Why a Weight Loss Plateau is A Good Thing

As registered dietitians and personal trainers for over fifteen years, these twin sisters have seen our share of weight loss plateaus. And while we’re well aware that a weight loss plateau is a good thing, we’ve seen how destructive and deflating it can be when someone hits one and doesn’t realize the benefits of a plateau.

So we’re busting at the seams to tell them (and you!) that a weight loss plateau is actually a good thing! If you’ve ever experienced this we want you to pay close attention and follow this advice as this will help you to succeed when faced with it again! First, don’t let a plateau derail your efforts or discourage you. Although a weight loss plateau can often last for several weeks, it’s not the time to give up, and in fact, just the opposite!

Here’s why:

A weight loss plateau is a normal and healthy part of the weight loss process and it simply means that your body is recognizing that it’s a new smaller person—and it’s settling in and adjusting to being slimmer. Your body is taking an assessment and acknowledging it no longer needs as many calories to maintain itself and it’s just taking time to recalibrate. This recalibration is important; if your body never recognizes it’s smaller and doesn’t take time to stabilize, your body doesn’t know who it is and can easily change; bouncing back to a higher weight will be easy as it wouldn’t have set a new place at a lower weight that feels comfortable. Think about it—if you constantly are losing weight, your body has no clue what to expect and it doesn’t yet know where it feels stable. A few missed workouts, a few not so healthy meals could easily throw your body off kilter. On the other hand, if you hit a plateau, it’s recognizing your newer, smaller body. It’s a sign that your body is taking notice of your new trimmer self! Once you push past this, maintaining your new weight will be easier! Feel proud and know this is part of the amazing successful weight loss process and you’ll push past it!

More good news?

There are ways to push past a plateau—and if you stick it out, they pay off big-time!

Here are 4 of our top ways to bust through a weight loss plateau:

Eat more veggies.
Yup, read THIS to see how eating more actually works. By now you know that we love veggies, always encourage our clients to eat them, and we too, eat them like nobody’s business (despite having been super picky eaters in the past)—but that’s because they’re little miracle workers when it comes to losing weight and pushing past a weight loss plateau too. (Pssst… we didn’t write The Nutrition Twins’ Veggie Cure for nothin’! 😉 )

Sip on THIS Toxin-Neutralizing, Bloat-Busting Bevvie throughout the day.
It will fill your stomach so you eat less without feeling hungry. Sometimes, just eating a tad less is all it takes to push past a plateau. Plus, this drink floods the body with antioxidants that help to neutralize free radicals and pull toxins out of the body. When you want to push past a plateau, your body needs to be functioning at its peak and have 5 factors in top condition, so minimizing damage, like by getting anti-inflammatory nutrients in this drink, is important. This bevvie helps your body by keeping you hydrated, flushing bloat and wastes out of the body, filling your stomach so you eat less, and flooding the body with antioxidants that help to neutralize free radicals and pull toxins out of the body.
Incorporate HIIT training into your workouts.
These periods of more intense exercise followed by less intense exercise burn extra calories and rev your metabolism. Find out how to do it!
Leave three bites behind at each meal.
If you typically eat all of your meal, leave three bites on your plate; if you don’t typically eat all of your meal, make a conscious effort to eat three fewer bites. Over the course of the day this will equate to a couple hundred calories, which over the course of the month can equal nearly two pounds or more!
For the next few weeks keep a food log.
You may discover places where excess snacks can be cut—or you may realize there are times when you aren’t quite as diligent as you thought. These realizations can help you to see where you may want to tighten the reigns so that you can push past the plateau.
Swap Dry foods for Wet Foods:

Eat Water-Rich Foods. Why? Dry foods, like baked goods and cookies, chips, crackers, candy bars and trail mixes, are light and airy and don’t fill you up but are high in calories. Instead go for water and fiber-filled foods like vegetables, fruits, beans, sweet potatoes, and whole grains—these are generally full of water and fiber and not many calories. So your body feels the weight of these foods and it helps to satisfy you, as opposed to the dry, calorie-dense, light-weight foods.

How to do it:

At snacks, swap dry foods for options like THESE.
At meals, try one of our favorite quick and easy meals (these work for any meal!). You’ll avoid dry foods by default!