One of the questions and comments I get frequently has to do with weightloss stalls. The first thing I ask people is, “tell me your daily diet and your exercise plan.” Most of the time people are exercising very hard, eating pretty good, but they will always end the daily description with…
“I do well all day. I might have a few bites of this and that, but I exercise and such so it’s not enough to make me gain weight or plateau me. Help! What do I do?”
Stop snacking. It’s as simple as that. When I say stop snacking, I don’t mean drop your planned snacks that you have built into your menu. I mean let go of the…
- Kid’s fries, leftover nugget, last bite of macaroni and cheese, two bites of the peanut butter sandwich, ten little Goldfish
- Co-workers couple of Tootsie Rolls, butterscotch disks, taste of their appetizer at lunch, small, tiny piece of birthday cake
- Your husbands taste of pizza, ice cream before bed, mashed potatoes, pasta
Does any of that sound familiar? Most of the time when we are “sampling the goods,” we’re sampling the calorie-laden foods. We rarely beg someone for a bite of a rice cake or a sampling of their dry chicken ***. It’s these unplanned indulgences that lead to fat loss stalls.
To lose fat you have to eat in a caloric deficit. When you exercise your deficit is less than the typical non-exerciser because you are fueling workouts (hopefully!). Having an extra 200-300 cals a day in just nibbles and tastes is more than enough to throw your body into a maintenance phase. Why work so hard planning your food and killing yourself at the gym if you are just going to nibble yourself into maintenance?
If you are having trouble busting the plateau, start with cutting all nibbles, bites, tastes, and non-measured portions out of your daily plan. Often that is all you need to enjoy fat loss success!