HOW TO GET OUT OF A WEIGHT LOSS PLATEAU
When starting with a 1:1 coaching client I will often ask,
“what do you think it takes to get past a weight loss plateau?”
This client could have come to me for a variety of reasons, common ones are wedding weight loss, postpartum health, digestive issues or just being too busy with their career to dedicate time to their health and fitness. Regardless of their pain points and end goals, the answers I get are all pretty similar with versions of, “I need to:
- eat less”
- eat more fruits and veggies”
- work out more or longer”
- control myself around food and eat out less”
After we have our initial consultation, I’ll ask it again and the answers drastically change, “I need to:
- get more sleep”
- take time to restore and play”
- build my food planning strategy”
- strength train more strategically and do less cardio”
- eat more”
Sounds weird to you? Hear me out.
The Weight Loss Magic Formula: It's NOT Eating Less and Doing More
Have you ever paid attention to how many people train at the gym everyday, but look the same as they did when they started?
I’m sure you know who I’m talking about, and you might feel like that's also you.
These individuals will often spend thousands of dollars over the years on courses, programs and books but never actually implement anything so they never actually grow towards their goals. It’s not that they don’t put in the time or effort, but that they don’t put the time and effort into the RIGHT things.
You have probably thought the same as the clients who answered like my examples in the intro and for good reason, we are all led to believe these are the simple secrets to weight loss (these and a strict diet, weightwatchers, keto and the rest). But what if your focus shifted to the second list? You can eat more, rest more and lose weight?! I can help you get there.
Eating less and doing more are likely NOT the roots for your weight loss.
Better yet, they are likely causing the weight loss resistance.
Most of you have been eating too little for too long, either consciously chasing fat loss or unconsciously due to a high stress, busy lifestyle. In these cases, the typical eating less and doing more isn’t going to work. The idea of eating more to lose weight can feel really mind boggling (learn more in this blog!).
So as you start on your weight loss journey, we recommend that you learn the why behind what you are doing as it will make adherence so much stronger and allow the fears to subside. A strategic plan of attack to weight loss always feels so much better than just hoping it happens.
For each individual weight loss journey, it’s critical that you start with the foundational lifestyle items that will let you keep the hard earned results. These all need to be in place to get the most out of your health, fitness and nutrition plans. Without a strong foundation and understanding of why you may just end up in your plateau again and struggle to sustain the “goal” you are after.
Understanding The HOW of Your Weight Loss Journey
What separates those who progress towards their goals and those who don’t, is often HOW you do things not just WHAT you do.
SO many of you may find you want to be mindless in the process. Sometimes being told what to do can be very beneficial (if you take an active role in the process), however, those who want to be told what to do to be mindless, will fail in the end. Why? Because going through the motions is a superficial change. That might work for some time, but if you want to change your body or something in your life permanently… it requires a shift in your identity.
So, if you find yourself in a weight loss plateau or like you’re putting in the efforts but not seeing the results you desire…
I encourage you to set the goal for the person it takes to achieve it vs the physical change itself.
If you do that, you will create skill and learning and still have it 5, 10, 20 years in the future, you will make that result sustainable. This also can drive consistency because it comes with purpose.
You need to address what may be standing in the way of your goals and consider how to remove obstacles to make the path smoother. As busy career women and/or moms, we hardly ever put our health and wellbeing first. Sleep, hydration and restoration are critical in any weight loss journey.
More often than not, what clients are lacking is time. They need time to put practices into place.
Time to learn how and plan nutritious meals.
Time to rest and recover.
Time to focus on strength training.
Time to get more sleep.
Time each day to work towards the end goal.
Dig deeper into making time in your day here. It’s always possible, and once you can find the time, you can make a plan to reach your goals…
How to Manage Your Health Journey
I have broken it down step by step. Grab a notebook, a pen, get comfy and try it out:
1. Pick a goal — any goal — that you want to work on. Write your goal at the top of your page.
Let’s say, you want to slim down and tone up for your wedding, your main pain point is your tummy. Put that at the top.
2. Now write the behaviors that you will need to practice (over and over) to be able to accomplish that goal
For example, strength training 4 times per week, 7K steps per day, hitting your macronutrient goals like protein, getting 7+ consistent hours of sleep, managing your stress, etc…
3. Look at those behaviors and mark down what you need to learn in order to be able to follow through behaviorally..
For example, your nutrition goals, you’ll first need to make sure you have food to eat. Which means you’ll need to learn how to meal plan and log your macros. Both skill sets you need to make the act of following through on your nutrition goals possible.
4. Think up some practices that may help you build those skill sets.
The best route would be to get a coach, but if you want to try it solo, you could start by doing some research to learn about ‘how to’ build the skill sets that are currently lacking.
5. Now, imagine a very small activity or task that you could reliably do every single day, no matter what, in order to help reinforce the practice. That’s your daily action… write this below each of the skills you listed in #2.
One way to support consistency with nutrition is to make it easy. What can make it easy is having a plan and having it made, then the only thing you need to do is follow through on eating the food. So a small activity could be to enter your food in your food logging app to ensure you have the food amounts you want to consume set and ready before tomorrow begins.
6. Review the skills again, are there any other daily actions that are important to satisfy the practice to achieve and create the skillset?
With such a specific goal, the daily actions are probably going to be more intensive than a general lifestyle change. However, at VRHC we aim to give you the foundations to make your health journey one for life, one that is consistently manageable. So practices and skills you develop for your wedding day should be part of your lifestyle beyond the big day.
7. Now, review the plan. Do you have the expertise to know whether it’s right for you? If so, consider the right time to get started. If not, is there someone who can help review the plan and help you revise it?
Has the research you’ve done at the beginning been enough to set you up for success? Will it provide you with enough knowledge and motivation to avoid the plateau?
8. When you’re confident with the plan, consider what you’ll do for support and accountability. Who will you check in with? How frequently? What can they help with?
This is so important. Self accountability is of course necessary but having others there to feel accountable to and to offer support makes all the difference. We have a community of like-minded women holding each other up, seeking and giving advice and encouragement. You don’t need to be a coaching client to join, check out the Facebook group here: She Strong Community
9. Get started. Begin with your first practice and see how it goes. Try 2 weeks of daily practice.
It helps to set achievable markers that are not going to be too far in the future that you put off your practices until tomorrow. Two weeks at a time is enough to see a change and not too far away to ignore.
10. Adjust as you go along. Gather data about how well your plan is working, and tailor it as needed.
How different do you feel from two weeks ago? How is your digestion and bloat? Can you see a difference in the mirror? How are your energy levels? Your self confidence? What did you find easy or hard? What made you feel confident and strong?
It’s Time to Get Out of That Plateau
Give this plan a go for two weeks.
Make time in the day and also give yourself enough time to reach your goals in a healthy, happy way. Enjoy the process of getting to know your body and learning what works for you with your nutrition, fitness and wellness. It might be that you still need that extra guidance, knowledge and support; that’s where our coaches can help.
We take personalization to the next level. Every VRHC coach has the knowledge and experience to support you in areas that are left unturned by generic programs and many other coaching relationships.
We address the roots and help you implement the behaviors so that you spend less time worrying ‘will this work’ and more time focusing on the follow through. We got you!
If you at all feel stuck, lost or like you've hit a dead end, take 5 minutes to fill out an application and let's chat to help you learn more about 1:1 coaching and some tips for your journey!