It is a frustrating fact that some people trying to lose weight will reach a weight plateau. Often despite being perfectly compliant with recommendations, week to week you bear the disappointment of scales that refuse to budge!

There are a few reasons why this could be the case:

Your Resting Metabolic Rate has dropped

A reduction in metabolic rate is an almost inevitable physiological outcome of weight reduction and calorie restriction for two reasons. The first - on an energy restricted diet, it can be difficult to maintain muscle mass because your body is catabolic (breaking down fat, carbohydrate and  lean tissue) rather than anabolic (building lean tissue). This loss in lean tissue (which shouldn’t exceed 20% of total loss) can lead to a drop in metabolic rate, as muscle is our most metabolically active tissue. This drop can be lessened by ensuring regular meals and commencing resistance training early in the active weight loss phase of your program.  In a study of 959 LifeShape Clinic clients participating in a 6 months weight loss and 6 months weight maintenance phase, we demonstrated  no significant loss of lean tissue and fat loss averaging 16.3kgs.  Moderate resistance exercise is of great benefit.

Additionally  as part of our medically supervised programs, your Resting Metabolic Rate will be tested via gas analysis - a very accurate method of determining exactly how much energy your body burns at rest.  Using this information we can make sure you remain in a negative energy state during your weight loss phase.  Adding regular aerobic exercise will keep you burning fat as the preferred fuel source and keep optimise your weight loss.

Your exercise regimen needs adjusting

Our bodies are very good at adapting to our external environment. Unfortunately the same applies to exercise. As your muscles become more efficient at co- coordinating and fuelling a particular mode of exercise eg. walking, the amount of energy you expend during that activity will decrease. For example, if your primary form of exercise has been walking, and you have been doing it for some time, your body will eventually adapt, resulting in less energy burnt, and less of an energy deficient (and hence weight loss) than you achieved with the same volume of exercise earlier in your program. This may lead to a weight plateau.

By altering the type of activity you do, you will be challenging your body by using different muscle groups, which are less efficient, and therefore use more energy. Try something different like cycling, swimming, rowing or using a cross-trainer. This is where a gym membership can be handy – you have a variety of equipment at your fingertips. Otherwise look into casual visits at the local pool, or purchasing a new bike!

The other important thing to be aware of with exercise, is that as you get fitter, you will need to increase the intensity of your activity to keep within your target heart rate zone. You might think you have the pace side of things all sorted after you’ve been for your heart-rate monitored walk, but 8-10 weeks later when your aerobic capacity increases, you will need to increase the speed or incline of your walks to keep your heart rate within that target range. The same applies with other modes of exercise, you may need to up the resistance on your exercise bike or swim faster in the pool. This is a good reason to purchase a heart rate monitor if you don’t already have one.

You have high levels of stress/anxiety

Again, this has to do with a series of complex hormonal interactions, in particular a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol is released in response to stress as a normal part of our body’s ‘fight or flight’ response; levels of cortisol should diminish after the stressor has gone. But it is when stressors happen often that we can get chronic elevated levels of cortisol, which some authors suggest to be the link to health problems including a higher pre-disposition to store body fat, particularly in the abdominal region. Take a close look at your stress levels: are they acceptable? Are the hours you are doing at work really normal/acceptable? If not, now would be a good time to investigate stress management strategies, or to practice assertiveness to change the situation.

You Are Not Getting Enough Sleep

There are two hormones that regulate your appetite: leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is released by your fat cells, and signals to the brain that you are full, and therefore suppresses your appetite. Ghrelin, the “hunger hormone” is secreted when your stomach is empty. When the stomach is stretched, secretion stops. It acts on the brain to increase hunger and to increase the gastric acid secretion to prepare the body for food intake. Therefore, both leptin and ghrelin play a role in the regulation of appetite, metabolism and calorie burning.

Studies have shown that sleep restriction, even by just a few hours was associated with reductions in leptin (the appetite suppressant), and elevations in ghrelin (the appetite stimulant) and increased hunger and appetite, especially an appetite for foods with high carbohydrate contents.

With that being said, good quality sleep on as many nights as possible is important for restoring both your body and your mind, and will help you better manage stress.

Let’s be honest: Are you really being compliant?

It might be the case that you think you’re doing all the right things when you actually aren’t. How long has it been since you weighed your meat portions or measured how much cereal you’re having in the morning? Should you be counting that super-thick slice of raisin toast as one bread and cereal serve or two? These little things might not seem like much at the time, but together they can have a significant impact on whether or not you lose weight. This is the time to get really strict with yourself again – weigh your meat portions, measure your bowl of breakfast cereal and record exactly what you’re having in a food diary. This would include adding up the calories using your Fat and Calorie Counter or food exchange lists in your manual. It can be cumbersome, but it might just be enough to help you identify where the problem lies. It also helps the dietitians help you, because we might be able to spot something that could be modified or substituted for a better option.

Maybe you’re not really at a plateau after all!

Are your clothes feeling looser, but the scales aren’t moving or moving in the wrong direction?! It might be the case that your body composition is changing; ie you are gaining muscle tissue, which of course weighs more than fat. This is possible if  you have changed your exercise regimen to include more resistance training or are doing an activity that uses completely different muscle groups than what you used previously. That’s why we like to keep an eye on those other measurements like your waist and hip circumference, neck and BIA (bio electrical impedance or body composition test). We don’t want the focus to be only on the scales. If it has been a while (ie longer than three months) since we’ve done your BIA, let us know and we’ll do a repeat test.

If you think you’ve tried everything suggested above and you weight is still not moving, now is a good time to re-assess your goals and discuss with the dietitian what is realistic for you. Studies show that even moderate reductions in body weight (5-10%) significantly reduce health risks. Ultimately you can only control the things you can control – your food intake, fluid and exercise levels. Focus on the positives - like how much your behaviour has changed and how differently you act in certain situations (eg: eating socially). Take the time to enjoy living a healthier and happier lifestyle!