by Melanie Cossey

Created on: May 06, 2008

Plateau Breakers

If you've ever been on a mission to lose weight and look great by a certain date, hitting a plateau on your weight loss journey can be extremely frustrating and can lead you to lose heart and give up on your goals.

This is no way to be. The good news is there are ways to break plateau without having to work harder, but by merely working smarter. Let's examine why we experience plateaus and how we can solve the problems that come up.

Not enough calories

When we chart a weight loss course, we start by increasing exercise and reducing our caloric intake. This works initially until our bodies catch up with us. In a few weeks or months, depending on metabolism, the body begins to build muscle. In the initial stages, the body will burn excess fat but as it begins to get stronger, it will need the proper balance of fuel to keep it going. A plateau can come on when the former calorie amount now becomes insufficient. Contrary to what the diet industry likes to promote, eating too few calories for a very active body, will result in a stop in weight loss or even a gain. When your body becomes an efficient machine, it only stands to reason that it will need quality fuel. One way to break a plateau is to increase your calories starting with about 200-400 calories per day of high quality proteins or carbohydrates, such as veggies, fruit or whole grains.

Insufficient muscle damage.

According to Sport physician Dr. Gabe Mirkin, in order for muscles to grow, they have to sustain damage and then recover from that damage. Are your workouts intense enough that you feel muscle soreness the next day? If not, then this could be one reason why you are experiencing a plateau. Remember that old adage, "Feel the Burn?" This refers to the damaging of the muscle fiber during harsh exercise.

Dr. Mirkin has this to say, "Muscle biopsies taken on the day after hard exercise show bleeding and disruption of the z-band filaments that hold muscle fibres together as they slide over each other during a contraction."

This is nothing to be afraid of, it is the natural way in which a muscle builds strength. In order to get the muscle to this stage, you have to ensure that you push your workouts to the point where you feel a warming of the muscle and the last few reps feel very difficult, like there is a strong resistance (like pushing through mud) and the muscle itself feels like there is a fire inside it. Be careful though, it is a fine line between "feeling the burn" and injuring yourself.

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