So you’ve been on this nutrition plan and training regimen that worked well to begin with, but now you just hit a wall. Results are not showing up anymore, you hit what we call a plateau. You may have tried to break it without any significant success. You think you are already doing everything possible nutrition wise, that calories are at their lowest and your training is maxed out. No issue possible right? Being at a plateau phase is not the end of the road; it just means that you need to stop for a second and think of other ways possible. To help you out, I’ll give you 3 tips to break plateaus.
Before that, let me go against everyone and say that the plateau phase is a great thing! It’s called homeostasis; the body wants to stay stable, in a controlled state. It’s like maintaining your body temperature. Regardless of the outside condition (if not extreme), your body will keep your temperature to 37C (98F). It’s a survival mode. The same thing happens with your weight. When you gained weight, have you noticed that you hit plateau phases on the way up as well? Did you consistently gain weight each day or did you gain for a while then stayed there for few weeks or months and gain more weight after? My guess is that it’s the second option. Your body’s protecting you from gaining fat at each meal you overeat or didn’t eat well. If we can break plateaus on the way up, we can definitely break them while loosing weight!
Here are my 3 tips:
1- Stop doing the same thing. If you’ve been doing the same diet, and the same training for many weeks it’s time to change! It will always be the first question I ask you. For how long have you been doing the same thing? I’ve heard answers averaging from 3 weeks to 6 months, yes 6 months! Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is what Einstein would have defined as insanity. If you’ve been working on a steady pace type of cardio, go in the gym and try circuit or German body comp type of training. If you’ve already in the gym add some interval training (HIIT). You don’t have time to train, do some Tabata’s. You should change your training type every 4-6 weeks maximum. You need to change the state of the body so change your regiment!
2- Replenish the reserves. When the body is detecting that less food is available either by not eating enough or training too much, it will lower its metabolism. Again, understand the survival instinct of your body. No food means it should protect the fat reserve, starvation mode is on. If you’ve been very good with your nutrition and training, when you hit that plateau, you should be drained of energy, and mentally or physically tired. How do you replenish the reserves? By eating a lot of carbs in one day. Remember we have a plateau phase on the way up as well so let’s use it to stimulate the body or the metabolism. Sounds fun isn’t it? Well don’t eat any type of
carbs…drop that ice cream bowl! Choose oat, quinoa, sweet potatoes, pumpkins and the like to replenish.
In a short article, it’s difficult to define exactly how much carbs is necessary. For one day, as a simple rule, triple the quantity of carbs you are actually eating. You should see your weight go up the next morning. That is totally normal! It is not fat; it’s water and the sugar reserve that are adding some weight. If you didn’t gain, my guess is that you didn’t take enough carbs. The weight will go up for that morning and the next day will start to drop again, so does the other days because you finally break that plateau!
3- Prepare your mind to succeed. It’s not about motivation; it’s about doing a clear choice. If you need to motivate yourself each day, your goal is simply not clear enough in your head, and results won’t happen. Marathoners would never try to motivate themselves at each step for 42km(26 miles)! They have the motivation to start, but a clear goal to achieve in their head is what’s really driving them to succeed! Never underestimate the power of the psychology on your results. Record times are made at the Olympics, not in practices. When the mind set is at its max, magic happens. The nervous system is optimally activated; the hormones secretions are in symphony, the focus unbreakable, and the body gives a record time performance. Sit down and write 5 reasons why you want to break that plateau, give reasons for your body to be optimal to achieve your goal!
Understand that the plateau phase is totally normal. Keep your end goal in head, stop doing the same thing, replenish your reserves and punch that plateau phase away!