The Secret to Consistent Weight Loss

You’ve been losing weight for weeks. All of a sudden it stops working. Your weight isn’t going down anymore, but you’ve been sticking to your diet and exercise routine. You hit a wall, but what happened?

Here’s the first problem. As your weight drops, so does your daily caloric requirement. A 180-pound individual needs fewer calories than a 200-pound one. So if you are still consuming the same level of calories, eventually the weight-reducing number becomes the maintenance number. You no longer have a calorie deficit.

Here is an example: A 6-foot, 200-pound, 40-year-old male requires about 2473 calories to maintain that weight. A 6-foot, 180-pound 40-year-old male needs only 2275 calories. So if he were initially consuming 2223 calories to produce a 250-calorie-per-day deficit, once he reaches 180 pounds, the deficit shrinks to 52 calories per day. That won’t produce much weight loss at all.

And if that isn’t enough to derail the plan, there is the second problem. As your weight drops, so do the calories you burn. A 180-pound person walking three miles will burn fewer calories than a 200-pound individual. Our 200-pounder burns 318 calories on a one-hour walk. But at 180 pounds he only burns 286. That’s a difference of 30 calories, so now our 52-calorie-per-day deficit is only a 22-calorie deficit—which won’t get you anywhere. Get the picture?

So the secret to consistent fat loss is to adjust your caloric intake and activity level for every 10 pounds you lose. Consume slightly fewer calories and perform slightly more activity. If you adapt your plan to your changing weight, you will keep making progress and reach your goal. Guaranteed!