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Health & Fitness

Healthy Eating Tips: Make a Change

The doctors at SportCo Rehabilitation teach you how to prevent the plateauing effect when trying to lose weight.

Ever tried to lose fat for any sustained period of time – and then hit the wall? You changed nothing, but suddenly the fat no longer disappears.

The human body is incredibly adaptive, and will do its level best to maintain equilibrium (homeostasis).

The plateauing effect is the biggest motivation-killer there is. Unfortunately many popular diet books are strangely quiet on the issue — weight loss plateaus don’t make good testimonials.

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What You Must Do Now:
The best single word of advice is to make a change.
Don’t make the mistake of doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result (Ben Franklin’s definition of insanity).
What changes can you make?

1. Zig-Zag Calorie Intake
Zig-zagging, or calorie cycling is the process of varying daily calorie intake, while maintaining the same weekly intake. Instead of consuming (for example) precisely 1800 calories each day – you can mix it up. Eat 1500 calories one day, and 2100 calories the next. This can be as simple as halving then doubling a portion size, or adding a post-workout shake into the plan.
Just keep your body guessing.

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2. Strength Training
If you are not doing this as part of your program or lifestyle, then it’s time to start. Working your muscles will help to strengthen bone tissue, increase lean mass, and ultimately boost metabolic rate.

3. Change Your Exercise Routine
So you go walking a lot? Then try jogging, or swimming, or cycling — anything that will change the way your body is working. If you are doing low intensity cardio work, then try some high intensity exercise.

4. Alter Macro-nutrient Intake
Although it sounds complicated, once again, the idea is to change what you are eating. If (for example) you are eating a moderate diet that is higher in carbs – try eating less carbs and more protein. There is no need to get super-technical over the whole thing.

If you have a carbohydrate snack every day at morning tea time – change it to a protein snack. Whatever you are doing consistently – try mixing it up a bit.

5. Change Meal Frequency
If you are eating three square meals a day – start adding snacks in between (which may mean reducing the portion size of the main meals). Eating often is an old and common style of eating – once again, you are trying to boost your metabolic rate.

For more information call SportCo Rehabilitation Oswego at 554-9991 or SportCo Rehabilitation Naperville at 922-6500 or find us on the web at www.sportco1.com

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