How to Break a Weight Loss Plateau

When you’re trying to lose weight, it’s normal to experience weight loss plateaus in the process. While there are many reasons they occur, here are some tips on how to break a weight loss plateau.

What is a weight loss plateau?

A weight loss plateau can be defined as an extended period, typically 4 or more weeks, with no change in body weight or body composition.

While weight loss is commonly thought of as a linear process, weight loss plateaus are a completely normal and unavoidable part of losing weight. The end goal of a weight loss journey is a plateau of some kind, where the goal moves from weight loss to weight maintenance.

What causes a weight loss plateau?

There are two primary causes for a weight loss plateau: 1) lack of adherence to the program, be it conscious or unconscious, and 2) a new point of equilibrium of energy balance, also known as metabolic adaptation.

1) Lack of Adherence

Two types of dietary nonadherence contribute to weight loss plateaus: conscious and unconscious.

Conscious nonadherence occurs when the individual is aware of the fact that they are failing to follow their weight loss program as outlined, while unconscious nonadherence refers to individuals who are failing to follow their program without realizing it. While people often blame themselves for failures in weight loss attempts, unconscious nonadherence is a far more common problem than conscious nonadherence.

Unconscious nonadherence can be seen as a “drift” back to normal or previous eating behaviors over time. As an individual progresses in their weight loss journey, they slowly revert to old behaviors as they experience a gradual decrease in motivation and adherence to their program.

Research has shown that weight loss plateaus are commonly seen at the 6-month mark and that it is an intermittent lack of diet adherence, not metabolic adaptation, that is the primary contributor. (1).

In fact, one study demonstrated that obese subjects with a self-proclaimed history of “diet resistance” were shown to underreport their food intake by an average of 47% and overreport physical activity by 51% (2). Another study found that subjects assigned ketogenic diets with a starting carbohydrate intake of 50 grams per day were consuming roughly 130-160 grams per day by the 12-month mark (3).

2) Metabolic Adaptation

Metabolic adaptation, also known as adaptive thermogenesis, is a phenomenon that occurs when our body becomes more efficient at using energy and burns fewer calories in the process. Metabolic adaptation generally occurs as a response to weight loss when the imposed calorie deficit has diminished or closed entirely, and it creates a new point of equilibrium where energy intake and energy expenditure are equal on an ongoing basis (4).

While reaching this point is often viewed as a failure, it is a natural part of weight loss. Metabolic adaptation is a normal physiological response and a built-in protection mechanism the body uses to maintain homeostasis.

When we lose weight, our energy requirements go down, as smaller bodies generally require fewer calories to perform basic functions. It is normal for metabolic adaption to occur during the weight loss process, and is more likely to occur with severe calorie restriction and after rapid body mass loss, however, there are many ways to address it depending on the individual situation (5).

Another potential contributing factor to decreased energy expenditure and metabolism is a subconscious decrease in non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). NEAT includes any energy expended that is outside of sleeping, eating, fidgeting, and formal exercise, and also includes lifestyle habits such as taking the stairs versus the elevator or parking further from the entrance in the parking lot.

Decreased NEAT is a major factor in metabolic adaptation but is often overlooked as it is difficult to track. It accounts for approximately 15% of total daily energy expenditure, which can range from 500 to 1,000 calories between people of the same body mass (6). While metabolic adaptation does decrease resting metabolic rate (RMR) by an average of 10-15% at most, research has shown that much of the drop in total daily energy expenditure can be attributed to NEAT.

In fact, what people often refer to as a “slow metabolism” or “starvation mode” can be attributed to a decrease in subconscious non-exercise energy expenditure.

How long does a weight loss plateau last?

A weight loss plateau can last anywhere from a few days to several weeks. It is normal for weight to stall for a week or two during a weight-loss phase before trending down again, so it is important to wait at least 4 weeks before making changes.

