Losing weight can be extremely challenging, especially after you plateau and can't seem to get past a certain threshold. You body is designed to save energy and it does so to ensure your survival; for this reason, it seems to stop your weight from going below a setpoint which it "believes" if you go under, you won't survive. The question is, how do you identify when your body has reached a setpoint and what are the signs that you need to switch things up a bit. The first answer is simple, if you've been tracking your weight and notice it flactuates in a range of 5lbs but you want to go lower, you've hit the mark. The second question is a bit more interesting - what are the signs that you need to switch things up? Continue reading below:

1. Hunger - if you changed your diet and for some reason your hunger is not going away, then it's time to question what you're putting into your body. We eat to live and not live to eat. The right foods keep you satiated and with less cravings, even when your lifestlyle is extremely active. Click here for more on how to eat properly.

2. Fatigue - are you feeling fatigued more often than not? This is usually a sign of poor sleep and resting habits. Our bodies are designed to move around but we also need to rest. Rest gives your body a chance to heal and rejuvinate. This is because when we are in a rested state, our bodies redirect energy to repair what's broken and get rid of whats dying so you feel better and new. Fasting is a perfect way to leverage what your body does during it's resting phase. Follow this link to learn more about why this matters.

3. Can't Concentrate - a sharp mind is a great indicator of progression but when you can't seem to get things done then it's probably time to revisit your stomach. Yes I said your stomach. Your gut is extremely important when it comes to mental health. Microbes help in the process of digestion and creating certain hormones that improve your mood and sleep. Hormonal imbalance can lead to inconsistent weight loss and though it may seem trivial, the perfect solution for you may be probiotics and fermented foods.

Basically these 3 things are overlooked by most people on their weight loss journey and we tend to have instant fixes that never really get rid of the issue, for example, those "healthy" snacks when you're hungry, drinking coffee when you're fatigued and drinking more coffee or redbull when you can't concentrate. This is probably how your life is like but you don't even know how it's linked to your poor results.

So how do we get the result's we want? Simple answer is mind over matter in these 3 things:

1. The solution to hunger is even more hunger. Prolonging your hunger periods helps your body to adjust to new eating habits until you archive a state where only a single meal a day is enough. This will take time but if you can step up your mental game to endure 2 extra hours without food daily, it will improve your weight loss by a significant margin. If you normally eat at 8am then push that to 10am or 11am. Additionally if you start your day with cereals or breads, then either cut the portions to half of what you normally eat and replace the other half with protein/fat or just kick that out entirely and eat protein & fat. If you have bad snacking habits, you can start by replacing those snacks with fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, high fat/protein yoghurt, natto, kefir, etc.

2. Rest more especially when you engage in hardcore workouts. If you have sleeping disorders, then expore your environment first and figure out what could be interrupting your sleep. Examples of these things are cellphones, tablets, background noise, type of sheets, matress, temperature, etc. To sleep better, lower the room temperature, keep gadgets far from your body, use white noise if you live in the city and find the right bedding for your skin.

3. Pay attention to the microbes. Sometimes you may get sick from STI's, random infections, etc. Unfortunately when you take medications, they kill off all the good bacteria you had and you will need to replenish them. Pribiotics are an excellent way to restore your gut health and get those good guys to help restore hormones and other secretions your body needs to stay focused. This will eventually improve digestion and speed up weight loss. If you want to keep your gut healthy be sure to feed those microbes with plenty of natural fibre. This effectively means during your eating window, you must eat some greens otherwise  you will fall back into that foggy state of mind and indirectly affect your weight loss goals.