What to do when weight loss stalls

How to get back to losing weight.

Written By Christopher Corden

964 Words – 4 Minutes Read Time

A plateau can be very frustrating, here are some simple strategies to get back on track.

Do nothing

I know how that sounds, but keep reading for a minute.

Sometimes we pre-emptively make unnecessary changes to our diet or activity at the wrong time.

Simply staying the course and sticking to what you’re already doing for another 1-2 weeks before making a change can be what you need to see a result.

Now, if you aren’t exercising this may not apply to you, that being said, it’s possible to progressively lose body fat with very little to no scale change.

I’ve seen this with multiple clients, especially early on in an exercise and nutrition programme.

There’s a mild initial drop in weight as their activity level increases and calorie intake decreases, then after a few weeks, this trend looks stalled.

The things that are changing aren’t measurable on a scale.

If you are losing fat and building muscle, it can be easily missed with day-to-day scale weight fluctuations.

Waist measurements dropping, clothes size dropping and clear photo comparison progress.

If we had decided to make a change, this would probably stall their overall progress, rather than improve it.

Increase your activity.

So, you’ve already waited 2-3 weeks, and you’re still stuck, the scale hasn’t moved, there’s no measurement change, and your photos are identical.

Firstly, that’s okay! Stalling is a good way of learning to maintain, which at some stage will be what you want to do.

The caveat to this is how much activity you’re already doing.

If you’re consistently exercising 3-5 times per week, getting above 5000 steps per day, or at least averaging 150 minutes of activity per week, you can move to the next section, as it’s more likely to be the issue.

If you’re not hitting these figures right now, don’t worry, it’s not a “must-do” for weight loss.

That being said, if you’ve stalled, and don’t feel like you can/want to make adjustments to your diet, this is a key area to work on.

Start small in your changes, as overdoing it, similar to making huge changes to your diet, may lead to worse progress, if not a regression.

If you know you’re exercising 1-2 times per week, try bumping it up to 3 for a week or two, then 3-4 times a week regularly.

Alternatively, add 15-20 minutes of cardio 2-3 times a week on top of your current training.

If you don’t workout at all right now, first focus on building the habit of doing activities.

There’s no perfect amount of activity for weight loss, so focus on consistency over quantity when starting.

Make changes to your diet.

When it comes to weight loss, diet is 5x more effective than exercise alone.

It’s easier to cut out 300 calories than it is to burn them by activity.

Cutting 300 calories out of your diet might mean a reduction of a chocolate bar and a glass of wine per day, compared to 30 minutes of jogging if you chose the activity route.

There’s more to diet than just calories though. Getting in enough protein means maintaining lean mass (think muscle) as you diet, keeping your post-diet metabolism higher in the long run.

In the end that results in more total fat loss.

Lower protein diets require less energy during digestion, so eating more protein can increase your total daily energy expenditure, as it requires more energy to digest. (Due to the thermic effect of food – T.E.F).

Eating fruit and vegetables will help you stay full for longer, and get more overall nutrients into your diet.

One effective strategy can be to split your regular carb portions in half and replace it with either fruit (say for breakfast) or vegetables (with meals like lunch and dinner.)

Again, make just one change, then re-assess if this is working in 2-3 weeks before making another.

While it seems like a drawn-out process, you want the minimally effective dose when it comes to cutting out calories for weight loss.

There are probably hundreds of ways to remove some calories from your diet, but rather than focus on cutting on foods, aim to move towards a minimally processed diet as much as possible.

Hire someone to help you.

Whether it’s a dietician, nutritionist, personal trainer or online coach, there’s someone out there that knows a lot more about exercise, nutrition or both than you currently do.

If you don’t have the time to spend researching the most effective weight loss strategies, keep up to date on the latest research or methods around dieting and exercise, know how to progress your workouts to see results, or how to find a diet that works for your lifestyle, you would most likely benefit from having someone do that with you.

The most important thing here is that whoever you do hire, make sure they have both experience and qualifications.

At a minimum, a certification in the relevant field they will be coaching you in.

Someone with the experience of dieting and exercising on their own and getting results isn’t the same as learning to help other people.

Working with someone unqualified can easily set you back both in terms of progress and financially.

Worst case scenario it can lead to exercise injuries, or being on track towards disordered eating habits.

In my case, I have a decade of experience from my training, 5+ years of coaching, a degree in sports strength and conditioning, two nutrition certificates, and a certificate in change psychology (primarily around nutritional change.) as well as being a certified online personal trainer.

Thanks for reading, I hope that helps you get back on track!

Weight loss isn’t easy, and going and searching for the right solution is a sign you’re moving in the right direction.

Have a question on any of this? Shoot me an email:
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