Overcoming Weight Loss Plateaus To Address Snoring

There is a complex relationship between snoring and your weight, where the prevalence of one may worsen the other. Because although fat build-up is not the sole cause of snoring, it can contribute to the problem. When you develop fat around the neck, throat, midriff, and diaphragm, your breathing can become labored when you sleep. Conversely, losing sleep due to snoring can cause changes in your body that aggravate weight gain, as it seeks to replace the energy you lost and breaks down muscle tissues instead of fats.

Of course, the simple solution is to lose weight. But some may have a harder time doing that than others. It can be frustrating if you have tried addressing snoring by losing weight and stopped shedding pounds after a certain point. Here’s more on what’s known as the weight loss plateau and how you can overcome it to finally beat your snoring problem.

What causes a weight loss plateau

If you feel your body is fighting further weight loss, you’re not imagining it. Dieticians have an explanation called the set point weight theory, which suggests you have a fixed weight that your body aims to stick to as closely as possible.

One notable cause behind this is if you shed pounds very quickly after maintaining the same weight for a long time. Your body may resist by increasing your appetite and slowing your metabolism. To beat this, you should adopt behavioral changes to maintain a consistently healthy lifestyle. That way, you can lose the fat contributing to your snoring problem—and keep it off in the future.

How to overcome weight loss plateaus to address your snoring

Build muscle

Because snoring can interfere with your sleep, you may be prone to the stress hormone cortisol spiking, causing your body to break down muscle tissue instead of fat. This can work against weight loss, as muscles burn more calories than fat. That’s why resistance training—lifting or incorporating weights into your workout—is essential to build those muscles back up. If you’ve hit a plateau, that can help your body use food more effectively: you’ll continue to burn calories even when resting to better address snoring.

Stock up on healthy foods

A lack of sleep due to snoring can affect the production of ghrelin and leptin, the hormones affecting your appetite, so you crave more sugary and fatty foods to replace the energy you lose. Removing these foods from your home while stocking up on healthy ingredients and snacks can help you sustain healthier food choices. If you don’t have chips but can easily reach for fruits and granola bars, you will more easily choose the latter. By increasing the amount of healthy foods in your diet, you can better address barriers that contribute to your weight loss plateau.

Keep a food diary

If your body refuses to lose more pounds, keeping a food diary can help you track habits and patterns so you can adjust your behavior accordingly. Write down what and how much you ate, who you’re with, what you’re doing, and how you felt when you ate. A comprehensive record like this can reveal patterns like how balanced your diet is, what emotions cause you to make unplanned food choices, and what you eat when in a rush. By tracing and addressing the potential causes of your weight loss plateau, you can continue losing weight to help ease your snoring.

A plateau can be frustrating if you’re trying to address snoring by losing weight. But through these behavioral changes, you can manage the underlying causes to continue your journey toward better sleep.