How to get out of a diet plateau. The plateau effect when losing weight: when it appears and how to overcome it

The plateau effect when losing weight is when weight loss stops. A plateau can be short-term, or it can be long-lasting.

Why does a plateau occur when losing weight?

Let's focus on the number of calories entering the body, and the number of calories that are spent, in a word, incoming and outgoing. In order for active weight loss to occur, a calorie deficit is necessary - expenditure must exceed income. Due to the deficiency, fat deposits begin to be wasted.

How is a calorie deficit created?

Simply put, people are starting to eat less and exercise more.

Does this have a weight loss effect? Yes, it does, but, unfortunately, not for a long time - that same plateau sets in.

Our body is a self-regulating system, and also adaptive. Therefore, adaptation occurs both to a small amount of calories and to a large amount of physical activity. A person eats little, exercises a lot, but the weight remains the same.

Many begin to create an even greater calorie deficit and exercise even more often.

Is there a result?

Yes, there is, but again, it doesn’t last long.

This path of reduction leads to nowhere.

If you only focus on reducing calories, you will end up with completely spoiled eating behavior.

I often meet clients who “sit” for a long time on 1200 calories per day, but the weight does not go away. In their head, there is only one thought - if you eat less, you will lose weight!

This idea is completely wrong! It arises under the influence environment, and not knowledge elementary fundamentals the work of one's own body.

During the diet, metabolic processes slow down, and the body saves every calorie that enters the body, and if there is also strong physical activity, then resources are saved even more.

A person cannot follow this path to lose weight - one cannot only reduce nutrition and increase exercise. This way you can go hungry))

What to do if there is a plateau?

This issue needs to be approached thoroughly, because any nutrition system, even one that gives excellent results, will fail at some point.

Do you know your calorie intake and expenditure?

In some ways, I agree with such people; in fact, counting calories takes a lot of time, and even more so, it is recommended to count everything literally right away, before putting something in your mouth.

I suggest another option, and it is much simpler.

How to move a plateau when losing weight?

First, you need to keep a food diary.

You need to keep a food diary for at least 2-3 weeks. Why so long?

In light of weight loss, especially for those who have been losing weight for decades, this is very little. Then one day, sit down and count everything you have written down. Sum everything up and divide by the number of days during which you kept records.

And you will get the same daily caloric intake that you have. For some reason, many people believe that everything happens during the day, both calories coming in and calories being spent.

It seems that every morning a new countdown begins, but all processes occur in the body differently.

Some nutrients are consumed immediately, while others are stored - therefore, you should not focus only on daily norm calories.

I have repeatedly come across information about different rhythms of spending resources in the body, for example, today you worked a lot and ate little, but it’s too early to rejoice, only after a day the calories spent will be “written off”, although you didn’t exert yourself much that day.

So, when you count everything, and if you see that your calorie consumption does not reach the physiological norm - 1500 kcal.

This means your metabolism is one hundred percent slower. And if you reduce it even more, the weight will continue to stay the same, and maybe it will continue to grow.

What is the normal calorie intake for an ordinary person who is not overweight?

According to various sources, from 2,000 and above, depending on physical activity

And if you have 1,200, 1,300 and you don’t even reach 1,500, then there is only one way out - to slowly increase your calorie intake!

Yes, I agree, it’s scary, the weight may increase, but it will only increase by a few kilograms, and then it will start to go down.

You don’t need to add a lot of calories at once, just a little at a time, and it’s desirable that they be slow carbohydrates or proteins.

You should not increase your caloric intake by eating sweets, baked goods or sweet fruits.

Slow carbohydrates provide energy, but will not help in any way in accelerating and normalizing metabolism.

As soon as you start adding more food, you need to do a “swing” - sometimes fewer calories, sometimes more calories, but in no case less than you had.

For example, now you have 1,200 calories per day

You start adding - 1,400, 1,500, 1,300, 1,700, 1,400, etc. It is not necessary to do this swing every day; you can eat 1,500 for 2-3 days, and then 1,800, and again 1,500.

When you start eating more than always, your diet becomes more varied, there are fewer restrictions, and therefore fewer breakdowns and setbacks.

And I would also like to add about calories, no one knows exactly how they are burned, and in what quantity, these same calories entering our body, and therefore, in my opinion, it is not worth strictly adhering to this system.

This is just a guide to help you understand how much food you are eating.

A few words about exercise with the plateau effect.

