New Year's Resolution-How's It Going?

Three weeks into the new year, are you on track with any resolutions? One of the more common resolutions is to lose weight. For various reasons, this is a great time to lose weight. Maybe you gained a few too many pounds over Thanksgiving or Christmas. Maybe you have a wedding or reunion coming up this summer and want to WOW everyone. Or maybe you want to look and feel better, or have health concerns about carrying extra pounds.

All are great reasons to lose weight. So, how are you doing?

Many people do great at the start. Watching portions, counting calories, exercising more and getting results. Usually 3-5 pounds the first week, 2-3 the second week, 1-2 pounds the third week. Then it hits. No more weight loss! You may have even gained a few pounds back. How did this happen?

If you get to a plateau, don't worry. This is very normal. As you read further, you will understand why this happened and how to move on.

Plateaus occur during weight loss because your body has become more efficient and you are carrying around a lot less weight. Less weight equals less work for the body. This is, after all the goal of weight loss, to let your body work less. Unfortunately, when you weigh less and work less, you burn fewer calories. Unless you further reduce calorie intake, you will stop losing weight and can put some back on. The other alternative is to increase calorie burning.

After losing 10 pounds, your body burns less calories throughout the day. By adding the weight back on, with a weighted vest or some other way, your body will continue to burn calories like it did 10 pounds ago. To further complicate this, regular exercise induces a training effect. Your body becomes much more efficient at movement. More efficiency equals less work. Less work means fewer calories burned. To combat the training effect, vary your exercise. Intensity, quantity or type of activity must be changed once in a while to reset your body. Doing the same exercise and diet will lead to failure. Not to mention getting very boring very quickly.

So, here is your weight loss tip for the week. Add the pounds you lost back on through external weight. Change your work-out routine intensity or type of exercise. Vary your foods. Much like the training effect of exercise, eating the same can cause your body to ignore the diet and go into a maintain mode. Changing foods will keep your body on a weight loss path.

If you have questions or need help, don't be afraid to ask. I am here to help you. And if I can't help you, I'll find someone who can.

For more information on weight loss, click on the BlogTalkRadio link to the left on Weight Loss. It is a 30 minute presentation on weight loss. Look for Part 2 to be coming in a week or so, as 30 minutes was not enough to cover all the topics of weight loss.

Feel free to e-mail me or call me at the office (920) 730-0611 if you need help losing weight. As always, please leave a comment below.