Fat Loss Plateau 101 – AFL 4.1
Today I’m going to introduce and cover the basics of a fat loss plateau and how you can avoid one altogether.
Feat Loss Plateau 101
Welcome to everything fat loss plateaus, in this video I’m going to address how you prevent, avoid, and altogether rid yourself of the plague that is a fat loss plateau.
Firstly, I want to address the common themes associated with a fat loss plateau.
A fat loss plateau occurs after you’ve been successfully losing fat for a period of time then everything changes and your results come to a screeching halt. You’re no longer able to lose weight and no matter what you do your body will not budge in your favor.
At this point you might ask yourself if you need to eat less, eat more, or increase your activity levels or your frustration might be so great that you give up altogether and accept fat loss failure.
Nonetheless, rather than give up on your desire to lose fat it’s important to understand what caused you to reach your fat loss plateau so you can avoid or prevent another plateau.
Are You Truly in a Fat Loss Plateau?
The simplest solution to determining if you are actually suffering from a fat loss plateau is determining if your caloric intake is accurate.
This is done by recalculating your caloric intake and tracking your calories to see if you’re abiding by an accurate fat loss intake.
If you are truly eating in a caloric deficit then it’s unlikely that you would have a problem losing fat.
That is… unless you’re in a fat loss resistant state.
Origin
While suffering from a fat loss plateau it really won’t matter how strong of a caloric deficit you’re in, because your body is resistant to fat loss.
How does this happen?
In brief, most long-term fat loss programs result in diminished leptin levels. And diminished leptin levels are associated with difficulty losing fat and fat loss plateaus.
Briefly defining leptin, leptin is your fat burning hormone that is responsible for regulating long-term food intake, energy expenditure and inhibits hunger.
When you follow a fat loss program for an extended period of time your leptin levels will naturally decrease. After long enough your leptin levels will be diminished enough to result in difficulty with fat loss.
Furthermore, weight loss that is associated with a depleted leptin state will often come in the form of muscle loss rather than fat loss.
If you want to learn more about leptin and the hormones responsible for fat loss check out the AFL 2.5 video I made on fat loss hormones.
Prevention
Now I want to address how you avoid and prevent a fat loss plateau.
Simply put, you mitigate the impact that your fat loss program has on your leptin levels.
If you can prevent your leptin levels from being on the constant decline during your fat loss program then you can help ensure a straightforward fat loss experience.
Refeed Days
How exactly do you mitigate the impact of your fat loss program?
Through semi-regular dietary reprieve, in the form of refeed days.
Dietary reprieve will reset your fat loss potential, boost your leptin levels and help make for more productive workouts for the subsequent days post-refeed.
I want to emphasize that a refeed day is the more modest and logical approach to a cheat day.
Whereas a cheat day involves a large influx of calories that is often above your maintenance intake, with a refeed day you’ll remain under your maintenance intake.
Refeeds provide all of the benefits of dietary reprieve, mental and physical, without the drawbacks of gaining additional fat or nullifying your fat loss like a cheat day might.
Consistency
Hormones are slow to react to changes made in your diet and lifestyle, which places a great emphasis on being consistent with your fat loss program.
If you continually jump between extreme fat loss and frustrated binging you’ll fall victim to the vicious cycle of stagnant progress.
I’m sure you would prefer moderate and consistent fat loss rather than devoid progress.
Fat loss isn’t always a linear progression and it’s for this reason you need to be consistent with your program and course correct as needed.
Don’t let a week of slow progress entirely put you off. And do your best to be conscious of how your body is reacting to your fat loss program.
What’s more, your potential to lose fat decreases as you get leaner. That doesn’t mean you need to be more aggressive with your fat loss program, rather you need to practice patience and show resilience to stick with your program when to going gets tough.
If you’re feeling exceptionally tired or that your body isn’t getting enough nutrients then it might be a good idea to dial it back. By no means are you giving up on your fat loss program.
By listening to your body and being consistent with your fat loss program, you’ll help safeguard your leptin levels from plummeting and keep your fat loss potential high.
Conclusion
If you haven’t noticed by now, fat loss plateaus are entirely avoidable and don’t need to define your progress.
Consistent progress with your fat loss program is entirely possible. Granted you take the necessary steps that ensure it.
Keep your leptin levels from being on the constant decline and your fat loss potential won’t betray you.
Utilize refeed days to give yourself some semi-regular dietary reprieve and you’ll help boost your leptin levels.
And stay consistent with your fat loss program to safeguard reaching your fat loss milestones in a timely manner.
Finally, embodying a lifestyle that is conducive to consistently losing fat is the most assured way to lose fat and avoid a fat loss plateau altogether.
It’s for this reason I created the freebie eBook that comes with this video, Accelerated Fat Loss 101.
This eBook is designed to help you tackle your fat loss with an effective nutrition and exercise program that will drive you to reach your fat loss goal in an expedited manner and void of bothersome plateaus.
Click on the box below to get your free copy!
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I want to thank you for going through this post on fat loss plateaus.
I hope you further understand your ability to avoid and prevent succumbing to a fat loss plateau and can drive your fat loss program to be consistent and filled with success.
That’s all for today – Cheers!
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