How To Break Through A Weight Loss Plateau (Definitive 3 Step Guide)

You're losing weight consistently for a few solid weeks, and then “IT” HAPPENS…

BAM! You hit an invisible “weight loss wall.”

You stop losing weight altogether. It can be incredibly frustrating. I know the feeling personally. I struggled with a weight loss plateau for an entire year before breaking through (see my “fat & fit” pics here).

I've learned a ton from coaching thousands of guys through successful weight loss transformations, and in this powerful guide, I'm going to give you 3 Action Steps you can use to break through a weight loss plateau.

Get a pen out, take some notes, and let's dive in…

Action Step #1: Identify your weight loss “consistency gaps.”

If you've been trying to lose weight for some time now, you have probably learned that SUCCESSFUL weight loss is a consistency game.

Weight loss is NOT won over quick-fix crash diets that you'll ALWAYS fall off track with.

Weight loss is won through the consistent application of what I call “the weight loss fundamentals” – which are as follows:

• A simple, sustainable meal plan
• Time efficient exercise
• Consistent motivation & accountability
• A clear goal & structure to your weight loss journey

Often when we hit a weight loss wall, its because SOME PART of our plan has become inconsistent.

We're either slipping up with our meal plan, missing workouts or not feeling motivated…

So, the first place we need to start to break through a weight loss plateau is to reflectively ask ourselves…

“Where am I slipping up right now?”

I call these problem areas that prevent your weight loss “Consistency Gaps.”

Here are a few of the common “Weight Loss Consistency Gaps” I see most often with my clients…

• “I lose weight during the week, and then blow it over the weekend with bad eating…”
• “I get stressed, and my sleep schedule becomes erratic, and then my weight loss stops…”
• “I get busy at work, and I start missing my workouts because I'm tired at night…”
• “I'm feeling tired and losing motivation, and I stop putting in as much effort during my workouts…”

Your weight loss consistency gap is your KRYPTONITE. We need to identify your #1 GAP now.

So, I want to ask you this question…

Being TOTALLY HONEST with yourself, WHERE do you think your consistency gaps are in your routine right now? Think about this for a second…

• Is it with your eating?
• Exercise? Motivation?
• Binging over the weekend?

For me personally, my consistency gap is with exercise. When I get busy and DON’T SCHEDULE my workouts, they don’t always “get done: at the end of the day when I’m exhausted.

Now…

Perhaps the #1 way to identify your consistency gap is to track your weight every single day.

Allow me to explain how this single habit will help you break through a weight loss plateau now…

Why Daily Weight Tracking Is Your #1 Habit For Weight Loss Success

It was the famous business management consultant Peter Drucker who once said something to the effect of, “What is consistently tracked and measured is consistently improved.”

This is a key concept we need to master in order to break through a weight loss plateau.

Since weight loss is OUR GOAL, we need to CONSISTENTLY track our weight. That makes perfect sense, right…?

Yet, in my experience, over 95% of people trying to lose weight sadly don't track their weight daily.

Now, it's important to know that your weight WON'T always move every single day.

• Some days it may jump down a few pounds.
• For a string of a few days, your weight may remain the same.

That's 100% OK!

Seeing the scale numbers drop every day is NOT THE POINT of weight tracking…

What's MOST IMPORTANT is using daily tracking to identify the days when your WEIGHT JUMPS UP…

Let's say you wake up this morning 3lbs heavier than yesterday. What happened…?

• Did you miss a night of sleep?
• Did you eat WAY too much at dinner?
• Did you skip a workout?
• Did you not drink enough water?
• Are you feeling particularly stressed at work?

Tracking your weight – ESPECIALLY THE WEIGHT JUMPS – gives us the transparency to see WHICH consistency gaps are tripping you up and HOW your body reacts to those gaps.

This knowledge is invaluable when trying to break through a weight loss plateau. Because once we are armed with some perspective on your consistency gaps, we can make safeguards to your plan.

Let's say we learn that missing a good night of sleep causes your weight loss to stop…

Awesome! Now, we can intentionally work on improving your sleep to keep the weight loss progressing.

Let's say we learn that eating a HUGE carb-filled dinner causes your weight to jump the next day

Awesome again! Now, we have some emotion behind making smarter choices at our next dinner to avoid the (inevitable) weight jump that may happen if we slip up.

Listen, if you're stuck with your weight right now, and you ARE NOT tracking your weight daily, start doing that immediately.

Without a consistent metric of daily weight, you're flying blind with your weight loss.

TRACKING and the TRANSPARENCY tracking are KEY to break through a weight loss plateau.

That’s why the guys in our very effective Fit Father 30-Day Body Transformation Program track their weight consistently during the week. It keeps everyone accountable and identifies those consistency gaps that we can quickly fix.

Tracking and accountability are also why our FF30X members have such consistent weight loss success – like Jim here who dropped over 40lbs after struggling with weight loss plateaus for years!

