'Plateau busters' to the rescue
By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY
Many dieters hit plateaus with weight loss, and typically it happens after six to eight months, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian at Northwestern Memorial Hospital Wellness Institute in Chicago and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
If that happens to you when you're trying to lose, she recommends "plateau busters."
After you lose weight, you burn fewer calories because you are a smaller person, Blatner says. "I tell people to think of it like they took off a 20-pound backpack. It costs less calories to move their new, smaller body through space."
So they usually have to eat a little less or burn more through activity to continue to lose weight, she says.
To start, keep a food diary for seven to 10 days and try to figure out where you can make changes to trim calories, she says.
Some of her suggestions: Have a smaller skim latte in the morning, have water instead of juice, get light salad dressing, eat half as much rice or pasta at dinner or try low-fat pudding instead of ice cream.
And consider making changes with physical activity by using the FITT principle: Increase the frequency (add a day of exercise), intensity (exercise harder), time of your workouts (add 15 minutes) or add other types of activity. Maybe it's time to take up biking, weight training or kickboxing, she says.
And don't get discouraged, Blatner says. "You really can bust out of a plateau."