Healthy Resources Articles


I Can't Lose Any More Weight - What can you do if you reach a weight-loss plateau?

By Martica Heaner, M.A., M.Ed., for MSN Health & Fitness


Q: I've lost 95 pounds. Although I exercise every other day, my weight loss seems to be slowing down. My doctor says I still need to lose another 30 pounds, though. What can I do?


A: You don't mention how long it's taken to lose nearly 100 pounds, but that's a considerable amount of weight and your body may simply be "shocked" and trying to adjust to the changes. It's natural for the body to reach a plateau, often after around six months of steady weight loss.


Even though you may want to continue losing, at this point it's probably a good idea to change strategies. You're in danger of gaining the weight back that you've lost. When the body senses that fat stores have fallen below a (theoretically estimated) set-point, its fat-preservation mechanisms kick in and try to help it regain the lost fat. Fat is stored energy, after all, and the body seems to be hard-wired to favor storing energy rather than letting it go. As a result of your weight loss, a host of biological signals may be making you more inclined to eat more and exercise less in order to return to what the body senses is its "normal" fat level. These triggers might make you get hungrier sooner in between meals, crave more snacks, or take longer to feel full when you do eat, for example.


For now, it may be a better idea to shift into weight-maintenance mode to allow your body to stabilize. Exercise is a key weapon for weight loss, especially during the maintenance phase. You don't mention what type of exercise you're doing, but it should include a combination of cardio workouts such as walking, swimming or cycling, along with weight training to target muscles.


When you lose weight, you also lose lean body mass, a proportion of which is muscle tissue. The faster and greater your weight loss, the more muscle tissue is lost. Weight training has been shown to decrease the amount of lean body tissue that's lost during periods of weight loss. So if you haven't already, include weight training in your routine, along with performing cardio (aim to accumulate 60 to 90 minutes per day on most days of the week). Try to target all your major muscles in your upper and lower body on two to three days per week. As far as diet goes, rather than trying to deprive yourself further to encourage more weight loss, aim for a caloric intake that keeps your weight stable. Instead of "dieting," use this period as a time to improve the quality of what you eat. Rather than just counting calories or portion sizes, look at the nutrient intake. Are you getting all the vitamins and nutrients and other beneficial compounds found in foods that you need?


You can keep a diet diary, tracking everything you eat and then entering the information into a nutrition database to get an estimated nutrient breakdown. Try the U.S. Department of Agriculture's MyPyramid Tracker, or check out My Wellness Center on MSN Health & Fitness. An easy way to improve the quality of what you eat is to make sure you are meeting the recommended servings of different types of foods recommended in the USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Once you know your nutritional status and what you should aim for, experiment with new ways to improve how you eat.


You may find that you need to eat more fiber, or that you are low in certain vitamins. An easy fix might be to snack on nuts or to throw more veggies into your salads. You may need to increase the amount of unsaturated fat you eat and decrease the amount of "bad" saturated and trans fats. One way to do this would be to eat fewer animal products like meat, butter, and cheese, and add more plant oils such as walnut oil or olive oil to foods.


Other easy ways to boost the nutrient values or your everyday foods: Add an extra fresh or frozen vegetable or fruit to every single snack and meal. For example, throw some roasted peppers on your morning omelet, add spinach leaves to your sandwich, snack on fruit, and eat a fresh-fruit-and-ice smoothie for dessert. By eating more nutrient-dense foods, you'll be improving your health dramatically.


Use your plateau/maintenance phase as a time to keep weight stable, improve the nutrients that you eat and to get stronger and develop more stamina from exercise. After three to six months, you can aim for weight loss again.