Show of hands — who here has been personally victimized by a weight loss plateau?
It’s such a drag when you’re doing everything right, and the scale starts to get stubborn, especially when you’ve been losing weight for a while.
Talk about a motivation killer.
Everything’s been working so far, why the sudden change?
Well, the truth is weight loss plateaus are going to happen. They happen at different times for different reasons, but it’s just part of the process.
But don’t get discouraged. We have a solution. A secret weapon, if you will.
Stick with this article, and by the end, you’ll understand why weight loss plateaus happen and how to beat one every time (it’s pretty simple, by the way).
Ok, we know you’re antsy to start seeing results again, so let’s jump right into it.
Why Do Weight Loss Plateaus Happen?
A weight loss plateau is your body telling you that you need to change something.
We spoke with Dr. Yael Cooperman, a physician and clinical education specialist at Ro.
“A weight loss plateau is essentially your body responding to what it perceives as limited resources. When you adopt a new diet or exercise routine and start shedding pounds, your body thinks you don’t have enough resources, and it triggers a hormonal cascade to preserve energy. This can slow and even reverse your weight loss progress, sometimes resulting in weight gain.”
You’re probably thinking, “sure, that’s great, but you promised a secret weapon.”
Well, we’ll cut to the chase. The best tool you can have for crushing a weight loss plateau is a type of exercise with variety baked right in.
Drum roll, please.
We’re talking about weighted jump ropes.
If you’re ready to jumpstart your weight loss again, the Get Fit Bundle is the best place to start. Not convinced yet? No sweat, keep scrolling and we’ll show you some more ways you can break out of your rut.
First, let's chat a bit about the three principles of weight loss success.
Once you have a good grasp of these three concepts, you’ll understand how to break a weight loss plateau. You’ll also see why weighted jump ropes are an obvious choice to get you back into action.
3 Principles of How To Beat a Weight Loss Plateau
Here are the principles: adaptation, overload, and progression.
Let’s break them down.
1. Adaptation
Adaptation is really easy to understand.
Your body is a brilliant machine, and it adapts to any type of exercise you try.
Eventually, your body can and will handle all the physical stress your workouts put it through.
What does this mean?
You’re going to plateau if you don’t throw new stressors at your body.
There are ebbs and flows. You need to adapt as your body adjusts.
We’ve all heard it before – if it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you, which brings us to our following principle: overload.
2. Overload
Ever heard this one before, “If you want to keep seeing results, you need to continually work harder as your body adapts to working out.”
Well, that’s not necessarily true.
You need to continually work smarter as your body adapts to workouts.
The changes you make to your workouts don’t need to be ridiculously difficult. They just need to be different.
Take a jump rope, for example.
When you’re just starting out and using a jump rope for cardio, you’re going to see results because your body isn’t familiar with the exercise.
But, as we know, the body adapts.
Now you need to introduce a new challenge.
Creating a new challenge can be as simple as branching out to new footwork variations like alternate foot jump, boxer step, criss-crosses, or double unders. All of these different techniques introduce a new challenge for your body to adapt to.
And suppose you recall the Get Fit Bundle we showed you earlier. In that case, you add another layer of overload with the different weighted ropes.
Once you get the swing of things with one rope, you can challenge your body with a heavier weight. Plus, you can cycle through different weights to always keep your body in a state of adaptation.
Dr. Yael Cooperman explains, "Getting past a weight loss plateau typically requires a change in routine and adopting activities that boost your metabolism. One great trick is using activities that build muscle. For a long time, conventional wisdom touted cardio exercises alone, like jogging, for weight loss. But combining those with strength training increases muscle mass which keeps your metabolism higher even when you’re not actively working out."
The concept behind this practice is simple: listen to your body. You’ll know when it’s time to level up. Progression is key.
3. Progression
The process of overloading your body with different weights and techniques keeps it from fully adapting.
That’s when you progress, moving you out of your weight loss plateau.
We’ve seen so many people use jump ropes to speed up their weight loss and break through plateaus when they’ve stopped losing weight.
That’s how one of our customers, Rima, made this happen:
For about 8 years, Rima jumped on every health and wellness trend. She would temporarily lose weight before hitting a plateau and watching the scale go back up. She described it as “a literal roller coaster of ups and downs physically, mentally, and spiritually.”
