Nobody really explains that plateaus are part of the weight loss process.
Instead, they act as if you’re going to progress in a linear line from point “A” to point “B” without any issues or stumbling blocks.
I hate that.
In fact, if there’s one thing I wish I could’ve told more people during my 22 years as a personal trainer, it’s that plateaus are not only part of the process, but they’re perfectly normal!
I met so many people over the years who wrongly beat themselves up, or tightened up a diet or training program which didn’t need to be tightened up, and occasionally even pushed the “fuck it button” and binged out of sheer frustration at those last few bits of belly fat that just won’t fucking disappear.
And it pains me.
So if you’re just starting on a new weight loss journey, listen up! What I’m about to tell you might just help you get over the finish line a few weeks/months from now…
Your Body Is A Living, Learning Computer
There’s a scene in Terminator 2: Judgement Day where Sarah Connor (wow) re-programs the CPU chip in Ah-nuld’s Terminator brain so that he can learn new behaviours.
Stay with me.
She scrapes open his head, dislodges his built-in hard drive, and flips the switch from ‘read only’ to ‘write’, effectively turning the T-800 into a living, learning computer.
Now, that’s exactly what the human brain is!
(Yep, so next time you feel like you’re having a bad day, just remember you’re more complex than a fucking Terminator!)
Anyway, we can see this “living, learning computer” in action when we take a look at what happens during a fat loss diet. In the first couple of weeks people tend to see a reduction of anywhere between 5-20lbs (depending on the extremity of the calorie cut and how drastically they’ve reduced carbohydrates), but this eventually slows down – and in many cases it grinds to a complete halt!
What the fuckity-fuck?
Why did you hit this brick wall when you didn’t change anything?
Don’t worry, and don’t beat yourself up, because this is actually a pretty normal response to a sustained period of dieting.
You see, the body’s only objective is to keep you alive, so it makes a few adaptations during a dieting phase in order to conserve as much energy as possible. It doesn’t give a fuck about your fat loss goal, it merely wants to protect itself. When we consider that body fat surrounds all of your vital organs, it’s understandable that the body isn’t a big fan of losing the stuff, so it triggers a mechanism known as metabolic adaptation. (1)
This is where the body essentially learns how to survive on less fuel by switching off the functions it deems “unessential” (kinda like “low power mode” on your phone) – so what was once a deficit no longer is. (2, 3)
A Timely Warning About Fad Diets
Hitting a brick wall can feel incredibly frustrating, and it usually leads to people doing one of the following:
- Binge eating
- Trying to diet even harder
That second one is a bitch, because it usually sucks people into bullshit fad diets which do more harm than good. I’m sure you know the ones I’m talking about. These silly diet plans reduce your daily calorie intake to absolutely insane levels (500-500 kcas/day!) and they always lead to failure because a) they’re too extreme to maintain, and b) they fuck up the body’s leptin/ghrelin balance so you always feel starving, and c) they’re lacking in many key nutrients, so we always end up back at the first option; binge eating!
And that’s why you feel like a cookie-less Cookie Monster on those diet plans, and trust me, even the most determined person will eventually binge out of sheer frustration. (3, 4, 5, 6)
How To Diet Smarter, Not Harder
Here’s the thing:
We need to accept that metabolic adaptation is part of the journey.
It will eventually occur no matter how hard or how extreme your diet may be, so instead of trying to punish yourself into weight loss, let’s use a smarter strategy!
We will do this by utilizing a nutrition technique known as micro-cutting.
This is where we make smaller cuts to our calorie targets so that our nutrition plan a) never hits a brick wall, and b) never becomes unmanageable.
For instance, if you currently maintain your weight at 3000 calories per day, then it makes no sense to suddenly reduce this to 1200 because, even though it would lead to weight loss, most people would be unable to sustain such a drop for long enough to see any results!
A better solution would be to do your first micro-cut by removing 10% of your calories, so 3000 kcals/day becomes 2700 kcals/day. This is small enough that you probably won’t even feel it, and can be done as simply as swapping a soda for a diet soda, or exchanging a snack for a lighter calorie alternative. It’s easy as fuck.
When you eventually arrive at the “sweet spot” which enables you to enjoy weight loss results while also keeping your calories as high as you possibly can, you just stay there and continue enjoying great results for as long as your body will let you, and when metabolic adaptation eventually occurs you just do another micro-cut, so 10% of 2700kcals/day now takes you to 2430 kcals/day… and so on.
Taking this strategic approach doesn’t prevent metabolic adaptation (because there is no stopping it) but it actually works it into your diet, so the “brick walls” which affect other people and drive them stir crazy never bother you! (7, 8, 9)
If you can use this loose framework while also trying to eat enough protein per day to support muscle growth, you’ll see incredible results!
References:
- Miles C. W., et al. Effect of circadian variation in energy expenditure, within-subject variation and weight reduction on thermic effect of food. Eur J Clin Nutr (1993).
- Jéquier, E. Leptin signaling, adiposity, and energy balance. Ann N Y Acad Sci (2002).
- MacLean P. S., et al. Biology’s response to dieting: the impetus for weight regain. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol (2011).
- Löfgren P., et al. Prospective and controlled studies of the actions of insulin and catecholamine in fat cells of obese women following weight reduction. Diabetologia (2005).
- Jackman, M. R., et al. Weight regain after sustained weight reduction is accompanied by suppressed oxidation of dietary fat and adipocyte hyperplasia. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol (2008).
- Keim, N. L., et al. Relation between circulating leptin concentrations and appetite during a prolonged, moderate energy deficit in women. Am J Clin Nutr (1998).
- Klok M. D., et al. The Role of Leptin and Ghrelin in the Regulation of Food Intake and Body Weight in Humans: A Review. Obes Rev (2007).
- Stewart T. M., et al. Rigid vs. flexible dieting: association with eating disorder symptoms in nonobese women. Appetite (2002).
- Lally P., et al. How are habits formed: modelling habit formation in the real world. Euro J Soc Psychol (2010).