Lose more weight by embracing the stride approach - Part 3
We all believe that when we lose more weight the pounds will start coming off one after the other in a linear, downward pattern.
Hate to break it to you, but that seldom happens.
Weight loss does not follow a straight line if you graphed it
Rather it is a bunch of peaks and valleys that should overall head in the right direction: down.
Maybe at first you lose a lot of weight quickly, but a few months into it, the weight loss will slow down and that’s when you have to stick with it and trust the process.
I think of it like making strides: one week I’ll lose a pound or two, next week the weight will stall, the third week I might lose half a pound, the fourth week I might regain it and then the fifth week I might lose two pounds and on it goes.
That’s how I experienced my weight loss, the pounds fell off intermittently. Some weeks I would have no weight loss, some others a little, yet other weeks I would lose quite a lot.
Little by little, 100lbs came off
Overall, I’d be losing weight but I understood that I couldn’t expect it to go down every single week.
And sometimes, there might be a “plateau” where I stop losing weight altogether (sometimes for several weeks!) and so I tweaked the diet a little bit but kept going until the scale started going down again.
For women, this is especially true. Our periods, every single month, will undoubtedly change how our bodies react to the diet. So we should expect this and work around it.
What I did discover, at about halfway on my weight loss path, is that, the scale might not be showing weight loss but my clothes were.
And that was strange and exciting at the same time!
Your weight-loss will fluctuate between losing pounds and losing inches.I would notice how my jeans would feel a little looser but then when I weighed myself, nothing had changed…
So I began measuring myself every two weeks and kept on weighing myself weekly; and that’s how, ultimately, I was able to lose more weight.
Slow and steady wins the race
The tools you need for this are:
- Weight scale
- Measuring tape
- Body fat caliper
It was fascinating to see how sometimes my body would shrink with no weight loss. And sometimes, how my waist would not slim down but I would lose half an inch in my hips. It was like a give and take sort of thing.
So, neither the weight on the scale nor the measurements on the tape would follow a straight path but it would differ every time.
As long as the tendency was downwards, I was happy
I suggest you weigh yourself every week to monitor your overall progress. Then measure yourself every other week to control how your body is adapting and lastly, measure your body fat with the caliper every month to guide how your body fat is decreasing.
In my experience, weighing oneself every day makes no sense. At least it didn’t work for me. If it works for you, great, keep going.
But I couldn’t expect realistically to lose more weight by weighing myself every 24 hours.
Also, as you start losing weight, you have to adjust your calorie intake, like we saw in Part 2, so you don’t hit a plateau or worse, let the weight creep up again.
As you become thinner, your BMR decreases. You have to also factor in the possibility of muscle loss as part of the weight loss.
So, as you keep losing weight you have to be more strategic about what types of food you choose
Eat clean to lose the fat and then use weights to gain muscle.The idea is to lose weight in the first months of dieting by focusing on a calorie deficit. Eat a little less than what your body needs (BMR).
Halfway through, to keep losing more weight in the coming months, concentrate on creating a calorie deficit (according to your BMR) and add walking to increase fat burn.
On the last stretch you can add strength training to build up muscle (which burns more calories even while you’re sleeping) to lean out and help you maintain the weight off.
You can lose more weight by taking a patient, disciplined and persistent approach.
Quick weight loss is doable but not sustainable
Lose more weight by knowing how many calories your body needs in a day and eating a little less to create a calorie deficit.
Weigh yourself weekly and also measure your body to have 2 sets of information at your disposal. Each will tell you how things are working out.
Add some walking to help boost the weight loss and to get your joints moving.
Lose more weight with steady cardio, start walking around your block for 20 minutes every day or take 1 full hour 3 times per week or so.
Learn how to lose weight fast by walking. A simple yet doable approach for everybody, learn more in the next article.
Part 4 - How to lose weight fast with simple steps
Back to Move
Back to Home Page
