Oh No… My Diet Has Stopped Working!

What Can I Do?

Ok so you have been doing really well, losing weight, exercising, getting in better shape, then……its all stops, the scales have not shifted for a while…..what can you do?

I know ….cut back on food and do more exercise……another two weeks pass and still no weight loss, and now as well as lacking motivation because you are not seeing any results for all this “hard work”, you feel tired and weak also….what can you do to lose more weight….?

I know….lets try cutting back a bit more and exercising a bit more…….another two weeks passes by…..now your picking up coughs and colds, you got a cold sore perhaps or an ulcer …you are probably run down and so the problems begin…..you give up because you cant train when your ill and when your better you never start back soon enough – recognise this cycle anyone?

Does this sound familiar? Lots of us have experienced this - hitting a plateau and then “losing patience” ….…..

Why does this happen...?

It can happen because you have cut back too much and your body goes into starvation mode – your metabolism is slowing down and whilst in starvation mode your body is actually designed to store the food you eat as fat! Or you could be gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time – keeping your weight the same – be sure to know what your body fat percentage is, then you will know for sure what’s happening.

Did you know? Your body also stores a lot of food when you eat two large meals per day – like a sumo wrestler. They do it on purpose, do you?

So let me cut to the chase and tell you exactly what I would do if I were you and I had stopped losing weight (or I was your personal trainer!)

First - STOP Cutting Back on Food! Eat sensibly for a couple of weeks

Second – Keep a Food Diary – as accurately as possible – how many calories are you consuming per day?

Thirdly – Work out How Many Calories per day your body is using. (a great new gadget for this is kifit . You will need to know your body type for thisr
Work out the difference between the two – what you’re consuming and what you’re eating- is it more than 500Kcal? If so you’re not eating enough, if not you’re either eating the right amount and not being patient or you’re eating too much.

Lastly – Eat 250-500 Kcal less per day than you are using and in theory you should lose weight.

All of the above take time and effort, and the reward for the time and effort will be results!