How To Break Through
​A Weight Loss Plateau
​Terry Stokes

​Many women who try to lose weight get to a point where the body stops losing weight. This is often times the bodies set point. This is the weight that your body doesn't feel comfortable going below. For some women it happens early in a fat loss process and some women it will happen later in the fat loss process. It's very frustrating when fat loss comes to a halt. The reason this happens is because the body is trying to conserve body fat, this is a natural response as the body is trying to guard against starvation. Your body doesn't realize that you're trying to lose weight. Your brain just thinks: "hey I better hold on to this body fat in case of famine".

Taking a few days off can kick start fat loss again...

​There are two ways to break through this kind of plateau:
(1) Go Harder: Train harder/more, decreasing calories, do more cardio etc. This will definitely work and sometimes that's what you have to do. The second method of breaking through a plateau is what I would suggest you try first.
(2) Relax: Instead of ramping everything up, I suggest you take a few days off, relax, eat a few more calories and let your body and brain recharge. The rest will give you more energy when you go back to your workouts in a few days and the extra calories will increase your metabolism. So after a few days off, you go back to the gym with more energy and increased metabolism, which means you burn more calories than you normally would during your first workouts back.

"What if I gain weight during my days off?"

Weight gain: Most likely any weight you gained is just water and when you go back on your diet it's almost a guarantee that you will drop below your previous weight within a couple days. Although it may not seem like it, but taking a few days off and cheating (eating foods not on your diet) is a great way to induce further fat loss. ​