If you're are serious about getting unstuck with your weight loss and getting the expert support to help you reach your goal weight for less than the price of a single take-out dinner… you can read the FF30X program overview letter here.

OK, so now that we’ve identified the concept of “Weight Loss Consistency Gaps,” let's look at the TWO (2) other key tools we can use to break through a weight loss plateau.

Key Tool #2: Tighten up your meal plan…

When we hit a weight loss plateau, and our workouts haven’t changed, our sleep hasn't changed, and our stress levels haven't changed…

…it’s time to tighten up the meal portions a bit.

Calorie counting CAN be useful for this, but it’s far from necessary.

Here are a few eating rules to break through a weight loss plateau – WITHOUT calorie counting:

Rule #1: Keep your protein HIGH at each meal.

For most guys, 6-8oz of protein per meal is a good rule of thumb. This is what 6-8oz of protein looks like in a meal with the proper portions.

Ideal protein sources:

• Lean grass-fed beef
• Organic/natural chicken breast
• Turkey of all kinds
• CLEAN, non-toxic fish (sardines, wild salmon, tilapia)

Rule #2: Cut back on your healthy carbs at each meal.

These healthy carbs are foods like:

• brown rice
• quinoa
• sweet potatoes
• oatmeal
• berries
• Ezekiel Bread (for all guys on my programs, I recommend avoiding wheat besides Ezekiel)

We want to KEEP those carbs foods in our meal plan (we NEVER fully restrict carbs or fats).

We simply CUT BACK the carb portions a bit and INCREASE our serving of fibrous green veggies.

So, instead of 1 cup of brown rice with our protein at dinner, we'll do 1/2 – 3/4 cup with a BIGGER serving of green veggies (broccoli, asparagus, salad, Brussels sprouts, etc.).

This simple “nutrition tightening” strategy alone is enough to get your weight loss moving again.

So if you’re following our highly effective “Fit Father No Think Meal Plan” that’s included in the FF30X program, you’d simply back off on your carb portions for your meals by about 1/3.

And look, if you are NOT on a consistent meal plan right now, there is NO WAY to ensure that we can effectively manage your portions and get you losing weight.

You NEED a simple, delicious, and structured meal plan to break through a weight loss plateau…

Ok! On to our next tool…

Key Tool #3: Increase Your Exercise Intensity

The BEST weight loss plans incorporate TIME-EFFICIENT and HIGHLY-EFFECTIVE workouts.

We're busy guys. We can't spend hours slaving away in the gym. That's why we need very time-efficient workouts that fit into our schedules.

So, when we hit a weight loss plateau, AND we've tightened up our nutrition, the next key step is to INCREASE the intensity (not duration) of our workouts.

If you’ve been following the FFP for some time, you are familiar with the fact that we advocate a COMBINATION of two key types of exercise for both weight loss and lean muscle building.

• Exercise Type #1: Functional Interval Training – these are “burst-style” cardio workouts to increase your fat burning metabolism (1-3 sessions per week)
• Exercise Type #2: Full Body Strength Training – to increase lean mass and strength very efficiently (1-3 sessions per week). Full body workouts are research proven to build more muscle than split training in less time.

So, once we have BOTH those forms of exercise in place, we can increase our workout intensity in a few ways…

With our Functional Interval Training workouts, we can:

• Increase the speed and/or resistance of our “burst intervals.”*
• Change the form of exercise (from doing sprint intervals on a bike to performing something more effective, like our R8X Kettlebell workout we teach you in FF30X).

Note: *If you are unfamiliar with “bursts” and Functional Interval Training or the proper way to Full Body Strength Train, test drive our FF30X Program for 30-Days to try these powerful workouts for yourself.

With Strength Training workouts, we can:

• Change our exercises to more effective compound movements (like squats, deadlifts, pullups, pushups, military press, rows, dumbbell press) – from less effective machine and single joint “isolation” exercises.
• Decrease the rest between our lifting sets to around 45 seconds (this boosts the metabolic effect of your strength training BIG TIME).
• SUPERSET antagonistic body parts like chest/back -or- bis/tris in our strength workouts to perform a greater number of sets WITHOUT altering our total training time.

Key Point: it doesn’t take a long time to get results from exercise WHEN you have the proper plan exercise and eating plan that synergistically work together.

Your exercise sessions should take 30-45 minutes a few times per week.

You exercise intelligently, and you work efficiently. That's how you will succeed.

Again, if you are NOT currently on a consistent exercise plan that incorporates both Strength Training + Functional Interval Training, you are missing out on a tremendous amount of results…

Bonus Key #4: Finally, we have 2 more little “tricks”…

Once we’ve tightened up the diet (keeping the protein high, dropping the carb portions back a bit, and increasing our veggie intake)…

AND once we’re on the proper workout routine, and we’ve increased intensity through new exercises, lower rest, and a FIT + Strength Training Combo…

We have two final tools we can use to break through a weight loss plateau…

Tool #1: Use 24-hour fasts to boost fat burning.

