When it comes to shedding pounds, and even ounces, visiting the scale for a weigh-in can be gut-wrenching, especially when you don’t see your weight go down for the first time. Sometimes a couple of hiccups in your eating that week may be to blame, or maybe you’ve missed a session or two of cardio at the gym. There are countless reasons why you might maintain your current weight, or even gain a couple of pounds - these are normal occurrences on a weight-loss journey. But, there is that one thing that’s even more gut-wrenching, realizing you’ve hit a plateau.
Don’t allow yourself to sink into a scary and dangerous world in which you become surrounded by insecurities and doubts. Plateaus are NOT a bad thing! Sometimes your body just needs time to catch-up with you. There is HOPE!
Here are some of the things I’ve done to tackle my plateaus…
Make Changes
This is where you can have some fun being in a plateau. One of the first ways to help your body overcome a plateau is to “mix it up!” Your body most likely will respond to what some call a shock factor. You can add another day in the gym, change up your workouts, try new types of cardio, or even change up your diet by lowering your carb or sugar intake. The options are endless, and it’s all about what keeps you motivated. You even might try channeling your adventurous side by organizing a hike, doing a group run, or biking some trails.
Stay Consistent
One of the hardest things to do during a plateau is to stay consistent with your diet and exercise plans. Hitting a plateau may cause you to “let off the gas pedal” due to not seeing results right away. During these times, it is important to remember why you started the journey to begin with and remain dedicated to that purpose. After you have remembered your why, keep your goals in check and stay determined to meet them. Where do you want to be one day? How do you want to look? Do you want to be able to do something in the future that you’re unable to do now? Finally, and I know it’s hard to do, stay disciplined! Maintaining consistency in a plateau will get you through it and make you a stronger person on the other side.
Build Support
Strength for any journey comes from building a support team, and it is one of the most important things you could ever do for yourself during your weight-loss journey.
Hopefully you have a support team prior to your plateau. There’s nothing formal about having a support team. Sometimes it’s a couple of family members, a few close friends, and sometimes it’s your personal trainer. If you don’t have a team, don’t worry! What better time than now? Your support team should be made-up of a mixture of folks that will love you, encourage you, assure you, inspire you, and hold you accountable when you are weak. Try to maintain a support team in all environments of your life – work, home, and social settings. The greater the diversity and more thoroughly spread out your team is, the greater the chances are for victory.
Allow me to end with the best advice I ever received on the subject of plateaus. This advice came from my weight-loss mentor, “The first plateau is kind of rough, but with each plateau you gain victory over it making the next one easier and easier, because you have already proved to yourself that you could live through one or a few.” There could not be a statement made that is more correct than that. Make sure to venture back next week for Overcoming a Plateau: Part 2 (How I did it)!
Joshua "Bubba" Wade
No Fluff. All Buff.
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