It’s important to note that weight loss is not linear, what you may find is dramatic changes in the first few weeks especially if you’ve 10+ kilos to lose, then expect a more gradual loss. 

Have you ever been frustrated by this? This can be down to high motivation at the start of the diet, hormonal changes, increase in muscle mass or simple water loss.  Usually when on a diet we cut carbs, and they bind to water in your system making their molecule three times heavier when digested.

Here’s a Red Pill; The media has tricked you into thinking rapid weight loss is sustainable and healthy.  The research data shows the faster you lose it the greater damage it does to your physical and mental health, and 98% of the time you’ll regain +10%

Be aware slow weight loss is not a plateau!  A true plateau is going to be 3-4 weeks without any change on the scale. 

So what should we do if you’re in the situation?

First, check if you are losing {fat}.  Weight loss is nebulous, what you could be doing is losing muscle, bone density and lean tissue.  On my HAWK system, we take circumferences taken every month to keep on track, I suggest around the belly button for guys, or hips for women.  If those are coming down and the scales is the same, that’s good news!

I’d also do a diet audit.  That means recording everything that’s passed your lips over a two week period, sometimes when we’ve been dieting for some time we get diet fatigue and little by little our old treats and habits creep in.  Although it may not be as bad as before, it may be enough to halt your progress.

I’d recommend taking a diet break every 3 months, as it’s common our bodies have adapted to the lower-calorie diet over this time.  That means you can consume a few more treats, boost your energy levels and mentally refresh.  This doesn’t mean going wild, it means consuming your maintenance calories for a week or two.  **During this time train your ass! so those extra calories go to building muscle mass.

If you find you’re truly on a plateau at this point you can either decrease your calories by 10% or increase your activity levels, such as adding an additional training day.

Here’s a Red Pill; Be honest with yourself, you didn’t become overweight from one blowout weekend.  You got into this state most likely from years of eating shit, sitting on your ass and saying you’ll start Monday!  It’s going to take more than a few weeks to undo the majority of the damage.  On the bright side, weight-loss is cumulative even if you’re only losing a few grams, that’s in addition to what you’ve already lost – so keep going!