Why Weight Loss Plateaus Happen And How You Can Avoid Them
Why Weight Loss Plateaus Happen And How You Can Avoid Them
January 16, 2017 at 1:54 PM
Most people know that when it comes to weight loss, plateaus occur. This is when your weight loss journey goes along swimmingly until you reach a certain weight. After that point, it becomes much harder to shed more pounds. Why does this happen and how can you beat the plateau? We’ve taken a closer look at the steps you can take to continue on your weight loss journey.
What are Weight Loss Plateaus
When you lose weight, your resting metabolic rate can go down. This means that when you’re resting, you actually burn less calories. This can make it more difficult to keep the weight off since you’ll have to exercise more over time in order to lose more weight.
Your resting metabolic rate largely has to do with how your heart functions. When we site down quietly, blood and interstitial fluid pools in the lower parts of the body. This pooling causes less fluid to return to the heart, which reduces how much fluid the heart can pump out during each contraction. When you lose weight, fluid pooling can become great because your skin is looser. This happens most often with people who experience rapid weight loss.
How to Combat Weight Loss Plateaus
One of the ways to help prevent this issue is by training your soleus muscles, which are deep postural muscles. One way to do this is by practicing squatting, which can trigger a significant increase in soleus muscle activity. Other activities include working on a ladder, or doing yoga and tai-chi. These muscles can actually pump blood and interstitial fluid back up to the heart, which means that training them can increase your resting metabolic rate.
In addition, choosing a weight loss program that supports you all the way through your weight loss goals can also help. Medical Weight Loss Solutions creates customized plans that suit the lifestyle of the person losing weight. Give us a call today to find out how you can get started on your own weight loss journey.