If you have been doing physical activity for a long time and intensively, and the weight continues to remain in one place, it means that the body is accustomed to these loads and increasing it will not have a long-term effect.

If you remember your load, then most likely, are you doing the same exercises, on the same muscle groups and with the same intensity?

The body has adapted a long time ago and considers this load to be the norm, because no matter what you say, any load is stress.

And the body develops an anti-stress policy :)

The solution is that you need to do different loads - reduce the amount and time, do it on other muscle groups, maybe even switch to another type of load, for example - you go to the gym for a long time, do stretching, yoga or something else.

Then completely different muscle groups will be involved, and most likely, the metabolism will begin to accelerate.

How long does the plateau effect last when losing weight?

1. Stopping weight loss occurs for several reasons - slow metabolism, I wrote about this above.
2. And the restructuring of the body, acclimatization - if you have lost some weight, even 3 or 5 kg, then the body needs to be reconstructed, the hormonal system begins to work differently. After all, do not forget that those kilograms of fat that were lost produced certain hormones - cortisol, female hormones, hormones of joy and pleasure.

This period is completely different for everyone.

For some it’s 1 month, for some it’s 2 weeks, and for some it’s 3 months. The most important thing in such cases is not to give up and not think badly about yourself, and not to blame yourself for something.

Continue doing what you were doing before the plateau, or maybe reconsider a little the criteria by which you lost weight.

Write in the comments - do you have a plateau effect?

How long does it last, and what actions do you take to ensure that the weight begins to fall?

Best regards, Natalia

People who are seriously involved in strength training and CrossFit, among others, sooner or later face stagnation in the achievement of athletic performance, known as the “plateau effect.” What it is? How to overcome a strength plateau? Why does it occur, and most importantly, what to do if you encounter it? For these and others, no less important questions you will find the answers in our article.

General information

Before we move on to solving the problems associated with strength stagnation, it is necessary to define what it is. The plateau effect is an adaptive reaction of our body, during which the growth of certain physical parameters - mass, strength, endurance - stops.

When we considered the questions, we found out that our body works heterogeneously. Any training upsets his scales, which he strives to balance. When we train, we launch a powerful , which is compensated by super-recovery. In the first month, this is characterized by an increase and improvement in the quality of neuromuscular connections. Then the energetic tuning of our body occurs, and only then the microfibrillar tuning.

The body reacts in a similar way to critical changes in nutrition. That is why, after leaving super extreme diets that do not cover the cost of weight loss, we are faced with excess weight gain, which often overwhelms all our efforts. That is why the editors always recommend moderate exercise and smooth changes regarding the current nutrition plan.

Why do we remember about anabolic-catabolic scales? The thing is that every time any change is physical stress, be it lifting a barbell, new diet or decreased sleep. And the body reacts to each of these factors with adaptation mechanisms. However, over time, our body adapts so much to a certain type of stress that it turns from stress into routine.

The simplest example. If you have never exercised and stick to a certain caloric intake all your life, your body will not change for years (except age-related changes, which cannot be corrected). In the case of loads, the body simply gets used to their increase, and after the next execution of a typical exercise, it simply does not have the need for super-recovery.




Causes

Sometimes situations arise when the body is simply unable to launch super-recovery mechanisms.

The reasons are different:

1. Overtraining. When stress far exceeds the body's ability to recover.
2. Genetic limit. Some people are naturally thick, others are thin, and others are strong. All this is related to somatotypes. A person’s somatotype is just one of the genetic characteristics, a trait that is predetermined by various genetic characteristics. Be it the stomach's sensitivity to a certain amount of food, the ability to synthesize a certain amount of testosterone, the rate of protein synthesis, the amount of cholesterol that can be processed by our bodies, and a variety of other factors. The genetically determined plateau effect is your bar. There are ways to overcome it - with the help of special medications or by constantly experimenting with nutrition programs, but without taking androgenic hormones, you will not significantly expand it.
3. Accustoming muscles to certain types of load. Due to the nature of their sport, CrossFitters encounter this type of strength plateau the least often. But bodybuilders who have been practicing the same programs for years are at risk.
4. Incorrectly selected training complex.
5. Periodization plateau. This is one of the most interesting species plateau, which is associated with the addiction of muscle tissue. The thing is that the longer we shift the scales to the side, the stronger the body counteracts. However, if the spring is temporarily released, the catabolic effects will cease within one month. And this will become a new point from which the athlete can continue to grow.
6. Depletion of nutritional reserves. It’s not without reason that they say that nutrition is 70% of the result in any sport.

