Have you stalled in your weight loss progress? Are you frustrated and have lost all hope? Are you fed up with watching the scale NOT. MOVE. AT. ALL?
I don’t have some kind of magic remedy to promise you. No, ‘do this to push past your plateau fast’ tip. But I do have a mind-shift tip for you. Why not use this plateau to your advantage?
A weight loss plateau is the perfect opportunity to build a weight maintenance routine and reset your mind and body to return to your weight loss program.
Life Pro Tip - Use periods of weight maintenance during your weight loss journey to help motivate you.
Many people just want to see the scale drop down at the fastest rate possible while giving up all the foods they love to eat and sticking to an un-maintainable exercise schedule. If you are like me and have struggled all your life with your weight - likely, you haven’t learned weight maintenance. It’s also likely you have not developed habits that can help you maintain your weight where you are, let alone lose it. Think of it as throwing yourself into the deep end of the pool, and all you’ve seen is a tutorial of someone swimming, and the weight loss programs are telling you just do this.
Your body is looking at your weight loss like this too. It’s like, what? Why am I only getting 1200 calories when I used to get 1600 or 1700? Your brain is reacting too! Why can’t I have cake? Why can’t I have burgers for dinner when that is what we always have?
Life Pro Tip - It’s much better to introduce changes gradually and bit by bit while building habits that are easy to stick to and set yourself up for success.
This tip goes for the weight loss journey and the plateaus as well. Giving your body time to adjust to a 10 lbs or 5 lbs weight loss is what it needs. Spending 2-3 weeks during my weight loss program focusing on maintenance and not loss did wonders for me mentally and physically. So after those weeks, when I was ready to continue losing, I did not feel deprived or mentally defeated. When the scale didn’t budge, I was happy. I was achieving my goal of maintaining my weight by my design. Instead of fretting about my stalled weight loss, I was working with my body and mind to prep them for the next step of my weight loss journey to get down another 10 lbs.
Habits to build for weight maintenance
Instead of using your weight loss calorie budget, figure out your weight maintenance calorie budget and stick to that. Rest your body from the deficit and provide the nutrients and calories it needs to maintain where you are now. It will give you a mental break from watching the scale and get you into the habit of how your life will be after you complete your program.
Build a simple movement habit and routine. Building a simple movement habit and routine can help you incorporate movement (and calorie burning) without rigorous activity. Think of walking to the mailbox in the morning and the afternoon. Scheduling two fifteen-mute breaks in your day and taking a lap around the block.
Get in the habit of weighing in for maintenance and not loss. Check-in with the scale and expect that it will not be moving. Expecting to weigh in and maintain your weight will take the pressure off of seeing the scale constantly shift downward. If you are a daily weigher, then take a weekly average.
See how different foods affect your maintenance. Does your body react to carbs, salty foods, and protein? Now is a great time to try this out. Shift your focus away from the weight and focus on other things that impact the scale.
Enjoy the maintenance phase. Maintenance is where your journey will end, and it’s more like a preview of how life will be. The more you shift your mindset to enjoy where you are, the better you will feel about your journey.
Keep a weight maintenance journal to refer back to once you reach your goal. The goal is weight maintenance, so understanding your weight maintenance habits is a great way to prep for your future self!
Incorporate some of the rewards that you have been depriving yourself of, What does it look like to allow yourself to go out and eat with friends WITHOUT being in a deficit? Can you make choices in this stage that keep you within your maintenance budget? Trust me; it will relieve you when you realize you don’t have to bargain with every item on the menu.
Find happiness in where you are right now. Take time to acknowledge where you are and appreciate your body for caring for you. Also, find confidence in how far you’ve come.
I hope this helps anyone going through a weight plateau. Here's to the journey!
Yael
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