I intend to write a MUCH MORE extensive article on the tremendous health and fat loss benefits of short intermittent fasts in the coming weeks.

For now, here is the basic summary:

• Our human bodies are BUILT to fast. It's hardwired into our genetic code, as our ancient ancestors often fasted for periods of time without constant food access.
• Short 24 hour fasts increase human growth hormone (a very potent fat burning hormone) by 1600% in men (1). This is a really powerful anti-aging and weight loss effect that FAR SURPASSES the GH raising ability of any supplement.
• 24-hour fasts even build new brain cells and prevent memory loss, neurodegeneration, and Alzheimer's (2).
• And fasting cleans out all the “metabolic junk” that accumulates in your cells through a process called autophagy (3).

Here's how to use fasting to break through a weight loss plateau:

• Plan ONE dinner-to-dinner (24 hours fast) this week. I usually plan mine for EITHER Sundays when I'm home relaxing – OR on my busiest work days when I'm not focusing on eating.
• Have a healthy dinner tonight, and stop eating afterward.
• Until dinner the following day, simply drink black coffee, unsweetened green tea, and water (with lemon, if you like).
• End your fast with another healthy dinner.

Voila! Super simple. Super powerful. You'll see your weight start to move with this little trick.

Tool #2: Use research-proven, effective fat loss supplements

The Truth: most fat loss supplements are GARBAGE. They don't work and simply waste your money.

Now, there is a small handful of fat loss supplements that are research proven to help you break through a weight loss plateau – we'll cover those in just a second.

But first, for supplements to BE EFFECTIVE, you must have:

• Identified and fixed your “Weight Loss Consistency Gaps.”
• Tightened up your meal plan.
• Increased your exercise intensity.

Once your eating and exercise are tuned up, here are the supplements you can incorporate:

Supplement #1: Green Tea Catchins (EGCG)

It turns out that green tea has special fat compounds called catechins (Epigallocatechin gallate “aka EGCG”) that help your body burn more fat. The fat burning effect of green tea is very reliable in the research. (4, 5, 6)

The fat burning results are NOT dramatic (there is NO MAGIC fat loss pill), but the results are noticeable when incorporated into an overall structured eating and exercise plan.

Supplement #2: Good Ol' Caffeine

Caffeine is actually one of the best fat burning supplements around.

In fact, the research shows that caffeine can increase your metabolic rate by as much as 11% – with higher doses having a greater effect (7).

Black coffee also has some added fat loss benefit, as it contains another special compound called caffeic acid that also helps with fat burning and insulin sensitivity.

Supplement #3: Your baseline “Optimum Health Stack”

There are “4 Golden Supplements” that I recommend EVERY GUY be on for baseline optimal health. Simply put: if you're missing any of these 4 supplements, your weight loss efforts will be less effective.

• Fish Oil/Krill Oil/Omega 3 supplement
• Vitamin D3 Supplement (super important for testosterone and immune function)
• Quality Probiotic (super important for fat loss, immune function, digestion, and brain health)
• Quality multi-vitamin/greens powder.

I deep dive extensively into these different supplements (and the products I recommend) in our FF30X program. We don't have enough time to go into each of these here. I simply wanted you to know what the best baseline supplements are.

Other gimmicky supplements like raspberry ketone, green coffee beans, crap you see on Dr. Oz, or highly stimulatory thermogenic supplements are NOT worth your time or money.

Stick with the researched guidelines in this article, and you will start to break through a weight loss plateau in record time.

The Quick N' Dirty Article Summary:

I hope you found this useful, brother! Here are the main points:

1. First, identify your “Weight Loss Consistency Gaps” – the areas of your routine where you consistently slip up. Tracking your weight on a daily basis is one of the best ways to identify these gaps.
2. Second, tighten up your meal plan with MORE protein, MORE veggies, and FEWER carbs. This is NOT rocket science; however, if you are not on a structured eating plan like the powerful one provided in FF30X, it will be very difficult to actually ensure you are eating properly.
3. Third, increase your exercise intensity – principally by CHANGING exercise forms, DECREASING rest between sets, and INCREASING resistance/weight. Again, it's important that you incorporate both Functional Interval Training + Strength Training for the fastest possible results.
4. Finally, you can play around with 24-hour fasting + proven fat loss supplements.

Got it? Good 🙂

If you are serious about getting unstuck with your weight loss and are ready to experience the most simple & sustainable results of your life, I highly recommend you give our Fit Father 30X Program a try. We offer a 60-day risk-free trial for the program.

Again, here is a link to the FF30X program overview letter for you to see if it's a good fit for you.

I hope you enjoyed this guide!

Small note about research & case studies cited in this article:
*Always remember: weight loss results & health changes/improvements vary from individual to individual. Always consult with your doctor before making decisions about your health. This is not medical advice – simply very well-researched info.