When you’re a male model—a job that prioritizes stellar appearance—weight management is essential. However, achieving your desired weight loss results isn’t as straightforward as simply putting the effort in. Your actions do have an impact: if you’re having trouble losing weight, practicing healthy lifestyle habits like reviewing your diet or changing your fitness routine can be precisely what you need to stay on track. But if you’re already enacting those habits and still not losing the weight you want, you might be experiencing a weight loss plateau instead.
Read on to learn more about what a weight loss plateau is—and how to changing your mindset is one of the best ways to overcome it.
What is a weight loss plateau?
When you started creating lifestyle changes to attain your desired body type, you might have been pleasantly surprised that weight loss progress came quickly. If this progress has since slowed to a stop, that’s not necessarily on you. You’ve probably just hit a weight loss plateau where your body stubbornly maintains or even gains weight. While this is aggravating, it’s also normal. That’s because of set point theory.
Experts currently believe that everyone has a set point weight: your body’s natural predisposition to maintain a certain weight based on factors like genetics, hormones, and medications. When you try to go below that set point by losing weight, your body responds by increasing your appetite to regain those pounds and go back to your set point—causing a weight loss plateau. However, that doesn’t mean you’re stuck for good. Cultivating a positive mindset through behavioral changes can help you slowly and steadily achieve any weight loss goals below your set point weight.
How to develop a positive weight loss mindset
Listen to your body
When you have a career as image-based as modeling, you may want to lose weight to force your body to look a certain way. Your biology doesn’t work like that, though—so following its lead can help you build a more positive approach to weight loss. Aside from eating the right food, this means changing the way you eat, as well. For example, you can help your body feel full faster by chewing your food slowly. Meanwhile, a 2020 study shows that varying your mealtimes can throw off your circadian rhythm and increase your risk of overeating. To counter this, try following a meal schedule, and stick to it even when shoots or assignments make irregular snacking eaiser. Eating in line with your bodily functions can help you steadily lose weight, get your body used to going below your set point—and break your weight loss plateau.
Find ways to keep moving throughout the day
You likely already have an exercise regimen to keep your body fit. Remember, though, you don’t have to confine your weight loss efforts to the gym. Instead of thinking of exercise as something you perform during a specific time, focus on moving whenever possible. Consider a broader range of activities you can do throughout the day, like biking to the studio, walking between photoshoots, and taking the stairs whenever possible. This small, simple change can motivate you to maintain a more active lifestyle even on busy days, and it’s another way to get your body acclimated to losing more weight.
Celebrate all your weight loss wins
Hitting a weight loss plateau can be discouraging: it can make you feel you’re no longer on track to reach your goals. Fortunately, there are more ways to measure your progress than just stepping on a scale. One is to keep track of your efforts, no matter the outcome. If you walked less than 10,000 steps today, that’s still progress—you still found the time to go on a walk, and that’s what counts. Ultimately, consistency is the key to breaking weight loss plateaus. By recognizing and celebrating all the effort you put into weight loss, you can build a healthier, more sustainable, and more positive mindset that will slowly but surely help you hit your weight loss goals.
Weight loss journeys often take challenging twists and turns, and the plateau is one of them. Keep pushing through, and you’ll start losing weight again in no time.
Images from MMSCENE STYLE STORIES: Stefan Stojanov by Luka Boskovic – See the full story here
