A plateau you say?

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to be that super positive Danni that most of you know and hopefully love but these last 4 weeks of ups and downs on the scales have just been messing with my head.

It looks like I’ve hit the dreaded weight loss plateau! How do I know? Well, I don’t but all signs point to yes. A weight loss plateau usually occurs after losing a lot of weight (which I have done) as our bodies do not like losing weight. Yes, it’s obviously better for our bodies if we lose the excess kilos but sometimes our bodies just don’t understand these things.

I’ve spent most of today reading about weight loss plateaus and how to overcome them and I’m more confused than before I started reading. Why? Well, from all the reading I did I found that the most commonly talked about ways to overcome a weight loss plateau are:

• Mix it up
• Be consistent
• Eat less
• Eat more
• Train less
• Train more 

See why I’m confused?

I guess the one message that was consistent across all the articles, posts, forums etc… is that I need to shock my body. But how? So, off I went to Google and asked “How to shock my body for weight loss” The most common answers:

• Mix up your training
• Mix up your nutrition
• Drink more water
• Increase muscle mass

So, armed with this information, I've devised a plan!

Mix up my training

I honestly believe that my training is already quite varied. I use the gym machines and do different classes such as boxing, sh’bam, step, pump, attack and RPM. Can I mix it up more? Probably! I’m going to invest in a trainer once a week for the next month. Hopefully my trainer can help me mix things up and get me on the right track again.

Mix up my nutrition

I am a creature of habit and tend to stick to the same meals and snacks. I’m going to mix up my diet by varying my breakfasts (I usually have the same thing every day) introducing an accelerator day once a week where I don’t eat simple carbohydrates, sugar or dairy and try to avoid carb heavy meals at night.

 

Drink more water

The simple fact is, I don’t drink enough since winter has hit. I have never been someone who is always thirsty and have been known to go days (pre 12WBT) without drinking a drop of fluid. I have to force myself to drink anything. During the warmer months when I first started 12WBT I was drinking lots of water but since winter has hit, I’ll be lucky to get through 750mls in a day.

Increase muscle mass

I have booked in for my Dexa Scan and will talk to my new PT about increasing lean muscle mass.

Now that I have sat down and thought about this rationally and logically, hopefully I can be less emotional about it. After seeing great results over the last few months, to have it stop so suddenly and not budge for the last 4 weeks has been tough for me. I put a lot of pressure on myself to be the best at everything I do so it really eats away at me when things like this happen. I need to stop and look at how far I have come and remember that this is a lifestyle change for life, not a quick fix. It doesn’t matter if it takes me 1 year to get to my goal instead of 9 months. The important thing is that I will get there if I just don’t give up.

Until next time,

Danni

x