You work really hard.
Follow your eating program to a T.
You’re eating right.
Exercising.
You’re losing weight.
WOOHOO!!
And…without changing a thing, the weight loss stops. (You may have even gained weight!)
You question everything you’re doing.
You get frustrated.
You don’t understand.
You throw the scale across the room. (Okay, may not. But…you feel like it!! 🙂
THIS is the place where the majority of people trying to lose weight stop, give in to the cravings & eat the world. And the vicious up & down cycle continues.
THIS IS CALLED THE PLATEAU. It’s a very normal part of weight loss!
It HAS to happen! Our bodies and brains are adjusting & we need to give it time to catch up. If you continue doing what you’re doing, eventually…you’ll start losing weight again. (My 2 tips below may help jump start it!)
I will never forget during my weight loss phase the HUGE Plateau I hit.
I stalled for 3 weeks.
The 4th week I GAINED 2 lbs.
I didn’t give up. I didn’t stop & throw in the towel like I did all those times previous.
The 5th week I lost 4 lbs!!
And the weight loss continued again.
Until I reached another plateau. I actually had SEVERAL Plateaus in my weight loss journey.
What made me stick it out on that LOOOOOONG Plateau?
For the FIRST TIME in my entire life I didn’t see this as a diet. I saw it as a way of life.
The way I was eating was how I planned to eat the rest of my life.
It was FREEING!! It was LIBERATING!!
I lost my 80 lbs eating donuts and tacos. I knew those were foods I would never be cutting out of my life & to say I couldn’t eat them again…ever?!? Well, it just made me want to eat them more!!!
How did I do that? I wrote a Blog called “How I lost weight eating Tacos & Donuts”. You can read about this here
With that said, I DID notice a trend happening when I hit some of my Plateaus. Many times it’s just being patient & waiting it out. However; there may be a few tweaks you can make. I keep a food journal daily & write down my food & how I felt. Here are the 2 things I noticed:
- I wasn’t drinking enough water. Mmmm Hmmm. Water. We tend to forget about how important it is. Not drinking enough water makes us dehydrated. Dehydration mimics hunger and it also slows down the inner-workings of our bodies. We may eat just a few more calories that day because we “think” we’re hungry when we’re really just thirsty. And, that can cause a stall. And…when your body is slowed down because it’s not eliminating properly, you’re holding on to waste in your body a little longer. That certainly would cause a plateau. You may have lost inches but not weight. The fix? Increase your water intake.
- I was eating the SAME THING over & over for too long. I remember for weeks I ate chicken tacos for lunch. (Okay, 3 months to be exact but who’s counting. I like tacos, okay?) The tacos weren’t the problem. The problem was that I was eating them every single day. I’ve learned that my body can do that for a good month, but after that – I need to shake things up. My body was just settling in with my love of tacos!! So, I switched it up. I ditched tacos for a BLT wrap. (Sooo good! I share my recipes in Blog #8. Tacos, BLT’s & Pizza – Oh My!. Here’s the link.) Add link here As soon as I started eating BLT wraps for lunch, I immediately lost 4 lbs. Now, don’t worry. I didn’t abandon my love of tacos. After a month of BLT’s I brought those back in. And, my weight loss steadily continued. I’m a very simple minded person & eating the same thing everyday for lunch was just easy for me. I didn’t have to think about it. And, I recommend you do that too! Find something you like that fits your protocol. Eat it regularly. Just not for longer than a month. I actually now change it up every 2 weeks & it works fabulous.
Here’s to breaking Plateaus! And now, I think I’ll go eat a taco.