The plateau effect also occurs when losing weight. Weight loss slows down or stops altogether due to the optimization of the body's resources to new conditions.

Types of plateau

There are several main types of plateaus, each associated with certain factors:

1. Power plateau. It is most often encountered by athletes involved in speed-strength sports.
2. Energy plateau. It occurs extremely rarely, since endurance training always proceeds more smoothly and with greater effort.
3. Weight loss plateau. We examined it in detail in conjunction with various nutrition plans. It is characterized by a decrease in the rate of weight loss due to or incorrect counting.

All types of plateaus are associated with the reasons described earlier. But the question arises - how to overcome the plateau effect and continue to progress towards your goal? First of all, it is necessary to determine the cause. If it is a nutritional deficiency, eliminate it. If these are adaptive mechanisms of the body, then create a shocking load. It is quite possible that you will have to radically change your training style and forget about the barbell for a while, focusing on the horizontal bar.

How to overcome a plateau?

Methods of overcoming a plateau are based on leveling the harmful effects on the body, which does not allow the catabolic scales to move, with the correct determination of the type of the plateau itself.

The plateau effect often occurs when you don't combine training and nutrition correctly, or don't get enough sleep. If you reach a genetic limit, we recommend that you do not carry the process to fanaticism, but try to try to develop other qualities. So, for example, when you reach a strength plateau, try changing the percentage of fat in your tissue downward. In the future, when you return to your original weight, you will in any case become stronger. There is no limit to perfection, and you can improve your performance and form indefinitely, simply by using different areas of activity.

CrossFit copes with this task better than anyone else, the loads in which are so varied that it is physically difficult to reach a plateau in any set goal.

Conclusion

And finally, I would like to answer one of the most frequently asked questions among athletes: how long does the plateau effect last if it is not overcome? If you do not overcome the plateau effect, it will last forever, since this is a new balancing point in the state of the body. To continue to lose weight/gain muscle mass/increase strength, you need to continue to shock the body, change the load and eating style.

The best assistant for such purposes will be microperiodization, which allows you to achieve several goals at once, practically without changing the overall training plan. For weight loss - it can be. To achieve new strength qualities, you can change your training style. And to achieve the effect of overcoming the energy plateau, it is enough to increase the flow of energy.

Often, doing active training and following a proper diet, results are absent. Today we will talk about the causes of body failure, find out what the plateau effect is when losing weight, how to overcome the barrier to weight loss and analyze the reasons for its occurrence.

What is the plateau effect?

The plateau effect is something hormonal disbalance body that prevents weight loss. Simply put, despite all your actions, fat and muscle tissue stops at a certain dead point. A weight break is a completely natural protective reaction of the body and does not harm health.

Why isn't my weight losing?

If at the beginning of your workout and diet you were able to quickly lose a couple of extra pounds, don’t rush to rejoice. When the body adapts to a sudden change in regime, there is a risk of a plateau effect. Let's look at the most common reasons for weight loss.

Alcohol consumption

Not even a large number of Low alcohol drinks can cause weight loss. This happens due to the retention of excess fluid in the body and the formation of salts. It is worth noting that any alcohol has a high calorie content, especially in tandem with various snacks.

Lack of proteins

With intense training, the protein norm increases by 2 times. But with a combination of physical activity and diets, muscles often experience starvation. With this kind of stress, the body reaches a plateau effect in less than 10 days. It is recommended to comply with the norm of necessary substances and increase the percentage of protein in the diet.

Drying plateau effect

Oddly enough, the plateau effect can also occur with an excess of protein foods. Most often, this can be encountered when drying the body, where the main component of the diet is protein. Despite the fact that drying is intended to launch active metabolism, the body gets used to a certain sequence and begins to work in a monotonous mode. In this case, further continuation of the diet is impossible, since it will be extremely difficult to quickly restore protein balance.

Diet plateau effect

Balanced diets have a beneficial effect on the process of losing weight, but strict dietary restrictions lead to a slowdown in fat breakdown. The reason lies in the low caloric content of the diet or the monotony of eating patterns.

How long does the weight loss plateau last?

It is impossible to name the exact duration of the plateau; it depends on your body. On average, weight changes begin to appear after a month of stagnation. If you have been on a strict diet, the plateau period can last up to 3 months. But you shouldn’t wait for the weight to move on its own. A slight shake of the body can significantly shorten the plateau pause.

