Friday, March 16, 2012

BIGGEST LOSER "15" -- WEEK TEN

Over the last few weeks, weight loss has been slowing down a bit and we haven’t been seeing such big numbers anymore. Many people are finding it harder to lose even a pound or two. This is what’s called the weight loss plateau. It almost always shows up, usually 8-10 weeks into a weight loss program.

There are several reasons why this happens. People find it hard to maintain discipline for so long, especially when weight loss starts slowing down. It gets easy to start letting things slide, and you start missing workouts, or get a little loose with your diet.

Your body can also get used to what you’re doing. Now you don’t need quite as much effort or energy to do the same things, so you’ll burn fewer calories. This slows down weight loss. That’s why I always like to keep changing the workouts so they’re always tough.

Sometimes, it’s a combination of things. You start missing workouts and you quit watching what you eat! In a week or two, you can regain a couple pounds. Left unchecked for several weeks, you can put back five or even ten pounds.

Even though you lose weight, you still have the fat cells. You’ve been burning the fat from inside the cells, and they shrink way down in size, but they’re still there waiting, just in case you’re gonna need em again. If you go back to an inactive lifestyle or eating too much, you will.

The trick to losing weight is having a daily calorie deficit—burning more calories than you consume. If you can create a 500 calorie deficit each day, you’ll lose 1 pound that week. If you can add enough activity to be down 1,000 calories, you’ll lose 2 pounds.

But it goes the other way too. If you quit exercising and keep consuming the same calories, now you can have a calorie surplus. If the surplus is 500 calories a day, in a week, you’ve just regained a pound.

Let’s say you quit getting your 500 calorie workouts, and you relax your eating by another 500 calories. That’s a 1,000 calorie swing that day. Do it for a week and now you’ve gained 2 pounds! At that rate it won’t take long before you’ve regained everything you’ve lost. It’s so common it’s called “The Yo-Yo syndrome.”

I’ve seen it here. Someone will lose 100 lbs, and then put it right back on. What a shame. All that work down the drain. And often, they’ll try to lose it, but they just don’t have the heart to go through all that once again, so they finally just give up.

The key is staying on top of it. If you hit a plateau, redouble your efforts. If you pick up a few pounds, figure out what went wrong and fix it. Work harder and work longer. Start writing down your calories again. Get focused again and get back with the program. Remember, it is a life-long effort, losing the weight and keeping it off!

This week’s Biggest Loser was Greg Stuck, who lost 1.2% of his body weight and 2.2 lbs. Second place went to Beverly Weger, who lost 0.8% and 1.4 lbs. To date, she has lost 21.2 lbs.

Angie Adams placed third, losing 0.7% and 1.0 lb. Laken Pennington was fourth, losing 0.6% and a little less than a pound. There was a four-way tie for fifth place, with Jodi Theirl, Brad Adams, Amy Church, and Kit Kirby all losing 0.5% and right around a pound.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me through Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tomdolanfitness !

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