Avoid the Dreaded Plateau
More and more people come to me explaining that they have been working out and eating right, but their results have slowed or stopped since they started their exercise and nutrition regimen. This is the dreaded plateau and many of us have experienced it.
You may be nervous to stray from your normal routine or simply don’t know what else to do. Here are some simple steps to avoid the plateau from ever happening or overcoming it if you are already facing the effects. These are small simple changes, so figure out what works best for your body and enjoy the results.
• Devise a strategy. Don't plan to fail, but rather make a plan for success. Be honest about your weight loss setbacks. Perhaps they were caused by stress, or maybe you're an emotional eater. Identify triggers and try to avoid them.
• Forgive yourself. If you do slip up, you can't waste time beating yourself up over it. If you fell off the wagon for a day or two know that it's okay. Just start over with the attitude of succeeding. Be kind to yourself, otherwise you may just give up completely and give in to your unhealthy way of living. Remember that each new day is a new beginning.
• Revise your goals. Make sure that your goals are realistic.
• Avoid risky temptations. Clean out your fridge and pantry. Don't keep chips, soda, cookies and other processed foods around.
• Change up your workouts. This will help you overcome setbacks and kick start your metabolism.
It's part of the body's natural process to hit a plateau because it's always trying to regulate itself. Its regulated state is called homeostasis. Your body is a creature of habit, but it doesn't care whether those habits are bad or good. The more you do something to enact change, the more it adapts and tries to limit that change. This can be a good thing because less stress is placed on the body. But it's a bad thing if you're unhealthy because that is the state your body is willing to call homeostasis. If your goals are to change your body, you'll want to keep that adaptive stress high until you're fit and healthy.
The time it takes your body to adapt to something new varies by activity, your fitness level, and the effort you put into the endeavor. This process can take as little as 2 weeks and up to more than 12 weeks. In general, the fitter you are, the quicker your body adapts to a new workout routine.
Once your body gains efficiency at a specific routine or set of exercises, they don't cause as much trauma, and you begin to get less effect out of the same program. The results begin to level off and start to resemble a plateau. If this program is continued as such, the results will completely level out, or even start to dip the other way because of overuse. To get the most out of an exercise program, you need to break habits from time to time and the following five tips will hopefully help you change things up.
1. Back off. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't exercise; it just means that if you ease up a bit, you'll likely recover and get stronger. Oftentimes your body is over trained, exhausted, and just in need of a break. If you are finding it suddenly difficult to get through a workout that was easy the week before, this is most likely the case. You should cut down on your intensity and focus on technique and flexibility. It's a perfect time for a recovery-specific workout or some easy cardio, yoga, and/or stretching workout. Another option would be to lower your workout weight or pick easier workouts. Gauge this so that you finish workouts feeling refreshed. When your energy level returns, launch back into your original program, or a more difficult one, harder than you did before.
2. Turn it up a notch. The exact opposite of backing off, because a plateau may also happen when you're purely bored and/or lethargic. The easiest way to increase intensity is by adding resistance. Change bands or add weight so that you start failing at around 6 to 8 reps on all of the exercises, which change the energy system you're using. This added intensity will force your body to adapt and increase your improvement substantially again. You'll know if this was the right tactic in one of two workouts because you'll either respond by feeling energized or you'll hardly be able to finish the workout.
3. Streamline your diet. Just about everyone’s nutrition could use a little improvement. If you've been giving yourself little rewards for a job well done (a good idea in general), then it's time to stop. Try a super-strict week where you do everything perfect. (No cheating!)
4. Add some morning cardio. Twenty minutes or more of easy- to moderate-level cardio in the morning can help get your metabolism steamrolling again. You can train your body to more efficiently use stored fat as fuel, and this is one of the easiest ways to do it.
5. Add or subtract 500 calories per day. If everything else seems fine, then try this. Your diet might just be miscalculated and you could be under- or overfeeding yourself. This is common, especially as you get more fit, because your body composition changes, which is why adding calories is one of the main ways to kick yourself off of plateaus. Five hundred calories per day works out to 3,500 per week, which equates to a pound. Keep in mind that this will only work if you are eating proper nutrients. If not, try #3 first, and then try altering the number of calories you're eating.
Julia Bardrof has been a Personal Trainer/Nutritionist in the Richmond area for over 9 years. Her passion exudes far beyond just a job, but a passion to change people’s lives! For information about Personal Training with her please email julia@fitrichmond.com or visit her website www.fitrichmond.com.
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