How to Know if You’ve Hit a Weight Loss Plateau

Before trying to break a weight loss plateau, it is important to ensure that you’ve hit a real weight loss plateau. To truly understand if you’ve hit a weight loss plateau, it’s important to understand the fundamental mechanism of weight loss, as well as the key differences between weight loss and fat loss.

Put simply, “weight loss” refers to a decrease in your overall body weight from muscle, bone, water, and fat, while “fat loss” refers to weight loss strictly from fat.

Given a standard scale only measures weight, it can easily be impacted by day to day-to-day fluctuations from water, salt, and carbohydrate intake, as well as digestion (i.e. bowel movements), workouts, and recovery. However, weight increases from these factors are not a representation of fat gain. Fat gain is a result of a sustained surplus of calories that accumulate as fat (energy) storage in the form of adipose tissue.

To mitigate confusion from these factors, it is important to accumulate as many data points as possible by weighing yourself daily, ideally, first thing in the morning after you’ve gone to the bathroom but before you eat or drink anything. In doing so, you can track your weekly average weight and look for trends over 4-week spans to determine whether you’ve reached a real weight loss plateau or not.

This is particularly important for females as they experience natural water weight fluctuations are part of their menstrual cycle, which have the potential to be misinterpreted as a weight loss plateau.

It is also important to ask yourself if you’ve gone through any lifestyle or physical changes with might be mistaken for a weight loss plateau, for example:

• Have you been compliant and consistent with your weight loss plan?
• Have you experienced a noticeable increase in muscle mass?
• Have you changed your water intake?
• Have you made any changes to your food choices?
• Have you recently been on vacation?
• Have you been more sedentary due to a move or job change?

If, after considering all of these factors, you are confident that you’ve been adhering to your weight loss plan, and have not seen a decrease in weight in over 4 weeks, you can confirm you experiencing a real weight loss plateau.

How to Break a Weight Loss Plateau

While there are many reasons you may not be losing weight, here are the best ways to break a weight loss plateau:

Review and Improve Adherence

If you determine that the cause of your weight loss plateau is a lack of adherence, you must employ techniques to increase the accuracy of tracking, intake, and reporting, or remodel the program to make it easier to adhere to. Examples of this include:

• Weigh all food and beverages on a digital scale
• Use a food-tracking app
• Log food intake in real-time
• Make healthy food choices more visible in the kitchen
• Keep junk food or “empty calorie” food out of the home or office
• Not eat directly out of food packaging
• Pre-portion meals and snacks before eating
• Use a prepared meal service
• Not eat in front of digital devices or screens
• Schedule workouts ahead of time
• Find an exercise buddy to hold you accountable

To improve dietary adherence, it is important to consider the individual and their personal food behaviors.

Review and Adjust Program

If you determine that the cause of your weight loss plateau is due to metabolic adaptation, you must look for ways to reopen the calorie deficit by one of three options:

1. Decrease energy intake,
2. Increase energy expenditure,
3. Some combination of both.

While both diet and exercise are impactful for weight loss, the decision on which option to choose will depend on the individual and their physical and psychological tolerance, and must be dealt with methodically. It is important to consider if hunger is already a persistent issue, how realistic it is to increase activity level, and how urgent or time-sensitive the weight loss goal is. For example:

• If calorie intake is already too low and hunger is too high, it is best to opt for an increase in energy expenditure.
• If activity level is already too high with little room to improve, it is best to opt for a decrease in energy intake, by no more than 10% of total calories.
• If hunger levels are not a factor and there is room for more activity, you can opt for an increase in energy expenditure AND a decrease in energy intake, by no more than 10% of total calories.

FAQs

The Bottom Line

A weight loss plateau is an extended period with no change in body weight or body composition. Plateaus are normal occurrences during weight loss efforts and occur because the individual, due to lack of adherence or metabolic adaptation, has closed their calorie deficit by consuming more calories than they are expending. You can break a weight loss plateau by making program alterations to increase adherence, decrease calorie intake, increase calorie expenditure, or a combination of the three.