What's Causing Your Plateau?

Article By: WeightWatchers. com

Different situations potentially contribute to a slowdown in weight loss. The first step to overcome the plateau is understanding what's causing it.

"Weight loss revolves around all aspects of your lifestyle — sleep, stress, even mood," says Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD, LDN, the director of sports medicine nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "And if you're neglecting one of these, you may be sabotaging your success."

Whether you're a Flex Plan or Core Plan® user, here are the common reasons for plateaus with strategies to get your weight-loss efforts back on track.

"I haven't been focusing on portion sizes as much."

If you're on the Flex Plan, refocus on using visual cues to estimate portion sizes. Make sure you're using the correct POINTS® values for the portion you're eating. Check out the Portion Primer for a pictorial guide to common portion sizes.

"I've been eating past my Comfort Zone."

If you're a Core Plan user and you haven't been paying attention to your Comfort Zone lately, make a commitment to start listening to your body's cues for feeling satisfied. Read Discover Your Comfort Zone to learn more about gauging your hunger and how to stop when you feel full.

"I haven't been working out much lately."

Commit to earning at least 1 activity POINTS value (preferably 2 or 3) per day.

If time is an issue, consider increasing the intensity of your workout rather than the length of it. For instance, instead of walking for 15 minutes, try jogging.

Exercise helps lower stress. Many people avoid the gym when they're anxious or overloaded, thinking they don't have time. Kelli Calabrese, MS, an exercise physiologist and editor of Personal Fitness Professional magazine, points out that, "Exercise is one of the best things you can do to bring your stress level down." And since stress is often linked to overeating, reducing it will help you stick to good eating habits.

"I've been taking a new medication recently."

Check with your pharmacist or physician to see if the medication you're taking can cause weight gain. If it does, ask if there's an alternative.

If you're taking an over-the-counter medication, check the label for added calories. If your medication does have calories, compare labels of other products to see if there is an alternative with less or no calories.

Have you been tossing and turning all night long? "If you don't sleep enough, your body looks for another way to find energy," says Bonci. "More often than not, that means you end up overeating just to stay awake." Plus, she adds, when you're exhausted you're less inclined to make smart food choices. Aim for seven to nine hours of shut-eye a night.

"I'm a Flex Plan user, but I haven't been keeping track of my POINTS values regularly."

If you don't have time to write down details, you can use ExpressTrack feature of the POINTS Tracker to enter your own food and POINTS values.

Looking for a way to make tracking more exciting? Reward yourself (with something other than food!) each week you keep track. Buy a new CD or a small kitchen gadget that will remind you of your tracking success.

Wondering if you should switch your food plan? Switching food plans is one strategy for breaking through a plateau. But Weight Watchers recommends that you stay with whatever food plan you've chosen for at least one week. Once you've lived with the plan you started on for a while, you'll have a much better understanding of how good a fit that food plan is for you. The Switch Guide will help guide you through the decision to change to the other food plan if and when you're ready.