Stuck In A Weight Loss Rut And Can’t Seem To Shed Anymore Pounds?

You feel like you are doing everything right with your workout and watching your diet and eating right. But still, it just doesn’t seem like you are getting the same weight loss results like you were before.

If this is happening to you, you may have fallen into a weight loss rut where your results have become stagnant. What has happened is your body has adapted to your workout so you don’t see the changes happening in your body like you did before or they are happening much slower. But don’t worry. Even though you might be frustrated, don’t give up.

Let’s discuss what you could do to start seeing those exciting results again.

Make Changes In Your Workout Routine

If you want to burn calories and fire back up your fat burning furnace, you have to raise your heart rate when you exercise. So what you might consider doing is increasing the intensity of your exercise.

Taking a closer look at how all of this works can get you back on track and prevent it from happening again.

Your body changes in response to the demands placed on it. And when exercising at the right intensity level, your body speeds up, and so does your heart as it works to meet your increased energy needs. But you don’t want to overwork the heart so you need to know just how much you can speed up your heart in order to get maximum benefits from your exercise. 

In order to determine this, you need to know your target heart rate zone. You get the most benefits and decrease the risks when you exercise in your target heart rate zone. Your target heart rate zone is percentages of your heart rate that is safe for you to reach during exercise. Your maximum heart rate is typically calculated as 220 minus your age. So a 40-year old would have a maximum heart rate of 180 beats per minute, for example.

For most healthy people, exercising in a target heart rate zone from 50% to 75% of your maximum heart rate is recommended. And for the 40-year old, their target heart rate zone that they can safely workout in would be 90 to 135.

While going below the lower limit will yield little benefit, going significantly above can be dangerous. It is not recommended to exercise above 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. Intensity at that level increases cardiovascular and orthopedic risk without giving you significant additional benefit from the exercise.

When you exercise in your target heart rate zone, the body is working aerobically or with oxygen, using large muscle groups. Exercising at this level, your breathing becomes faster and there is a noticeable increase in your body temperature and heart rate. You should be able to stay in your target heart rate zone for twenty minutes or more without getting worn out.

Make Changes in Your Diet

When it comes to what you are eating, the first thing you need to do is determine whether or not extra calories are creeping into your diet. Because whether you have a full-time career, a full-time job, or you are a full-time student, it is so easy to find yourself snacking on unhealthy foods or not having regularly scheduled meals.

The biggest reason for doing this is a lack of planning. Believe it or not, as simple as it seems, planning your meals for the course of several days or a week can seem like a lot of work. So much so that most people oftentimes just don’t do it.

But, planning your meals is one of the most important factors in losing weight and keeping it off. Planning prevents “unconscious snacking†and bad, impromptu meals that can allow the pounds to creep back on or have a negative effect on your weight loss results.

If you are serious about losing weight, there is nothing wrong with scheduling a ‘bad’ meal or day in your dieting. As a matter of fact, it is a great idea, because it keeps you from having cravings. But you can only get away with this if you are exercising properly and planning your meals. When you plan your meals and even snacks, everything you eat will be healthier and move you closer to your weight loss goals.

One final thing about planning your meals. You should plan them out so that you are eating at least 5 meals a day – breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner. You could even schedule a light snack between dinner and bedtime, depending on when you eat dinner and when you go to bed.

So, if you think you have hit the weight-loss wall and you are not seeing the same kind of results or making the same kind of progress, you probably need to take a step back and see what changes you can make in your workout routine so that it is no longer routine, and see what changes you need to make in your diet or eating habits.

About the Author

David has been writing articles online for nearly 3 years now. His newest interest is coffee. Visit his website at http://www.onecupcoffeemakersreviews.com which discusses product information and good deals on one cup coffee makers.