Weight loss Plateau: How to overcome it?

Losing weight is not an easy task & it takes months to reach the desired weight. Most of us lack control on our eating habits. Those who follow a proper healthy diet & workout schedule can easily lose pounds & get results.

However, something happens to your body & your weight loss starts diminishing & at one stage it stops. So why does this happen? How do you overcome this weight loss plateau?

One of the reasons is insulin level in your body. When you consume something your sugar/glucose level spikes & your insulin levels( which are hormones released by pancreas) are high. So the insulin helps in regulating the sugar level in the body & bringing it to normal. So what Insulin does:

• It helps storing fuel(Carbohydrates & fat) in the body
• Prevents breakdown of fuel stores
• Assists in keeping glucose level to normal

Carbohydrates impacts release of insulin & insulin sensitivity since it is made up of glucose chains & therefore increase the sugar level in your body after it has been absorbed by the digestive tract into your circulation.

Insulin sensitivity reflects how responsive your body is to increase of fall in blood sugar level. In other words, how quickly it can act to release insulin to bring sugar level to normal.

Although insulin sensitivity depends upon genetic & metabolic type, it can also be regulated by healthy diet & rigorous workout schedule. More healthier you eat & more active you are, more responsive would be your insulin level would be.

If you eat healthier will less proportion of carbs( specifically simple carbs in your diet), more responsive your insulin would be & less would be insulin resistance. This reduces spike in your sugar level after you consume your meal.

Reason for insulin spike is consumption of glucose which comes from carbohydrates. Protein also impacts sugar level but not as high as carbs do. Only macronutrient that does not impact sugar levels is fat. So this does not mean that you should stop consuming carb.

Carb are essential but should be consumed in small quantities. Brain is the only part of the body that requires glucose for functioning. Rest of the body parts can survive on protein & fat.

Fat as such gives you more energy since 1 gram of fat gives 9 calories while protein & carb each gives 4 calories for 1 gram. Those who indulge in rigorous workout & proper diet schedule, maintaining a balance can be tricky if you cannot replace carbohydrate with fat  since it essential means reducing calorie intake to maintain carb at essential level.

Fasting couple of hours before workout can also help in fat loss since insulin levels reduce over a period of time after consuming a meal. All these methods taken together can help you achieve your fat loss goals but remember fat loss & insulin sensitivity are genetic based so a proper diet & workout can help you burn fat upto a certain level. So a healthy diet may not help a person go beyond a particular percentage of fat loss.

In case, you’re looking for an effective weight loss solution, do get in touch with our experts.