What should I do if I can't lose weight by dieting

During the plateau period of dieting and weight loss, breakthroughs can be made by adjusting dietary structure, increasing exercise intensity, optimizing eating time, ensuring sufficient sleep, and managing stress levels. Weight stagnation is usually caused by metabolic adaptation, muscle loss, water retention, hormone changes, narrowing of heat gap and other reasons.

1. Adjusting dietary structure:

Long term low calorie diet can lead to a decrease in basal metabolic rate. It is recommended to increase daily calorie intake to 1.2 times basal metabolism, increase the intake of high-quality proteins such as chicken breast, shrimp, and tofu to 30%, and replace refined carbohydrates with compound carbohydrates, such as replacing white rice with brown rice or oats. One deception meal can be arranged per week to stimulate leptin secretion.

2. Increase exercise intensity:

After the body adapts to the original exercise mode, consumption decreases. HIIT high-intensity interval training can be used instead of uniform aerobic training, such as 30 second wave jumping and 30 second flat support cycles for 8 groups. Adding resistance training such as squats, hard pulls, and other compound movements, and conducting strength training three times a week can increase muscle mass. For every 1 kilogram of muscle gain, an additional 70-100 calories are consumed daily.

3. Optimize eating time:

Extending fasting time can activate cellular autophagy. Try a 16:8 light fasting, focusing on three meals within 8 hours and drinking only water or sugar free tea for the remaining 16 hours. Breakfast will be postponed until after 9 o'clock, and dinner will be brought forward before 6 pm to avoid insulin fluctuations at night. Research shows that time restricted eating can increase fat burning efficiency by 20%.

4. Ensure adequate sleep:

Lack of sleep can lead to an increase in cortisol, which hinders fat breakdown. Ensure 7-9 hours of deep sleep daily and avoid blue light stimulation 2 hours before bedtime. Poor sleep quality can reduce growth hormone secretion by 30%, and growth hormone can promote fat breakdown at night. supplementing melatonin or practicing meditation can improve sleep.

5. Managing stress levels:

Chronic stress can promote fat accumulation in the abdomen. By using mindfulness breathing, yoga, and other methods to relieve stress, the average waist circumference can be reduced by 2-5 centimeters when cortisol levels decrease. Stress hormones can also inhibit thyroid function, reducing daily basal metabolism by 200-300 calories. Breaking through the platform period requires multidimensional adjustments. It is recommended to record daily diet and exercise data, and measure body circumference weekly instead of frequent weighing. Increase daily non exercise expenses such as standing for work, climbing stairs, etc. These activities can consume an additional 200-400 calories per day. Supplementing with multivitamins and omega-3 fatty acids can help improve metabolic flexibility. If there is no change in weight for more than one month and accompanied by symptoms such as fatigue and hair loss, it is necessary to seek medical examination for thyroid function and hormone levels.

Comments (0)

Leave a Comment
Comments are moderated and may take time to appear. HTML tags are automatically removed for security.
No comments yet

Be the first to share your thoughts!

About the Author
Senior Expert

Contributing Writer

Stay Updated

Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest articles and updates.