6 Ways to Break a Weight Loss Plateau

September 17, 2015
Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS

Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS

Award-winning nutritionist and New York Times bestselling author.

Reboot your thyroid, detox, and sip a fat blasting cocktail to stop stalled weight loss.

Albert Einstein said it best, “Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results is the definition of insanity.”

Picture this. You’re several weeks into your Fat Flush, Paleo, or Fast Metabolism diet plan. Your resolve is beginning to wane. You’re having trouble sticking to your regimen and you’re extremely frustrated that the scale is not nudging downward as quickly as it once did. You’ve stopped losing weight and you realize you’ve hit a weight loss plateau.

Or maybe, you vacationed a little too much over the summer. Or you’ve enjoyed too many margaritas, decadent desserts, fettuccini alfredo, or sugar laden gelato. Everyone hits a weight loss plateau now and then, and needs slump busting tips to get those pounds really moving and back on track.

My 6 Sensational Weight Loss Plateau Busters

Here are some of my top tips to break out of your weight loss plateau for good:

1. Check out your thyroid. If you can’t get a full thyroid panel with a TSH, T3, T4, and T7, then do consider a hair mineral analysis. The calcium to potassium ratio that is revealed on that test can tell us volumes about the functioning of your thyroid and how it might be contributing to your weight loss plateau. Typically those with hypothyroidism have too much calcium in relationship to potassium. And those that need to rev up their thyroid may need more potassium containing foods and/or supplements. Excessive amounts of calcium from dairy foods or supplements tamp down thyroid activity. In contrast, potassium can speed up thyroid activity. So load up on potassium-rich spinach, squash, salmon, and avocados. By balancing the thyroid gland alone and supporting your mineral balance, you can expect to veer off that weight loss plateau and lose another 10-12 pounds on your current regimen within a month’s time.

2. Clean up your gut. Unfortunately, leaky gut syndrome or dysbiosis can also cause you to hit a weight loss plateau, or create weight loss resistance.  So if you have chronic bloating, constipation, diarrhea or gas, you may be suffering from food intolerances that are precipitating major gut grief. Cutting out the most typically sensitive foods like wheat, corn, dairy, yeast, sugar, soy and eggs should be on your agenda. And, if you’re already eliminating these foods, consider adding at least 3 grams of L-glutamine a half hour before meals to help heal leaky gut syndrome and support the intestinal mucosa so that allergic producing food particles don’t make their way into your entire blood stream.

3. Cut the caffeine. I know that coffee is now highly touted as one of the highest sources of antioxidants and it’s a mainstay in some of the most popular diets out there. Consuming caffeine on an empty stomach or between meals can have a major cortisol raising effect which can cause you to hit a weight loss plateau especially in the abdominal area, and even cause weight gain. Remember that fat cells in the tummy have four times as many cortisol receptors as anywhere else. So if you are a big coffee drinker you will be elevating your cortisol, risking a good night’s sleep, and gaining weight exactly where you don’t want it—in your belly.

4. Detox the hidden invaders. Underlying infections such as parasites, worms, fungus, or yeast overgrowth affect 8 out of 10 women. One of the side effects of these conditions is stalled weight loss. Whether you’ve hit a weight loss plateau or not, do consider a GI detox for parasites and worms twice a year particularly in the spring and fall. Over the years, I’ve found the best natural colon cleanse to be the UNI KEY My Colon Cleansing Kit, as many individuals have lost up to 20 pounds of stubborn fat in a six-week period. You might also want to consider an natural yeast cleanse like Y-C Cleanse to help rid your system of yeast, mold, and fungus overgrowth. Once your system is cleared up, you’ll find it’s much easier to get off that stubborn plateau!

5. Get moving already! Try to mix up your routine as much as you can, from walking at least ½ hour a day, to rebounding, cross-fit or burst training. I believe that managing weight loss is a 50/50 proposition with diet consisting of 50% of the equation and movement the other half.

6. Finally, kick your metabolism into overdrive with my Hot Metabolism Cocktail.Break weight loss plateau with hot metabolism booster
Try this 3 times a day between meals to bust your weight loss plateau, accelerate fat loss, and remove “false fat,” (a term coined by my good friend Elson Haas, MD) from your tissues that result from inflammatory responses of infections or sensitivity provoking foods.

The Hot Metabolism Booster Cocktail
Recipe Type: Drinks
Serves: 1
Try this weight loss plateau busting cocktail to start seeing the scale moving again!
Ingredients
  • 1 large ripe tomato, or 8 ounces V8 or Knudsen’s Very Veggie Juice
  • 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
  • ½ cup filtered water (unless using juice)
  • Handful of fresh parsley
  • Handful of fresh cilantro
  • 1 green onion, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne (or as desired)
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp seaweed gomasio
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp Flora-Key
  • 1 tsp chia seeds
  • 6 ice cubes
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a blender until the desired consistency is reached.
3.3.3077

 

Have any of these tips been the secret to busting your weight loss plateau? Post a comment to share what has worked for you.

Related Articles and Podcasts

Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, is an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books including The Fat Flush Plan series and her latest book, Radical Metabolism. She’s been rewriting the rules of nutrition for more than 40 years and is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the field of diet, detox and women’s health issues. 

For a FREE daily dose of tips and strategies for maintaining healthy weight, conquering insomnia, and much more…check out my Radical Health Tips.

I’d like to meet and greet you on my Facebook groups, so won’t you check us out at the Radical Metabolism RevolutionFat Flush Nation, or my Inner Circle!

3 Comments

  1. Lisa

    What a helpful blog. You have described my situation to a T with these points. I’m going to do the Hot Metabolism Booster Coctail and get my tummy fat off for good.

    Reply
  2. Susie

    I have really enjoyed this recipe. It does change my metabolism and get the weight loss moving! Thank you Ann Louise, I have been a fan for many years!

    Reply
  3. Kimberley

    Thank you so much for this article. I started on a liquid calcium supplement and have been on my meal plan but started rapidly gaining weight. Thank you for explaining the thyroid process. I really appreciate this information. Thank you.

    Reply

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