How to deal with the plateau effect?

If you do reach a plateau effect, you need to take timely measures to combat weight stagnation. There are several effective methods for starting the active work of the body.

Loading day

Give up your usual diet and give yourself a fast day. The loading process, better known as a “cheat meal,” is accomplished by eating higher-calorie foods. Simply put, this is an artificial diet disorder. However, it is not recommended to consume fatty and unhealthy foods, as you risk heartburn and indigestion. It is enough to increase the calorie content of foods by 500-700 kcal. Thus, the body will recover from stress and stop retaining fat deposits.

Unloading

Unloading the body should only be done if you have not followed strict diets and using a loading day does not help you. It is not recommended to radically limit yourself in food; it is enough to reduce the calorie content of food and eat it in small portions. Loading or unloading should be done no more than once every 10 days. Otherwise, you risk putting your body under even more stress, so you will have to wait even longer for results.

Changing your workout mode

From regular physical activity of the same type, the plateau effect occurs much faster than from a diet. In this case, it is recommended not only to change the set of exercises, but also to diversify with more gentle sports. For example, jogging can be supplemented with cycling or skating. Walking long distances will also shake up the body.

Period of stagnation in the process of losing weight

If you are engaged in weight loss with the help of diets, excluding active training and exercise, but still have a weight gap, it is recommended to change your diet. The plateau effect occurs when the body becomes accustomed to the constituent foods of diets. As a rule, in this case, the problem is solved by changing the carbohydrate part of the regime and increasing the calorie content of the total daily food intake. In this way, you can not only “calm” the body by suggesting that you are not going to deprive it of a full diet, but also move away from the plateau-pause.

Any person who sought to reset excess weight, knows firsthand what a dietary plateau is. In this article we will tell you what it is, why it occurs and how to overcome it in order to continue losing weight.

What is the plateau effect and what are the reasons for its occurrence?

The plateau effect is a temporary stop in weight loss. The first time it occurs 3-4 weeks after starting the diet, but it can recur if the process of losing weight lasts for several months. The reasons for the plateau are physiological:

• Decreased metabolic rate.

When switching to a low-calorie and monotonous diet, the body first begins to burn fat reserves, but soon a limited and tasteless menu causes the opposite effect - the brain receives a signal about a lack of food. It slows down the metabolism in an effort to store fat reserves for a rainy day, and weight loss is suspended.

• Hormonal disorders.

If compliance with all nutritional rules in conjunction with physical activity does not give the desired effect, it’s time to visit a doctor. The reason may lie in various diseases: thyroid dysfunction, insulin resistance, incipient diabetes. A consultation with a doctor will help identify pathology and adjust your lifestyle and diet.

• Own mistakes.

If no health problems are identified, but the dietary plateau is prolonged, you need to analyze the nutritional system. The main mistakes of those losing weight are:

1. Too low in calories. After some time, a meager diet will force the body to create fat reserves literally from a lettuce leaf. In this case, your general health deteriorates greatly, and the process of losing weight is sharply slowed down.
2. Imbalance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates and, as a result, metabolic disorders.
3. Improper drinking regime. To successfully lose weight, you need to consume at least 1.5–2 liters clean water per day. If you are dehydrated, your rate of weight loss will slow down.
4. The presence of a large amount of transgenic and cheap vegetable fats in the diet. They disrupt lipid metabolism and lead to weight gain. Most of them are in cheap sausages, frankfurters, and store-bought desserts.
5. Inaccurate calorie counting of dishes. When preparing dishes, hidden calories and periodic snacks are not taken into account; the calculation is made conditionally.

If the plateau has been prolonged and the weight has remained at the same level for 3-4 weeks, you need to take action. Let's start with what not to do:

1. Urgently change your diet or nutrition system in the hope that “this will definitely help.”
2. If you sharply reduce your caloric intake or starve, your body will perceive the new regime as a deterioration in your standard of living and will further reduce your metabolism.
3. Panic and let the process take its course.

Most often, a dietary plateau is necessary for the body to stabilize weight. During this time, the body gets used to the new state, the metabolism becomes suitable for the new weight. Don't worry and stick to your diet.

What to do to overcome the plateau

Start by analyzing the reasons for the plateau. First of all, you should visit a doctor and rule out possible diseases. If the weight has risen due to your own mistakes, use any of these methods:

• Food diary.

