This means if a person reduces their normal diet by 500 calories or expends 500 calories per day with exercise they will lose a pound a week. The biggest flaw with this 500-calorie-rule is that it assumes weight loss will continue in a linear fashion over time. The truth is in the first year of a new weight-loss program, most overweight people will lose about half the weight that the 3,500-calories rule predicts. But why? My client Carshena Ross found this out and now we are working on her metabolic rate or metabolism because that wasn’t factored into the 3,500 equation. Contrary to popular opinion, people’s metabolic rates slightly decrease as they lose weight. That’s because it takes more energy (a.k.a. calories) to fuel a 280-pound human than a 180-pound one. To sum it up what you did the first year of working out won’t carry over into your second year of weight loss. So now you ask, “Siddiqu what do I do to continue to lose weight?” CF4L Weight Loss Tips after you plateau
- Eat more protein– Can reduce appetite, cut cravings by 60% and increase the amount of calories you burn
- Start small- At the beginning of a meal, take slightly less than what you think you’ll eat. You can have seconds later if you’re truly still hungry.
- Change your calorie output/reduction- After a year of exercise the new rule is 7,000 calories = one pound.
- Check food labels-Be sure to check the Nutrition Facts panel for the serving size and number of calories per serving. You may find that the small bag of chips you eat with lunch every day, for example, is two servings, not one, which means twice the calories you thought.
- Increase the intensity of your workouts- Instead of running one mile at 10 minutes, run one mile at 9 minutes. Instead of 10 reps of an exercise perform 20 reps.
- Write down everything you are eating- This will force you to be honest about how “healthy” you are really eating. Show a person who weighs your ideal weight and ask them if they eat less food. If you can’t write it, don’t bite it!
Siddiqu “The Personal Trainer” is a CPT, motivational speaker, author of How Are You Fat and Saved?! He is also the Co-creator of the largest bootcamp in Chicago The No Excuse Bootcamp and the exercise series “You Would Think I Invented Sweat” for booking information or more fitness tips visit www.chicagofit4life.com