4 Steps that Help Break Your Weight Loss Plateau

You have hit a weight loss plateau because you need to change something about your fitness program. Plateaus don't happen by chance.



Here are 4 ways to help break your weight loss plateau and end your frustration:

1. Slow-paced cardio sessions and slow-paced weight lifting sessions should not be the way you workout all the time. If this describes you, your body is waiting to be disrupted. Don't disappoint it.

If you want to burn fat faster and shape your body faster (and better), don't overlook power exercises during your workouts.

Power is the ability to exert maximum muscle force in the shortest amount of time (rate-of-force production). Because power exercises are so intense and done full speed, they are great for burning body fat.

Among other benefits, power exercises recruit more muscle fibers (mainly fast-twitch fibers) more frequently which helps the fat-burning process. Recruiting your fast-twitch muscle fibers during your workouts will give you a more lean, toned looking body. Competitive athletes in speed sports have hard bodies because they train fast most of the time. You are also an athlete who can train fast.

Doing this type of exercise will burn more calories and fat during and after your workout. Exercise Post-Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) causes your body to burn more calories and fat after a tough workout. Your body has to work harder to get back to its pre-exercise state.

A good power exercise is squat jumps (with or without dumbbells). Before doing an exercise like this at full speed, you need to learn correct jumping and landing techniques.

These type workouts happen so fast that you don't have a chance to get bored.

2. Do short circuit weight training workouts. One fat burning method that works well is splitting up your workout into shorter sessions. So, instead of doing one thirty minute workout, do three 10-minute full body strength workouts.

Choose 5-6 strength exercises and do them without any rest between exercises. Walk 5 minutes between circuits. You could choose different exercises for the next 2 circuits. Just be sure to cover all major muscle groups during each circuit.

3. Change up your exercise routine. Your body will adapt and your progress will stall if you do the same basic workout all the time.

There are many ways to change up an exercise routine----do new exercises, adjust the intensity, adjust the amount of weight, adjust the repetitions/sets, etc.

Here's an example: instead of doing cardio on the elliptical machine, do your cardio with a pair of power exercises. It can go something like this:

--Full speed medicine ball chops, 1 minute
--Slow jog or walk for 2 minutes
--Full speed mountain climbers, 1 minute
--Slow jog or walk for 2 minutes

Just do this rotation for 20 minutes and you have a very intense cardio workout. And, on your weight training days, you could mix in some power exercises between sets.

4. Change your eating habits. Get a meal plan that you can maintain over time. Here are five things you can do today:

--Limit sugar consumption from drinks and junk foods
--Drink only water and unsweetened drinks
--Don't eat foods in a bag or box
--Eat a fruit or veggie with every meal
--Eat a protein food with every meal

Before you know it, you will have broken through your weight loss plateau! Try these fat-burning methods. They work.

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About Mark

Hi, I'm Mark Dilworth, Nutritionist, Dietary Strategies Specialist, Nutrition for Metabolic Health Specialist and Lifestyle Weight Management Specialist. Since 2006, I have helped thousands of clients and readers make lifestyle habit changes which includes body transformation and ideal body weight.