I frequently get questions on how to beat a plateau and always give the same answers. While plateauing for shorter periods doesn’t always mean you aren’t making progress, it can be quite emotionally deflating if you’re working your hardest and don’t think you’re progressing toward your goal. The first thing I tell people is to make sure you look at all the pertinent facts. Weight loss is one of them, but so are inches lost. You may be replacing fat with muscle tissue, which is denser. That means if you built a container that help precisely one pound of fat and one that contained one pound of muscle tissue, the container that held the fat would be bigger. The more muscle tissue you have, the thinner you’ll look and that’s the ultimate goal, isn’t it?

If you’ve been doing the same old routine for years. Even if you’re working out for hours, eating healthy and getting adequate sleep and hydration, you won’t get the most bang for your buck or get the best possible results. That’s because your body becomes efficient at the movements. That means it burns fewer calories. That also means it stalls your weight loss. To get the best possible results from your workout, vary your routine frequently.

If you weigh more, just carrying around the extra pounds burns more calories. As you start to shed weight, you’ll see less progress if you don’t adjust your caloric intake. You simply don’t need as many to operate healthily on a day to day basis. For people trying to lose a significant amount of weight, cut back a bit on calories every 10 pounds or so. For those not counting calories and eating healthy or even if you are calorie counting, a cheat day may be in order, as long as you don’t overdo it. Cheat days keep your metabolism higher and help prevent your body from slowing your metabolism.

If you want to lose weight faster, strength training is a great option. It also can help prevent plateauing. That’s because strength training builds muscle tissue and muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue does. Unlike aerobic training, which burns both fat and muscle tissue, strength training builds muscle tissue and burns fat.