The Dreaded Plateau: How to Avoid Stalling in your Weight Loss and Exercise Gains -

How to Avoid the Dreaded Plateau…

We all at one time will face the dreaded weight loss or exercise plateau. It is inevitable, a sabotage method that comes out of nowhere to stall your hard earned efforts. If you are lucky you may only have to face one, but some of us may see the plateau several times in our body transformation journey.

So what do you do when you hit a Plateau? Well we will break it down for you in two ways. First are things you can do if you weight loss stalls. And second are things you can do if your exercise gains are not working. They can go hand in hand sometimes, so if you are in a stall we suggest you look at both areas and apply these ideas to get yourself on the rise again.

What to do when you are in a weight loss plateau…

If you are finding that you are not losing any weight, despite your best efforts you may want to try some of these suggestions to get your metabolism going again.

KEEP TABS – write down everything you eat during a day. You may find you are sneaking in some good here and there that you are not accounting for. Also there may be hidden calories in some of the food you are eating. A food journal or a food tracking APP can help you get back on track by finding those calorie adding culprits.
CUT THE CRAP – get rid of any refined carbs, junk food, sugary sauces, and processed foods.
EAT MORE – make sure you are getting enough fuel to shed fat, those unwanted pounds wont melt off without your fat burning furnace on full fuel. So make sure you are getting plenty of calories to fuel your weight loss.
SWITCH IT UP – sometimes if you switch your food choices you can jump start your weight loss again. To much chicken, try fish, or lean turkey. And try and vary your carb intake such as quinoa instead of brown rice. sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes.
EAT FAT – eating more healthy fats from avocados, nuts, and fish can help jump start that metabolism. The body can use fat as energy so healthy fats should be a part of your diet anyways.
EAT LESS – sometimes when you have lost a significant amount of weight you forget to take that into account when planning calorie intake. As you lose weight you need to adjust caloric intake and account for your new weight.
DRINK H20 – water is such a powerful help to several metabolic processes in the body. If you are not getting enough water you may actually slow down weight loss. It is important that you get at least a gallon of water each day.
GET BUFF – it is widely accepted that muscle burns more than fat. So if you want to jump start that weight loss, increase your muscle mass. The beauty about more muscle is that it will burn calories even at rest. Pretty neat huh!

What to do when you are in an exercise plateau…

Sometimes you are going along doing the same routine and things start to stall. You are not making any strength gains, your not losing any weight, or seeing the results in the mirror. When this happens here are some basic things to help get your workouts back on track.

SWITCH IT UP – the body thrives on adapting. Changing what you do, when you do it can break you out of that exercise funk. If you are always doing the treadmill, the alternate between the bike, elliptical machines. Take a cardio class, or do some outdoor activities. Your mind will thank you for relieving some boredom and the body will respond accordingly.
GET INTENSE – sometimes we just drudge through our workouts like were stuck in a field of mud. In the beginning the workouts were hard but now they are easy. So challenge yourself and up the intensity. Take less rest. Go heavier, or do more reps. Use super-sets, or giant sets where you combine exercises and do them back to back with little rest. Do high intensity cardio, or increase the resistance or incline. By upping your intensity you challenge the body, and it will reward you.
PLYO IT – there are a ton of new plyometric (jump training) body weight exercises you can do. When resting between sets, you can do a PLYO or a basic body weight exercise like a push up. These extra calorie burning beauties will up your metabolism in no time.
CROSS TRAIN – most gyms now embrace the Cross Fit craze. With boxing areas, wheel flipper, sled pushers, and even a grown up version of the monkey bars you had as a kid. Go ahead and have some fun doing some of these exercises they will push your training to a whole new level.

A Plateau is your body’s way of saying your almost there…

If you do hit a plateau then celebrate it. Enjoy the awesome view from it. Revel in your new body and all the changes it has made up to this point. You have arrived, you are maybe not all the way to the top but you are farther up than you were before. After you are done celebrating (maybe even with a piece of cheesecake!) its time to rededicate yourself and prepare for the next climb in your life. Good luck and I know you can do it.