When Rima started to use jump ropes, she saw results. You can read her full story here.
Rima used our Get Fit Bundle, in case you were wondering. This bundle:
These jump ropes could be your secret weight loss plateau breaker.
Once you give the Get Fit Bundle a try, you’re going to experience the amazing benefits of weighted jump ropes.
Bonus Weight Loss Plateau Tips
The three principles we just covered can help you beat a weight loss plateau, but as we know, weight loss has many layers.
So here are some bonus weight loss plateau tips.
1. Ramp Up The Protein
Here’s an annoying fact — you start to feel hungrier as you lose weight.
You can read about the science and hormones involved here.
To push back against this side effect, make sure you’re getting enough protein in every meal. Protein is going to fill you up quickly and keep you full longer.
2. Keep a Food Journal
And actually use it.
This tip can be tricky because it’s hard to be honest with ourselves sometimes, but really try to keep a truthful record of what you’re putting into your body.
Here’s some more science covering how people who kept a food journal lost twice as much weight as people who didn’t.
3. Skip Happy Hour
Alcohol is to weight loss as Voldemort is to Harry Potter.
They just don’t get along.
Alcohol is extremely high in calories. Even the “healthiest” alcoholic drink (red wine) is about 125 calories — and that’s assuming it’s not a generous pour.
Not to mention, we tend to make not-so-great food choices once we’ve dipped into the bottle. Our guess is there are plenty of Uber Eats drivers who can attest to that.
Now, we’re not saying you can’t indulge when you’re trying to lose weight (everything in moderation). Still, if you’ve hit a weight loss plateau, it’s worth considering saying no to happy hour. At the very least, eat a protein-rich meal before drinking to keep those lurking junk cravings at bay.
4. Keep Water With You Everywhere
If you’re reading this right now, drink some water. Seriously.
You’ve probably heard this advice enough, so we won’t drone on about hydration, but it’s a quick win for beating a weight loss plateau. It’s easy to confuse thirst and hunger, so make sure you always have a water bottle handy.
5. Try to De-Stress
Stress, whether related to your weight loss journey or not, can cause a plateau.
You can read more science stuff here.
Minimize your stress to help curb those plateaus and indulge in some self-care.
Exercise also does wonders for helping with stress. Another great reason to treat yourself to the Get Fit Bundle because you can literally jump anywhere, anytime. Keep your ropes handy, and when stress starts to get the best of you, unwind with a quick jump break.
6. Lift (or Jump) Heavier
We definitely covered this earlier in the post, but we really want to drive it home. If you stick to the same strength training routine for too long, your body will adapt.
If you’re stuck on a weight loss plateau, the best thing to do is shake up your workouts. Switch up your go-to movements, experiment with different weights, vary your intensity levels, but don’t keep doing the same things.
Over To You
We hope these tips and insights will help you beat your weight loss plateau. If you have any suggestions of your own, drop them in the comments, and let’s help each other out.
Dr. Yael Cooperman had this to add, "The key is also to remember that weight management isn’t a one-time thing. It’s a permanent lifestyle change and there can be bumps in the road to a healthier you. Don’t get discouraged, though.
Picking up activities that you can stick with is always a good choice. That means opting for something convenient and accessible rather than an activity that’s hard to get to. Also, community can help: anything from group classes to online support groups can keep your motivation up.
Finally, when it comes to getting healthy, it’s always a good idea to check in with your doctor. A range of hormone imbalances can make weight loss an uphill battle. Blood tests and a check-up may offer insight into how to break free from your weight loss plateau. Your doctor can also determine if you might be a candidate for medications that can help jumpstart your weight loss, including GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy or Zepbound."
Before you go, check out our Crossrope Jump Rope Fitness Community if you’re really feeling stuck. Our online community has 94K members and growing every single day. It has some of the most encouraging and supportive people we’ve ever seen. So, if you need someone in your corner to help you through your fitness journey, it’s a great place to start.
Oh, and still not convinced the Get Fit Bundle is the right plateau buster? Check out these reviews that just might convince you otherwise.
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