Many people begin a weight loss program with conviction and is determined to achieve the slim and trim body of their desire. They are committed to eating healthily coupled with a regular exercises training system and do make significant progress in losing weight.
The problem begins when they are just a few pounds shy away from their ideal weight. This is when somehow, these last few pounds of body fat refuses to go away no matter what they do. They are then left wondering why is it so hard to lose those last few pounds of stubborn fat? Are you one of them?
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the frustrating world of weight loss plateau. Everyone who is on a weight loss journey will at some point in time encounter this dreaded weight loss plateau.
There are actually only three main causes as to why losing the last few pounds is so difficult. First of all, when you were fatter, you used up more energy to carry your weight around and thus burnt more calories. So when you started losing weight, your body started to burn less burn less calories for the same amount of physical activity.
When you were fatter, your body retained more water. So when you started your weight loss program, water is amongst the weight your body had gotten rid of.
Thirdly, your metabolic rate (the speed in which you burn calories for energy) slowed down as you lose more and more weight. This is the reason why you must build muscles to keep your metabolic rate up and another way to have high metabolism to burn more fat is to eat the correct food to tweak and raise your fat burning hormones.
Unknown to most people, if you are frustrated with your weight loss result, your natural response would usually be eat even less. If you do that, you will slow down your weight loss even more because when you do this, your metabolism plunges even further!
This is because your body goes into the starvation mode and starts burning muscle as well as fat. Muscle is the main fat burner in your body, and the less muscle you have, the less fat you are able to burn off.
Furthermore, when you start eating normally, your the body s metabolic rate stays depressed and you will probably start to gain back the weight you have lost! This is why people who go on diets usually gain back their weight and more when they terminate the diet.
The good news is that there are several things you can do to avoid this vicious cycle and overcome the weight loss plateau to lose the last few pounds of fat.
First of all, you have to accept that losing weight during a weight loss plateau is a slow process. So, there is no point in getting frustrated when you lose significantly less weight than you used to.
So set yourself smaller weight loss goals each week. Losing smaller amount of weight at this stage will ensure that your body retains muscle mass which, in turn, will help you keep burning fat.
Eat low fat recipes that fill you up. Remember that although there are many delicious low fat recipes to try, you have to eat them wisely. Combine the recipes to get the maximum amount of healthy food containing the minimum amount of fat and calories.
Also avoid all bad carbs which contains sugar or flour like sodas, ice creams, buns, cakes, cookies etc Instead, eat food with complex carbs instead such as brown rice and bread for your carbohydrate needs.
Next, raise the intensity of your fat burning exercises to increase your heart rate. You see, if you do your exercises with the same intensity, your body has already adapted to them, so how do you expect good results that way?
If you still find it hard to lose that last few pounds of body fat, then you may need some weight loss supplements to tweak your hormones and to produce your fat burning hormones naturally.
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