51. Overcoming Weight Loss Plateau - Effective Strategies

Struggling with a weight loss plateau? In this episode of Weight Loss Made Simple, Dr. Stacy Heimburger dives into effective strategies to break through those frustrating stalls. Discover how to identify true plateaus versus normal weight fluctuations, and learn actionable tips to reignite your progress. From adjusting your meal plan to addressing lifestyle factors like sleep and stress, this episode covers it all. Whether you’re looking for simple diet tweaks or need motivation to keep going, this episode provides practical insights and expert advice to help you overcome weight loss obstacles and achieve your goals.

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This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher.

Transcript

Welcome back to Weight Loss Made Simple. I’m your host, Dr. Stacy Heimburger, and today’s episode is all about overcoming weight loss plateaus. So, if you have ever hit a wall with your weight loss and felt stuck, you are not alone. It’s really common. This happens all the time, but I’ve got some strategies to help you push through.

So first, let’s talk about what a plateau really is. It’s a period of time where your weight loss stops despite effort to lose more. OK, so first we have to remember weight loss is not linear. We’re not consistently losing weight each and every day or each and every week. Normal weight loss is 0.5 to 2 pounds a week. So if you’ve had a week where you’ve lost 3 pounds, that is an average. Right? So we overshot one week; you might not lose for two weeks. It doesn’t mean it’s a plateau necessarily.

So, I want to describe a plateau as you’re sort of sticking to your plan and it’s been a full month, and we’ve seen no change. Let me tell you, I know how frustrating this can be. I’ve been losing weight for what seems like a very long time. My weight loss is very not... I will be doing exactly the same thing, not lose weight for six weeks, and then all of a sudden drop five or six pounds. I have theories that are really medical. I know when I was younger and more impatient that I would probably get to that three or four-week point and give up right when I was about to be like having a little weight loss. It’s because I didn’t fully understand this principle—weight loss not being linear.

We all want to have like a great day where we follow our plan and get on the scale the next day and see the result. We want that immediate feedback, but weight loss doesn’t always work that way. It feels bad if we eat a lot of salt or something that makes us super bloated and we get on the scale. We go up the next day. It feels like subjectively with no real data, it feels like we get immediate feedback for any decision, but we don’t get immediate feedback when we’re doing everything right. That is, right, our wrong decisions usually involve something that makes us inflamed. We put on water. We eat something salty, put on water, and we’re gonna see that on the scale. But our good sticking to our plan is not gonna have the radical shifts like that.

Consistency is key. So, what is a true plateau? A true plateau is, I am doing everything I’ve done before to lose weight, following my plan. It’s been a month, and the scale is the same. It’s OK. We just need to do something a little bit different, especially the more we lose. Like, we have to start finding, OK, we might need to make a little bit of difference. So, what can we do that’s a little bit different? We can take a look at our protocol and see. Eating a sandwich—bread that could be Ezekiel bread—could be made into a salad sandwich. Could I swap that out just for now to a salad? Can I do a month-long experiment where I have a salad instead of a club sandwich two days a week? I’m having a sandwich every day, but I’m not eating sandwiches every day.

I feel like it’s when I read that article and Britney Spears was like, I lost 50 pounds 'cause I stopped eating McDonald’s. Most of us are not eating McDonald’s either, but sometimes there are these simple little swaps. Right? If I am eating a sandwich, can I have it on Ezekiel bread? Can I have it on a lettuce wrap? Can I make it into a salad? Can I do that just for now? Again, we need to be careful with our brains here. When we start making changes to our protocol, changes might spin our brain out of control. Deprivation. So, I always want you to make changes with the caveat that we’re experimenting and doing adjustments for now. I just do this for a month. Can I do it for a week and see if it changes anything? Can I do it for a week? Can I do it for a month?

So, can I add more veggies in my fiber? Can I swap out for veggies and more protein? Can I, with a critical eye, look at protocol and see? Following and following protocol, am I really writing down what I’m eating and ignoring the fact that I’m eating a piece of chocolate every night after dinner? At one point, that counts. I’m not a huge fan of, "Wait, that is my small handful of nuts for a snack," all of a sudden and much deeper handful of food. So, let’s do it systemically. Right?

