Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Breaking the Weight Loss Plateau (Part 2) :

Breaking the Weight Loss Plateau (Part 2) :
Insufficient Calories Consumed The human body requires a MINIMUM of 1200 calories per day to function. If you consume less than that (on a crash diet for example), your body will interpret that as being in a famine and will reduce your metabolism (the bodies ability to burn calories) in order to protect itself and be able to survive for longer. This will stop it from burning fat stores. Solution: Maintain a reasonable calorie consumption. Use a BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) calculator to determine how many calories your body requires per day to maintain itself. Once you have determined approximately how many calories your body requires to operate, reduce you calorie consumption to 500-700 calories less than that without going under 1200 calories. More than a 700 calorie deficit may lead to muscle loss which is the next cause of a weight loss plateau.


Muscle Loss All bodily tissue requires energy to maintain itself, including fat. Muscle requires FIVE TIMES the amount of energy to maintain itself than fat does. The higher the muscle percentage in your body the greater your caloric needs. Unfortunately, diets sometimes lead to muscle loss. The bodies primary source of energy is carbohydrates, followed by protein then fat. Your muscles are made of protein so if your body runs out of carbs it may turn to muscle as an energy source if those muscles are no being maintained by exercise. Unfortunately, muscle loss leads to a lower metabolism. Solution: Eat a diet rich in protein and exercise in conjunction with your reduced calorie diet to maintain muscle mass and prevent muscle loss. If necessary, vitamin supplements may be utilized to ensure correct nutrition.

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