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Terri Balzer of Tampa hit a plateau halfway through her 33-pound weight loss. "It was very frustrating. It was discouraging. I was working so hard." Balzer, 56, who works for Hillsborough County, attended weekly Weight Watchers meetings, kept careful records of everything she ate and went to the gym three to four times a week. After losing 1/2 to 1 pound each week, two weeks went by without a loss.
She was panicked.
The clinical definition of a weight-loss plateau is going three to four weeks with virtually no weight loss, despite exercise and diet, Lindsey said. But Weight Watchers, with its weekly weigh-ins and group meetings, doesn't let clients go longer than two weeks before suggesting changes.
Balzer and her group leader reviewed Balzer's food and exercise logs and discovered the problem wasn't with food. Balzer needed to work out a little longer, a little harder, and change what she was doing. "I got lighter and I didn't realize I needed more activity," she said.
Balzer added strength training to her neighborhood walks and group aerobics classes. That got her off the plateau.
Adding weight training to a cardio-focused weight-loss regimen is a proven way to burn more calories and lose more weight.
"Muscle burns calories," said fitness trainer and Baycare exercise physiologist Jeanmarie Scordino. "Fat just sits there, but muscle uses energy."
Read more about overcoming a fitness plateau in the St. Petersburg Times article.
By Irene Maher, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Saturday, July 16, 2011
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