You’ve been on the treadmill for what feels like days on end. You are watching what you eat and drink. However, despite earlier success watching that scale move in the direction you wanted it to, you’ve hit the infamous plateau! What do you do?
These 5 tips will help you break through any plateau and continue on your path to success. By educating yourself and making sure you have all the proper behavioral “tools”, you can make more positive changes and continue to improve your health day after day! Believe me, it’s worth the effort.
1. Plan Ahead: Without a plan, you won’t know where you’re trying to go. You may have all the information in the world, are making the right food choices, increasing your exercise intensity, etc, but if you don’t plan your great intentions will go right out the window. Pack your meals ahead – take some time on Sunday, for example, and prepare some extra food for throughout the week. Pack this the night before work each day, so you’re never stuck without any options, forcing you to turn to the vending machine or fast food.
2. Learn to Grocery Shop: This one is right in line with planning ahead. Your weight loss efforts really start before you make any meals in your house. They start at the grocery store and if you don’t know what do look for, you’ll struggle when faced with the 50,000 products that fill grocery store shelves. Here is a simple step – stick to the perimeter of the store for 90% of your shopping. Outside of produce, grains, seafood, meat, poultry, and dairy, there’s nothing else you need at the grocery store in terms of food. And make a list before you go, and stick to it. It goes without say that you should not go grocery shopping when you are hungry – that’s a recipe for disaster!
3. Realize there is no magic bullet. Many folks become discouraged when beginning an exercise or weight loss program because they expect a magic bullet, or overnight success. But starting a simple exercise program or reading a “diet” book won’t cure a 30 year ice cream or soda addiction. Small steps each day mean big changes in the long run; nothing will happen overnight and it’s important to continually encourage yourself. Unhealthy habits weren’t created overnight and they won’t be changed overnight. You need to work towards improving your habits day after day.
4. Work with a friend(s) or spouse. Social support has been shown to improve the ability to lose and maintain weight loss. Use this to your advantage. Get a group of friends, family members, or co-workers together to get on a plan and work towards a goal. It’s much more likely that you make time for exercise if you know you are meeting other people; it is just another way to be held accountable. At the very least, get a friend to train with; this will help both of you when trying to push and break through to the next level.
5. