Weight Loss Plateaus and Your Food Tracker

Dec 6
08:37

2012

Ryan Newhouse

Ryan Newhouse

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A plateau can be especially demoralizing because it involves a slow down or stop of weight loss even when you are continuing to keep to your calorie and exercise goals.

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A food journal is a good way to avoid a weight loss plateau while you are losing weight. Most people do not understand what a weight loss plateau is even though the large majority of dieter experiences this phenomenon at least once while they are losing weight. A plateau can be especially demoralizing because it involves a slow down or stop of weight loss even when you are continuing to keep to your calorie and exercise goals. With the tools in your online journal,Weight Loss Plateaus and Your Food Tracker Articles you can successfully head off a plateau or move past one if you are already there.

 

There are many tools in your journal that can help you avoid a plateau in your weight loss, including an exercise tracker. A plateau happens most often when your BMR, which is the basal metabolic rate, changes. The BMR will go down as you lose weight, which is why it’s a common occurrence for dieters to suddenly stop losing weight as quickly as they once were. The BMR is the number of calories that your body burns naturally to function, and when this number goes down, you will need to increase the number of calories that you burn through activities in order to make up the difference.

 

Using your weight loss journal you can determine what your BMR is and continuously re-evaluate it as you lose weight. If you started out with a BMR of 1600 and it has gone down to 1500, you will have to burn an extra 100 calories a day to lose weight at the same rate as you were when you began. The BMR is the prime cause of many weight loss plateaus, but by keeping an eye on this number, you can avoid getting into a plateau situation in the first place.

 

Use your mobile calorie tracker to re-adjust your calorie goals as your BMR changes and you should be able to successfully get over a plateau. If you started out eating the minimum safe number of calories, you will need to add extra exercise or activities to your daily routine to lose weight at the same rate. This could be as simple as adding an extra mile to your daily walk or a quick 20 minute workout at the gym.