3 Ways To Re-Start Stalled Fat Loss Progress

As part of a recent Q&A session with my client group, I was asked the following question:

Before I get into my 3 strategies to help you re-start stalled fat loss progress, let me just point out where Mita is 100% right.

It IS about a calorie deficit. All weight loss diets are only effective in the presence of a calorie deficit.

• Keto works as it reduces calorie intake via removing carbs

• Fasting works as it reduces calorie intake by reducing your eating windows

• Paleo works is it reduces calorie intake from calorie dense processed foods

The processes are different, but the mechanism is the same. Expending more calories than you consume consistently over time is the thing doing the heavy lifting.

Never lose sight of that.

But here are 3 way to re-start your stalled fat loss progress if like Mita, you're feeling a bit stuck or a bit lost.

1) Check Your Adherence

The way things will usually progress with a fat loss client is that they sign-up and motivation is high. They're really excited about the changes that they could see over the next few weeks/months, and they're super absorbent of all the information and advice I give them.

Because of this, adherence is high, progress is great, and things are all fine and dandy.

But over time, it's human nature that adherence begins to slip.

It's often not conscious, but people will slip from being mindful about every meal and snack, to every meal and most snacks, to every meal and some snacks, to every meal, to most meals...

And some of this is positive. I don't want clients to be obsessing over meals and food choices over time. I actually think it is healthier and more sustainable to go through periods of high focus and low focus (I call it being in-season and off-season with your nutrition).

But if you've been telling yourself you've been high focus/in-season, but your adherence has actually been lower focus/off season, that is where frustration sets in. Frustration can be very destructive.

So just check-in on your adherence. I operate a system called "The Compliance Score", where clients give themselves 1 point per day for hitting each of their calorie range goal, their protein range goal, and their activity goal. This gives you a weekly score out of 21 (maximum of 3 points per day x 7 days).

Step one for me to help re-start stalled fat-loss progress is to check-in on that compliance score. Make sure it is where you think it is, and bring it up if you need to.

2) Check Your Goals

If your adherence/compliance is high, but your progress is still stalled, the next step is to check-in on your goals. I'm a little bit different to most coaches, where I see your calories and macros as the goal rather than the process. Most nutrition coaches will give you calorie and macro numbers as your process, and if you don't make process they change, or even worse, slash them.

I see your calories and macros as the goal. We ultimately want to hit your calories and macros consistently enough to over time to drive progress. The process is how you construct your meals, food shops, meal preps, habits and routines to meet those calorie and macro goals. So when I say step two is to "check you goals", I don't mean "do you still want to lose body fat"? Of course you do, that's why stalled progress is frustrating you. Instead, lets check-in on those calorie and macro goals. Are they still appropriate for where you are now, compared to where you were when they were first set? That means running your current stats through my Advance Calorie and Macro Estimator (you can access this for FREE as part of my Everyday Athlete Coaching Bundle). If you've already lost a significant amount of weight, your calorie and macro needs will be different now to when you started that journey. What was once a 10% calorie deficit for someone 10kg heavier than you are now, may be calorie maintenance for the new lighter and leaner you. So check in on those calorie and macro goals, and re-set your actions based on those. 3) Take A Break

There are a few reasons why a diet break could be really useful for someone who's frustrated by stalled progress. You can't be high focus on your nutrition and dieting for 365 days of the year. As an everyday athlete you have lots of other things going on that require your focus, energy and time.

That doesn't mean you should yo-yo diet your way through life going from high focus to no focus. It means you should go through periods of time where your nutrition and fat loss is of a high focus, and times where it is of a lower focus. Time's where you goal is progress and fat loss, and times where your goal is maintenance and bodyweight stability. This does two key things for the frustrated dieter.

1. It gives you a mental break.

Your adherence may be down as you're just cooked from extended high focus on your nutrition.

Taking a break can give you a chance to focus attention elsewhere, and renew some mental energy and motivation for a higher focus push later on.

2. It gives your body a moment of stability.

You body is constantly searching for a state of homeostasis (balance).

If you're bodyweight is always changing, it never has a chance to find that balance, and identify a new normal.

It is a good rule of thumb to stay at maintenance for around half the time you've been losing weight to allow your body to identify this new weight as the new normal. So an 8 week diet should be followed with at least 4 weeks of maintenance. A 16 week diet should be followed with at least 8 week of maintenance.

This physical and mental break from the dieting process will give you a really good, solid and stable start point for your next push.

If you're in need of some help re-setting your nutrition after a period frustration, just click here to access my FREE High Performance Nutrition for the Everyday Athlete video series.

It'll teach you everything you need to know about how to optimise your nutrition for body composition and performance goals as an everyday athlete.

Ian.