It will help you keep track of your balanced diet. In addition to calorie content, we consider BZHU - normally, proteins should account for 30–35% of the diet, fats – 15–20%. The remaining 45–55% are carbohydrates, preferably complex ones.

• Fasting days.

One or two days a week we do unloading. Proteins (kefir, cottage cheese, chicken) can remove excess water from the body. Fruit and vegetable fasting will help cleanse the intestines well. Physical activity during such periods it is necessary to reduce.

• Reducing the amount of carbohydrates.

We review our diet in favor of proteins and fats, and reduce the amount of carbohydrates by at least half. The effect will be quick and visible, because they retain excess water in the body and cause swelling. Having overcome the plateau, you can gradually return to the usual balance of BJU.

• Cascade fasting.

Its principle is to observe the “food window”. Food can be taken only during a certain period of the day, the rest of the time - low-calorie drinks (water, tea, coffee). The usual options are 8/16 or 6/18 hours.

• Calorie Zigzag.

To prevent metabolism from slowing down, we adhere to the zigzag rule. We calculate your weekly caloric intake and distribute it so that you get a different amount of calories every day.

• Cheat meal.

We allow ourselves one unhealthy meal per week. It will help relieve psychological stress and calmly overcome the dietary plateau without breakdowns.

• Physical activity.

We add power loads, increase the intensity of exercises or their number. Circular or interval training will help you overcome plateaus. We try to move more during working hours and at home.

Switch to proper nutrition with Grow Food

Fashionable diets are always built on strict restrictions and do not provide long-term effects. System proper nutrition not only helps you overcome a plateau, but also improves your health along with your figure.

Grow Food's five nutritional lines are designed to meet the daily caloric needs of people with different lifestyles and goals. The energy value of diets varies from 1000 to 2500 kcal.

If you are already using one of the Grow Food lines and your weight loss process has stopped, simply change your diet - choose a different plan with lower calorie content. This will help you overcome your dietary plateau without any extra effort.

Most have experienced a weight loss plateau. That is, our weight remains unchanged for a long time - a month, two, six months... And this lack of dynamics in weight loss has 2 simple explanations.

Reasons for “plateau” when losing weight:

1. Non-compliance correct mode nutrition and training.
2. Reaching the equilibrium point, that is, the previously deficient calorie intake became the maintenance level calorie intake (we lost weight, lost weight, and at some point stopped, since the calorie intake remained the same, but energy expenditure changed, and collectively we came to the equilibrium point).

Now let's look at the reasons in more detail.

Concerning first option, then we can select “ conscious" And " unconscious» non-compliance with the regime. Here are examples of “unconscious” violation of the regime:

— Incorrect determination of calorie content and nutritional value of consumed products(calculating serving size by eye, intuitive approach to determining serving size, errors in calculations);

— Incomplete accounting of calorie content and dietary supplements(they ate something small (some kind of “yummy” food, a couple of candies, a few chocolate bars, nuts or a protein bar...), decided that it would not greatly affect the result, or simply forgot to take something into account);

— Aggregate surplus(We eat at a slight deficit for 5 days, and on the weekend we have a cheat meal, thus covering the accumulated deficit. As a result, in a week, we can get a very small overall deficit or even a calorie surplus).

Examples of “conscious” non-compliance with the regime:

— Reluctance to define your norm maintenance calorie content (many people do not bother with determining personal calorie content and BJU, but simply take a ready-made version of the diet, designed “for someone” and “by someone”);

— Skipping workouts(I think everything is clear here);

— Gaps in nutrition(e.g. “Today I was lazy, and I didn’t count or take into account anything,” if you don’t count calories and nutritional supplements and at the same time you’re happy with everything, then OK, but if you’re trying to get out of the “plateau” and understand what your mistakes are, then Without calculating and analyzing the energy balance, nothing will come of it; it’s the same as running with your eyes closed, it’s unclear in which direction).

Now let's look at it second option– reaching the equilibrium point.

Let’s say we lose weight from 70 to 60, and after 60 the weight doesn’t want to move from the “dead point”. What should I do? Most likely, we achieved energy balance, that is, during the period of weight loss from 70 to 60, we had a calorie deficit, which we recorded and maintained daily, but at a certain point this deficit became equal to the new value of our maintenance caloric intake. Changes in weight affect changes in our energy consumption; accordingly, we need to recalculate the norms for kcal and BJU. This is not difficult, since I advise applying new standards for girls no more than once a month. Why? It's connected with female cycle(e.g. increase in water before/during the onset critical days), so weight can fluctuate every day, but it is important for us to track the dynamics of weight loss, and not daily fluctuations. So I recommend doing control weighings at the same period once a month.

