuck at my (maximum) goal weight. Not complaining, but I’ve been shooting for an little extra and no go, so I’m wondering: since this is a weight I normally get to when dieting and have not ever been below it, is my body not budging because it’s not “familiar” with this lower weight?
I’ve been eating primal for 2 months. The first three weeks I dropped 13lbs. Since then I have list ZERO. I’ve gotten a bit more strict on my diet but can not seem to find why I would lose so fast and then stop all loss altogether.
I am female. 5’10″. Stuck at 172#. I have lots of fat left to lose. I would love to be 160#.
My typical day is 2 cups of coffee with whole cream, cinnamon and Truvia. Eggs and veggies in grassfed butter. Sometimes Bacon. Big salad with lots of veggies, sometimes feta, a whole avocado, and for dressing only seasonings, lemon or ACV with EVOO. Usually, I throw a small piece of leftover meat. Dinner is a meat and veggies. I am not eating fruit anymore. I cut out almost all the nuts, I gave up my occasional red wine and dark choc weeks ago and still nothing.
I haven’t started any proper workouts, just getting in squats, pushups, etc here and there. I know I need to sprint as well.
But why would the weight loss stop so suddenly?? Do I need to cut out dairy? Truvia?
My portion sizes are large. I over eat to prevent snarling on bad choices.
Snacking* LOL
What do I cut back on? My old brain says eat less fat…
Wow,fantastic post.
g00na try eating more fat like 80% of your calories from fat, good fats from animals, coconuts, avocados etc. Check out Dr. Peter Attia’s website on the defense of fat http://waroninsulin.com/nutrition/what-i-actually-eat#comment-4656
‘good fats’ is not from animals
Sadly, I have an athletic injury in my knee; a meniscus tear. I love working out but I have no idea how to work my legs or even my body anymore. In most of my workouts I’d use my legs, but I can’t do that for a few months. What do I do to workout the primal way with a knee injury?
It is appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I want to suggest you few interesting things or suggestions. Maybe you could write next articles referring to this article. I want to read even more things about it!