 [ Symptoms ] my weight has hit a plateau what do i do [ Disease ] there are several reasons why your weight can hit a plateau including losing weight too quickly when this happens your metabolism the rate at which your body burns calories can slow down because your body senses it is starving rapid or large amounts of weight loss can slow your metabolism by as much as 40 in six months losing muscle when you lose weight up to 25 can come from muscle tissue and since muscle is the engine in your body that burns calories and helps maintain your metabolism losing it can hinder weight loss weightlifting can help preserve and build muscle reaching your body is particular set point    the weight and metabolic rate your body is genetically programmed to be once you reach that point it is much harder to lose weight and even if you do you are likely to regain it if you are at a weight at which you have hit a plateau in the past if your body generally seems to gravitate toward that weight and you are within a bmi body mass index range of 20 to 25 then you may be at your set point decreasing your physical activity andor increasing your caloric intake people lose weight all the time by reducing their caloric intake without doing any exercise but it is almost impossible to keep weight off without exercising many scientists agree that physical activity is the single best predictor of whether a person will maintain a weight loss other health factors including thyroid or adrenal gland problems medications like antidepressants quitting smoking menopause and pregnancy even with any of the above factors the bottom line to losing weight is eating fewer calories than you burn studies show that people almost always underestimate how many calories they are eating so if you are struggling with weight loss you are still exercising and you have ruled out any of the above reasons for weight plateaus look at your calorie intake as for exercise and weight plateaus sometimes a change in routine can help instead of the treadmill try the bike or the stepper instead of a dance class try a stretch and tone class if you are not weight lifting this would be a good time to start if you already do aerobic exercise try adding intervals short bursts of higher intensity exercise to your aerobic workouts and keep reminding yourself that if you maintain an active lifestyle and continue with healthy eating you will reach your goals it can be frustrating when you are putting so much hard work into losing weight only to hit a plateau do not be discouraged a few simple changes may be all that you need for exercise consider the f i t t principle f – frequency – how often or how many days you exercise i – intensity – how hard you work during your exercise t – time – how long or how many minutes you spend per session t –