Busting Through a Plateau

There is nothing more frustrating in one's weight loss journey than the blasted plateau. I hit several throughout my journey and it is so hard to not get frustrated and just throw in the towel. I was 143 lbs for SIX WEEKS! The scale just would not move no matter what I did. I was patient and it finally started moving in the right direction again. Plateaus are totally normal and something most everyone will deal with at some point. Here are a few tips I have for dealing with plateaus:

- Make sure you are tracking every single thing you put in your mouth. It could be that you are eating more calories than you think.

- Up your water intake. Just like I said in my last post, water speeds up your metabolism.

- Eat out less and eat at home more. It's much harder to know exactly how many calories you're eating when you eat at a restaurant.

- Switch up your workouts. If you do the same workout over and over, your muscles get used to it and become very proficient at it and in turn, burn less calories. Try a new machine at the gym, take a new class, try running faster or just going further than you usually do. The best way to bust a plateau is interval training (alternating between fast and slow). Your body continues to burn calories even after you are done with your workout.

- Lift weights. The most overlooked weight-loss trick is the calorie-burning power of muscle. The more muscle you have the higher your resting metabolism, because muscle uses more energy (calories) than fat does just to exist. Weight-loss causes not only fat loss, but some muscle loss as well. If you are already weight training, increase the weight or do more reps.

-Make sure you are eating ENOUGH calories. Experiment with your calorie intake. If eating 1200 calories/day isn't working out for you, it could be that you aren't eating enough. Up it to 1500 for a week and see what happens.

- Don't give up. This one is the most important. No matter what you do, do not give up. Keep going because the scale will eventually start moving again. Patience is a virtue, especially in weight loss.