Putting time in the gym, keeping a food journal, cutting your portions, and committing to healthy food choices are all a great start to getting fit and lean. Unfortunately, there are times when all your hard work in the kitchen and at the gym doesn’t seem to pay off. If you’ve noticed a stall in your weight loss, or you’re not leaning out the way you’d like to, read on to discover 5 shocking things that can slow down fat loss!
Drastically Increasing Your Activity Level
If you’re on a rigorous fat-loss diet, you may want to reconsider kicking your activity level into high gear. Your body has a finely tuned system of mechanisms in place to maintain your current body weight. When you start to workout at an extreme level (two-a-days, working out for twice as long, etc) that system kicks in and begins to decrease your energy expenditure. While you may think you’re increasing your chances of burning fat, you’re really doing the opposite. Your metabolism and central nervous system will slow down and you’ll start burning less fat.
It’s inevitable that your body will plateau when you’re cutting fat. To avoid this, slowly increase your energy levels. Heighten the intensity and length of your workouts gradually. The bottomline: Start slowly and add slowly. It’s better to add more on as time goes by, rather than stalling your progress at the beginning.
Limiting The Variety Of Foods You Eat
No whole foods should ever be off limits when you’re looking to lean out! Eating a well balanced array of foods helps you get essential vitamins and nutrients that your body needs to run efficiently and effectively. Limiting yourself to specific food groups means you miss out on the nutrients that you could get from other foods. Eating the same foods over and over can also be boring – which may lead to you indulging in the wrong food choices later down the road.
When you’re looking to burn fat, it’s important to eat a variety of clean, whole, nutrient-dense foods. Fruits, vegetables, seeds, fish, beef, poultry, legumes, and grains are quality sources of nutritious foods!
Cutting Carbs
Carbs are not the enemy when it comes to cutting fat. Studies have shown that T3 (an important thyroid hormone) and carbohydrates go hand in hand when getting your metabolism under control. It’s important to get between 120-130 grams of carbs per days to maintain strong levels of T3. Studies have shown that participants who had zero carbohydrates in their diet experienced a 47% decline of their metabolism. Carbohydrates are also the fuel our bodies need to perform in the gym!
If you’re looking to cut carbs, research has shown that 50 grams of carbs per days is the lowest you can go without compromising your levels of fat burning T3. It’s recommended to set aside certain days of the week when you limit your carbs to under 100 grams. A good starting point is having two days a week when you eat a maximum of 50 grams of carbs.
Not Getting Enough Calcium
It’s common for people on fat-loss diets to load up on their protein intake, while decreasing carbs and fats. Unfortunately, when you cut carbs, increase protein, and neglect your calcium intake, you run the risk of having a calcium deficiency.
A calcium supplement and a vitamin D3 supplement will help you stay on track for optimal fat loss!
Lifting Too Light
When it comes to fat loss, the notion of lifting heavy for muscle growth and using light weights to get toned won’t help you reach your fat loss goals. When you’re eating at a calorie deficit, your body wants to desperately preserve its current state and your body’s balance. In this state, your body is going to preserve only what it needs — and your body doesn’t need to hold on to muscle.
In order to maintain muscle, it’s important to lift heavy! An important component of getting lean is steadily increasing the amount of weight that you’re lifting. To break it down, you should cut the volume of your weights by a third and increase the loads of your one weight rep by 75-85%. You should also continue to do cardio and maintain an overall active lifestyle.
Following these five little tips can go a long way when breaking through a plateau, revving up a sluggish metabolism, or helping you break out of a rut when trying to lose weight. No matter where you are in your weight loss journey, it’s never too late to start implementing these tips!
