If you always feel like your body hovers effectually a sure number on the scale — no matter how much yous make clean upwardly your diet or ramp up your workouts — it'southward not all in your head. When it comes to weight loss, this is referred to every bit the set betoken theory. "It suggests your body will fight to maintain a specific weight and body fatty range tightly regulated past your genetics and that y'all take little command over it," explains Ryan Maciel, RD, a certified strength and workout specialist based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Fix indicate weight could be a upshot of development: Wanting to hold onto excess fuel may accept helped our ancestors stay protected from dearth. Only it could also come downwards to simple design mechanisms of the human body that aren't hands amenable to change, notes Maciel. Your trunk works hard to maintain a stable internal environs, which ways information technology's constantly adjusting hormone levels, temperature, free energy levels and more. And then, but as your body starts sweating to cool you off (in the sauna or during a cold-weather run) it besides might begin holding onto fuel when you lot cut calories and piece of work out harder.

However, "while you may exist born with upper and lower gear up bespeak ranges for your weight, you have the ability to shift where you lot ultimately state," says Maciel. Here, eight ways to get started:

Fad diets promising quick fixes aren't just uncomfortable and unsustainable — they're congenital to backfire. "In general, the more rapid or desperate a change you make, the more your trunk wants to fight back," explains Dr. Charlie Seltzer, a weight-loss specialist. To preclude this from happening, Seltzer recommends setting a goal of losing a one-half pound per week. "If your body is getting the food it needs to role, or only a tiny bit less than it'due south used to, information technology'south going to be more willing to release that actress energy [to burn fat]," he explains. This not only helps you lose weight, but you lot'll exist more likely to keep it off long term.

"Research has shown losing 5–10% of your total body weight at a time is a smart approach," says Maciel. "It is theorized that losing more ten% of your body weight causes the torso to fight dorsum and go far more than hard to maintain weight loss."

For example, if y'all desire to lose 20 pounds, set that 5% goal, then endeavor to maintain your new weight for vi months before starting another weight-loss cycle, suggests Maciel. "This allows your body to conform to the new weight and gives you a psychological suspension from dieting."

Once you've held steady for 6 months, piece of work on shedding the remaining pounds. While this process takes time, "if you want to maintain your weight loss, you must learn and prefer healthy eating and physical activity habits for the balance of your life," says Maciel.

Tracking what yous eat is a proven strategy for successful weight loss. While monitoring calories can help you see if you're overeating, it's also a practiced idea to look at your macronutrient breakdown, says Seltzer, who adds that most people aren't getting plenty poly peptide. "Detect means to amp up your poly peptide, then your body spends more than energy digesting information technology compared to calories from fat and carbs."

Irresolute your gut leaner might help with weight-loss efforts and set point weight, notes Seltzer. One recent review of research published in Obesity Reviews found probiotic supplementation helped slightly reduce body weight and fat percent. If you're thinking about supplementing or eating more probiotic-rich foods, talk to an RD or your dr. first to see how it can fit in with your goals.

In the meantime, Seltzer recommends cut back on artificial sweeteners (used in diet sodas and processed foods), since enquiry shows they damage skillful gut bacteria.

Believe it or non, the number of calories you burn during practice is relatively modest compared to the calories we burn down through our daily activities similar putting away groceries, taking out the trash or only fidgeting, says Katie Rickel, PhD, a clinical psychologist and CEO of Structure House, a residential weight-direction facility in Durham, Northward Carolina. This moment-to-moment calorie burn is known as non-exercise action thermogenesis (Groovy). When you're losing weight (and taking in fewer calories), you tend to subconsciously motility less as your trunk wants to conserve free energy and maintain weight. The ready: Add together more Bully to your life by taking the stairs, working at a stand-up desk, tending to your garden instead and cleaning up around your house when you take downtime.

Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories your body burns when y'all're at balance (aka when you're only sitting around breathing or while you're sleeping). One way to shift your weight into a healthier range is to raise your BMR, says Rickel. Hither, body composition is primal: Since muscle tissue burns more calories than fatty tissue, aim to preserve (if not increase) your muscle mass by doing compound movements (working on multiple muscle groups at the same time) such as squats, deadlifts and pullups, suggests Maciel. What's more, recent inquiry suggests both depression loads (25–35 reps) and high loads (eight–12 reps) are effective for increasing muscle mass.

"Ambition is a bones bodily function and is non always controllable with willpower," says Dr. Ethan Lazarus, president-elect of the Obesity Medicine Association. Quality sleep helps optimize the residue of hormones that support your weight-loss efforts, which makes 7–9 hours of sleep per dark an essential office of slimming down, says Dr. Lazarus. In particular, "while yous're sleeping, your body produces more leptin, a hormone that helps keep your appetite in check," he explains. When yous're low on slumber, levels of leptin can drop, and levels of ghrelin (a hormone that makes y'all hungry) tin can surge, potentially leading you to crave high-fat, loftier-carb foods and overeat.

Having a nighttime routine, where you unwind at the end of the day, tin can help prime your body for a good dark'due south remainder. Information technology's also of import to "get to bed at the same time each nighttime and wake up at the aforementioned time each forenoon to help regulate your hormones," says Lazarus.

Originally published Apr 2022, updated with additional reporting

Fix to take the next step? Unlock MyFitnessPal Premium to access custom goal settings, quick-log recipes, and guided plans from a registered dietitian. Premium users are 65% more likely to accomplish their weight loss goals!