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 health & fitness articles I wish someone would print up bumper stickers that read "Plateaus Happen!" Why? Because they do happen! Plateaus are as natural to weight loss as baby teeth are to humans...they are just a part of the process and you can’t circumvent them and expect to get the same results. To best bust through the plateaus of our dieting lives, we must first understand what they are. A plateau is a period of time during which the scale isn’t moving. Well, if you look at it that way, from the moment you reach your goal weight and maintain that weight loss, you would be "plateauing." That wouldn’t be such a bad thing in that context, would it? I don’t think it would be terribly upsetting to most people. However, the dreaded plateau is actually when a person is "dieting" and the scale isn’t budging. I find this a very interesting phenomenon and one that isn’t usually as it appears. Most often when a reader complains to me that they have hit a plateau, what I find out in conversation with them is that they haven’t been sticking to their healthy resolves 100 percent. I think we must be honest with ourselves before declaring that we are stuck at a plateau—if you aren’t doing it all 100 percent healthfully, you aren’t at a plateau! However, if you are following a healthful eating plan, you are busting your worst vices and you are drinking water, getting in your exercise AND you aren’t realizing any changes on the scale, then you may indeed be in a plateau! If that is your situation, there is hope! What is going on is this: your body is stabilizing or adjusting to your current regime and is comfortable at the weight you are. It may be that the weight you are at is what your body will be able to easily maintain, given your current regime. Take a look and analyze your condition; do you like your shape, do you like the size you are wearing, the foods you are eating? If so, you may just want to keep doing what you are doing and make this your permanent level of fitness and your healthy lifestyle—for the rest of and best of your life. On the other hand, if you would still like to realize a bit more weight loss, then what is required is to hit it up a notch and kick it into higher gear! It may mean shaving off a few more carbs, adding another raw fruit or veggie to your diet or increasing the intensity and or duration of your workouts—both cardio and weight training. Think of it this way: If you are driving a car uphill and you aren’t really moving, you can either keep things moving along as they are, or you can give it some gas and rev up your engine and move more quickly. With weight loss, that is all a plateau really is, your body needing a bit more gas (not that kind of gas!) and power. Gas = healthy foods Power = muscle It’s that simple! Now, get moving and bust that plateau, or congrats, you are "there." Enjoy your healthy new life. Either way, YOU win! |
