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Plateaus Are Part of the Journey
Plateaus are the most frustrating part of trying to lose weight. They have caused more people to give up even trying. Let’s look first at what a plateau is and then how you can deal with it.
First of all, think of your weight loss plan as an actual journey from a town that is on top of a mountain (your beginning weight) to a town in the valley (your goal). You start your journey on the top of this mountain. For your climb, you want to be sure that you have the right supplies. On such a trip, you wouldn’t pack junk food. No, you would pack food that is nourishing and good for you. So be sure to do that in your own home. Have the right supplies.
As you start your climb, the first several feet down are easy. It makes you wonder why you didn’t start this journey a lot sooner. Now, nothing goes in a straight line, so there are times as you are climbing down when the grade levels off and you walk along a straight path. Sometimes the level portion is long and sometimes it is short. But as you are walking along this straight level path, you are still headed in the direction of the town below (your goal weight.) This is your plateau.
Notice what you do when you are walking along this level path – you are catching your breath, you are relaxing and gaining strength for your next descent. Think of your weight loss the same way. When you hit a plateau, realize that you are still on this journey. You are catching up and getting ready for the next big descent and even though you are walking straight and level and sometimes you may even climb up a bit, you are still getting closer to your goal.
Plateaus happen because your body is catching up. It is holding onto your weight to protect you from famine, not knowing that our hunter/gatherer days are over. Fighting plateaus is like fighting Mother Nature. And remember the old commercial, “You don’t want to fool with Mother Nature.”
So when your plateau hits:

• <LI class=MsoNormal>Live with it. As long as you are doing what you have been doing, you are still getting closer to your goal. <LI class=MsoNormal>Double check your calories. Sometimes we creep up in how much we are eating and don’t realize all of the calories we are taking in. Take 3 days to journal, weigh, and measure everything that goes into your mouth. That should total around 1200 calories – no less. <LI class=MsoNormal>Be sure you are exercising. The ideal is 30 minutes of exercise per day. What are you doing? <LI class=MsoNormal>Make a change in what you are eating and in your exercise. Sometimes our bodies get too efficient in processing the same food and doing the same activities. Mix it up a bit. <LI class=MsoNormal>Remember to drink water. It helps your body burn calories and will also fill you up. Just don’t drink around meal time. <LI class=MsoNormal>Think what you are doing as a lifestyle, not a diet. Do what you can live with. If 1200 calories is too little, up the calories to 1400 to mirror what you would eat anyway. If you think of yourself as being on or off a “diet,” then it won’t work for you.
• Stop weighing yourself. How do you know if you are on a plateau if you don’t weigh yourself? When your weigh loss stalls, don’t weigh yourself more than once per week, or don’t weigh yourself at all. Judge by how your clothes fit. Get something that you want to fit into and try it on once per week.

And always remember that this is a journey that you are taking, one baby step at a time.