For all you blog readers that have been or are currently on a lifestyle change to lose weight, you most likely dread that word “plateau.” I know I would if I was in a season of weight loss as well.
We receive emails on a regular basis or have conversations with people who are on a weight loss plan and have hit a plateau, and everyone wants to know what’s the best way to break or avoid a plateau!
When it comes to diet and exercise there are several ways; cut out a snack, increase cardio time, amongst others which we don’t have the time to get into right now. However being a trainer for 10+ years now, what I have noticed is that sharing the diet and exercise plateau breakers with some clients isn’t the only thing they need in order to move forward in their weight loss journey. They had the information but for some reason had a difficult time fully implementing it. That left me scratching my head and wondering, what else needs to be done to help clients continue on their journey of weight loss, and get them UNstuck.
QUESTION...
Have you ever heard that saying: if you THINK you CAN or you THINK you CANT, either way you are right. Well I realize now there is a lot, we’ll 100% truth to that.
After experiencing a few clients being stuck in a plateau, what I started to do was find out how they think, by asking them questions. Sure enough they were experiencing thoughts that were causing them to sabotage their success. Let me give you an example. One client dealt with the need to feel she had to please people, so when offered some home cooked food that could sabotage her weight loss that week, she didn’t feel she could say no, and would eat it even though she didn’t want to. So the root of the problem is lack of self confidence, and the unhealthy need of pleasing others to feel good about herself.
So the solution to this problem is working with the client on building up their self worth, value, and self esteem apart from pleasing someone in that moment. As that builds they will be able to politely decline what they do NOT want to eat.
Of course this takes time to do, but in the end the client will not only get to their goal weight, they will be able to maintain what they have lost because they will have delt with the unhealthy sabotaging thinking that had left them feeling stuck, insecure, and unhappy.
So, in conclusion, a plateau breaker is not just trying to add in more exercise, it could be anazlying and changing your thoughts and ways of operating in a relationship, and building and establishing your self worth, which is by far one of the great accomplishments someone could achieve.