Why does weight suddenly stop coming off with regular exercise and a healthy diet?

At first, regular exercise and proper nutrition give results – you start to lose weight. But after a few months, your body gets used to it and the weight loss process stops.

Why? Let’s understand together.

Why does the weight stop decreasing?

Improper diet

One of the reasons that the weight stands still, can be nutrition. Very often, exercisers make the mistake of cutting back on their diet, i.e. consuming few calories.

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Let me give you an example: let’s say that my basal metabolic rate is 2500 kcal – this is the number of calories needed by the body to function, that is, this figure does not take into account training, work and other activities.

I spend about 500 kcal per workout and another 500 during the day, so to lose weight safely I need to consume about 3000 kcal to stay in a caloric deficit.

And if I consume less or the same number of calories from the level of basic metabolism, the energy will be distributed to the priority systems in the body – in this case, the muscles suffer first, and the fat remains because it does not spend energy, unlike the muscles. Therefore, the basic principle of weight loss: spend more than you consume, but do not forget about the necessary minimum of calories.

One-size-fits-all training plan

The body adapts to everything, including training and calorie expenditure. Therefore, there is a principle of periodization in the process of exercising. This means that it is necessary to change some parameters: increase the weight of the weights, change the number of repetitions, rest intervals or generally the type of load.

For example, if you did mainly cardio, add more strength exercises, and vice versa. To engage in physical activity competently, it is important to observe a certain periodicity and increase the load gradually to avoid overtraining.

Fitness trainer recommends beginners to exercise every other day, that is, three or four workouts a week, more experienced can exercise every day with a competent regime, but with at least one day of complete rest from training.

Individual characteristics

Age and years of training can also affect how quickly the weight starts to fall off. Because over the years, the hormonal background changes and the body undergoes changes.

But the type of physique and wide bones do not affect the speed of weight loss – this is a misjudgment.

Why do not fixate on the figure on the scale?

According to the fitness trainer, this is not always an objective indicator (not counting specific weight categories in a sport).

Let’s say your exercise goal is weight loss at the expense of body fat. You follow your nutrition, recovery and training regimen, but your weight doesn’t change much – perhaps it’s because you’ve built up a certain amount of muscle, and with it comes fluid. This does not mean that you have not lost weight, because if you eat and train properly, the amount of fatty tissue in any case decreases – the scales simply do not show it.

For more correct control of the results, the fitness trainer recommends to undergo a body composition determination (percentage and quantification of muscle, fat tissue and fluid), but not every day, but after some time. Nowadays, this can be done quickly and in almost any fitness club or with the help of smart scales that can be purchased for the home.