The first thing I want us to ask ourselves a month is, truly, the thing I want us to ask ourselves, have I really been following my plan? Have I really been taking into account all the extra licks, tastes, and bites? Am I making a plan plan for a long time? Sometimes there’s it... I get it, truly, like number two and 22, all those things.

So, I’m plateaued. Is there a simple swap I can make? Is there someplace I can swap out maybe a piece of food? Can I swap some extra veggies and protein, up the fiber, up the protein and snacks? Writing down my snacks, have my snack serving sizes just gotten a little bit bigger and not really noticed? Am I doing enough water? Am I getting enough sleep? Am I under a really stressful time right now?

I truly have some clients go through a plateau when they’re having a super stressful time. Your cortisol might be up. Maybe we need to do some stress-relieving things. OK? It’s not always just the food. Lots of times we can find some little tweaks to make, but it might be some lifestyle stuff too. Am I getting enough sleep? Am I getting enough water? Is my stress under control and managing my mind to handle all the psychological stress? Have I gotten some coaching tips? Do I need a coach for that? If you need help with any of this, right now is the perfect time. I’m running, and it is not too late to join for October called Drop a Pumpkin Challenge. We go through all of these week by week, and if you really think you need all that stuff working, you know you can always reach out for a 2 Pound Plan with me. But the pumpkin is a great place to start. I got some amazing guest coaches this year. I’m so excited with how well this is turning out this year. Amazing collaborations, so you can get tips and tricks from other coaches too. We have a VIP option where you get bonus coaching with those coaches. You can see other people coach as well. It’s not too late. It is on replay. Weight loss usually just means we need to make a little change, a little tweak or something.

It’s funny because people who exercise pretty routinely know that sometimes you need to change it up, right? Muscle confusion is like a huge thing. Right? Sometimes you gotta change up a little bit. With food, food, change the distribution of it. Right? What if we just put more, more? See what happens for all of my fasting, fasting research, skipping dinner. Most of us skip breakfast because it’s just easier. We’re not really that hungry when we wake up, but the fasting research, a lot of it was skipping. What if you flipped your fast? Body confusion is normal. It’s just we can’t let our minds go crazy like we’re broken, the world is broken, and the sky is falling and we’re never gonna lose the weight. That’s not the case. We’re gonna do a very systematic, scientific approach. Right? Do I have a routine protocol and I stick to it? Yes. OK. Is there a simple swap I can make? Can I adjust the timing of my meals? Can I add more veggies and protein and skip out on some complex carbs or ditch the simple carbs? Can I make some swaps? Do I really need them? Can I skip them for a week and see what happens? Can I just check the portion sizes on my snacks?

Sleep, stress, hydration and stress. Am I getting good sleep? Am I drinking enough? And all of that? If you’ve tweaked all that and it’s still not working and we’re still the same weight, get some professional support. Sometimes it’s easier to see from the outside. Spoiler: It’s always easier to see from the outside. And sometimes it really is something simple. Simple tweak. I don’t know that nutrition certification, lifestyle medicine, and culinary medicine is part of that. Right? We talk about nutrition stuff. We don’t learn the normal route of school. So you need extra support if you want that social support, which is so important. We learned last week. It’s not too late to join the pumpkin challenge, and I’ve got amazing guest coaches in there this year. So fun. I’ve never done that before. I’ve never done a VIP option like this. The most fun challenge ever. Coach calls, you get personally lots of modules with so much information. Facebook group with so much pure support and that great VIP option where you actually get coaching calls with other coaches. So fun.

All right, our normal part of the weight loss journey: We plan to plan, look for adjustments, and then check on all of our lifestyle components. And if all of that is clicking and we’re still not losing, just get with an expert in a group challenge. Join the Pumpkin Challenge. Work with a coach. Get the support that you need. Good luck. I know you can do this.