I'm stuck. I was doing so well and now I cannot get the scale to move. The number won't budge. My body is just stuck where I'm at. Sound familiar? That's called the dreadful word when working out, plateau.
A plateau period is simply your body taking a break and catching up to all the changes you have been making. It's not that you really aren't making any more progress, it's that your body has finally caught up to the changes you have made. So, in order to shorten the life of this plateau, you have to make more changes. If you've been cutting calories, it may be time to increase by 200-300 a day. If you've been doing the same routine, it's time to mix it up. If you've been heavy on the cardio, it's time to add strength training. If you've been doing strength training and are at the higher level of repetitions, it's time to go heavier on the weights and decrease the repetitions. If you've been killing it with weights, now you need to add a cardio component.
Look at your nutrition. If you've cut way back on carbs and don't have a lot of energy, start adding them in (a little). That should help with the energy level. Maybe you are over-training. Are you getting the rest and break that your body needs? Vary your workouts and the intensity of them. Take a rest day at least once per week. If you feel like you cannot "rest" then do yoga or take a walk. Giving your body a break is needed to recover and perform at its best.
These don't have to be big changes, just some minor adjustments to get your body guessing again and you will plow through that plateau and start seeing and feeling the results again. If you don't know how to change things up, ask a professional. Ask a trainer, a fitness coach, someone who understands what you are currently doing who can give you guidance on how to mix it up just enough to get you where you want to go.
Be patient with your body, if you continue to work toward your goals, you will reach them!
We've all been guilty of not getting enough sleep and that feeling of being overwhelmed and truly stressed out. I have clients who are doing all of the right things, eating well and exercising, and the results are slow or the belly fat is just hanging on, but the definition is coming to the arms and legs. Most likely the cause is either too much stress or not enough sleep and often it's the combination of the two. There is a direct link between the fight or flight hormone that's released (Cortisol) and visceral (belly) fat. When cortisol levels are high for an extended amount of time in can also increase your belly fat. Seriously!! Unfortunately, for some people all this hard work and little effort causes them to stress even more! When you are stressed, you don't sleep well, causing the entire cycle to just keep repeating.
Okay, so now what? You have a stressful job, day, life, I get it. How can you reduce the amount of stress in your life? Learn to delegate. In your job and at home, ask people to help with or take care of the things you don't need to do yourself. No, you really don't need to do everything! Enlist your kids to help with chores, enlist your spouse to help with cooking or shopping. Ask a co-worker for some help on a project, or ask your boss for a little more time so that you can do the best job possible. I do understand that you get asked to take on more and more at work, but you truly can say no. If you open the lines of communication with your boss (keep it about work, not outside of work) and explain the project load you are already under. Come up with a plan to extend the deadline, take something off of your plate, or shift responsibilities. Your boss would be much happier with that opening conversation than coming to them later when everything has fallen apart, or stating that you couldn't make x, y or z happen.
Take a walk. Exercise is a great stress reducer. Even a 10 minute walk will help you clear your mind and you'll be able to refocus your energy, as well as boost your happiness levels!
Our electronic devises are huge stressors for us. We love them, but they also allow the impression that we are always working or available to others. Turn them off or on silent on the drive home, during dinner time, and after whatever time you've decided that you no longer should be working. For me, it was 6:30 pm. I turned my phone to silent so I could actually be present and enjoy the moments with my family.
Sleep is another big thing we don't get enough of. Try turning in a half hour earlier. Maybe don't sleep, but read a book or write your to-do list for the next day. Spend a few moments being grateful for the good things that happened today. If you get in the habit of putting yourself to bed earlier, your body will adjust and you'll be able to fall asleep sooner too!
I know it's hard, but reducing the stress in your life and getting more sleep is going to make you feel better, be healthier and look better in that bathing suit!
I hear it all the time, "I know how to eat right, but I eat when I'm stressed/bored." That's what derails me. I get it, I really do. I know how quickly one can go through a bag of chips, candy, cookies, even "healthier" items like pretzels, popcorn, nuts and dried fruits. It can add up pretty quick and create some major caloric damage.
We all have stress. These are stressful times when we are urged to do more with less, take on more, be everywhere, and look perfect, have super clean organized homes, etc. It's all overwhelming!!!
And, as crazy busy as some of us are, we do get bored. Maybe not like, there isn't something to do, but we are bored with what we have to do.
So how can we stop this stress/boredom binging.
First, take a deep breath! If you can, go for a quick walk. Sometimes getting outside changes your perspective, allows you to think, gives you something to do. Call a friend. If you are stressed about something call or message a friend to release what's stressing you. This also works great if you are bored! If you are bored, look at your to-do list, is there anything you can do right now? Do a chore you don't mind doing. I personally like to vacuum. Don't know why, but I find it peaceful. Stressed? Meditate. Seriously, close your eyes for a few minutes and just breath. A solution may or may not come to you, but you will feel better.
Drink water. Sometimes having something will help curb the, I need to eat feeling, and more often than not, you need more water anyway.
Write. Write down on a piece of paper what is stressing you out and think of some conclusions to make it better. If you are bored, write about what you want to do, your goals, dreams, etc. Sometimes being create is the best medicine.
Read, if you have a good book, read it. If not, find one, I'm currently reading a great one called The Slight Edge, fascinating book, that I highly recommend, but that's for another day.
Don't keep junk in your house! If you really must eat, have cut up veggies and hummus, fruit, frozen grapes if you need something to crunch on. If you know you have trigger foods, don't have them in your house. Honestly, your family will get over it and it will be better for them too.
Have kitchen hours. Seriously, like a restaurant. Kitchen's closed for certain hours a day and really close it up at night. Once you get into the habit, it is much easier to keep.
My point is, we all have stress and we all feel a little bored at times. Find outlets other than food and you will feel better all the way around!
Prepare to fail, that may seem like a strange concept, but let me expand on that. Life gets crazy, complicated, busy. etc. What we mean to do, we don't always get to. We plan on getting a healthy dinner, but the meeting ran long at work, you were late getting kids to soccer, practice was extra long and now you are all tired and hungry and the drive-through is looking pretty good now. Sound familiar?
When it comes to health and fitness, look at your weak areas. Is it making time to workout? Is it snacking? Is it not planning a dinner so you're eating out? Where do you tend to fail? If you look at those areas where you have failed before and plan to do so again, you can actually plan to succeed. For example, if you tend to get a snack because you are hungry while running errands and the Starbucks coffee and treat calls to you; you can plan by having snacks in your car - nuts, dried fruit, low sugar protein bars, etc., and a bottle of water. If you have something to eat and drink, you most likely will think before you stop to get a snack.
If dinner is your trouble spot, get to know your crock-pot. You can prepare (yes it takes a little time) your meal the night before, put everything in the crock-pot, store in the refrigerator, then take it out and turn on the crock pot in the morning. You'll have dinner ready and save money (not to mention calories) by not eating out. There are tons of healthy and delicious slow-cooker or crock-pot recipes online.
If making time for your workouts is where you fail, schedule them like an appointment. If you say at some point today I am going to workout, that's pretty much setting yourself up to fail. Instead, look at your day and figure out when you have time (and I truly believe everyone has time) to get in a workout. Block that time out and make it happen. Move things around that aren't that important. Truly, what's more important than your health and your sanity?
If you plan in the areas that you typically fail in, you will most likely set yourself up to succeed.