What other mistakes are there in the fight against a “plateau”?

Additional training.

Your nutrition is a major aspect of weight loss/gain. Additional cardio training may not have the desired effect if there are significant flaws in the diet; moreover, excessive training can lead to overtraining and the desire to quit everything. In addition, additional training while dieting can lead to an increase in the level of CORTISOL (the “stress hormone”), which in turn causes water retention.

It’s a paradox, but sometimes when we slightly weaken our desire to lose weight, reduce the number/intensity of training, slightly increase the calorie intake, we begin to lose weight! Magic?! No, the cortisol level just normalizes and goes away excess water, the weight goes down.

Severe calorie reduction.

To lose weight, a small calorie deficit of 10-15% will be enough. Is it possible to reduce more to speed up? It's better not to, as it will cause severe stress, cortisol levels will increase... In general, I already wrote above what will happen, but here’s something else. There is such a hormone - Leptin (I already talked about it in). It signals the brain about energy reserves; in fact, it is produced by our fat cells, as if reporting the amount of fat in them. If leptin levels drop, metabolism slows down, energy expenditure decreases, and activity decreases. nervous system we feel hungry, tired... So, cortisol, among its other properties, reduces the sensitivity of the brain to the level of leptin, that is, fat cells cannot fully deliver the signal to the brain, therefore, despite the existing energy reserves in the form of fat, the body goes into energy saving mode. This is what a severe calorie deficit does. But miracles don't happen, and if wildlife this mechanism helps you survive, wait out the hungry period, minimize energy consumption, then in modern conditions you are more likely to give up and run to the refrigerator (see the point “Cumulative surplus”).

“Refeed”, “cheat meal”, Minnesota experiment, edema - where is the connection?

Minnesota Hunger Experiment (Minnesota Semistarvation Experiment) This experiment began during World War II. Many people were starving (concentration camp prisoners, prisoners of war, soldiers, civilians). Therefore, it was necessary to solve the question - what is the best way to help a starving person? According to the conditions of the experiment, volunteers had to live for a long time under conditions of severe nutritional restriction. Men received about 1,500 kcal per day, subject to daily moderate physical activity. At the beginning of the experiment, people lost weight linearly, about 1 kg per week, but at some point the weight loss slowed down, became unpredictable, and many study participants developed quite significant water edema and long plateau periods.

Halfway through the experiment, participants were given a 2,300-kcal “celebratory dinner” (fried chicken, sauce, potatoes...). The next day, everyone experienced a sharp weight loss, and the swelling went away.

This seems paradoxical, but such a sharp increase in caloric intake, a refeed or a cheat meal, leads to weight loss, but you need to understand that it is not fat that is lost, but water. The more restrictive the diet, the higher the cortisol level, the greater the chance of edema and plateau.

Bottom line. To overcome a weight loss plateau, you need to:

1. If you don’t count calories and dietary supplements, then it's time to start;
2. If your weight has changed and you have reached a point of balance, energy balance, then recalculate your kcal and BJU norms;
3. If the weight is due to swelling, then normalize water-salt balance.

• Watch the amount of salt (you can’t completely eliminate it, consumption should be moderate, watch out for canned food, semi-finished products, sauces - they contain a large amount of salt);
• Drink plenty of plain water;
• Reduce cortisol levels (do not create a strong calorie deficit. For example, the maintenance norm is 1,800 kcal, then at 1,600 kcal we will already lose weight, but if we begin to drive ourselves to 1,200 kcal, increase the intensity and number of workouts, then the likelihood of developing “plateau”, swelling, overtraining and the desire to quit everything).

Possible reasons for the “plateau” on the chart

(The percentage of body fat may decrease, but at the same time, weight can either fall or increase due to the “reset” of water at the beginning of weight loss, its restoration or the formation of edema).

1. Hurray!!! The weight is going down!
2. What to do? Is your metabolism slowing down? The weight is worth it! I have plateau??!!
3. Ahh!!! All I I'm getting fat!!!

1. Do It refeed or cheat meal(not a glutton for a month, but one good, rich dinner. This advice is given based on the Minnesota experiment to solve the problem of puffiness, plus many on personal experience are watching positive effect after a cheat meal, but ideally it is better not to create an excessive deficit, then you won’t need to resort to the practice of cheat meals 😉)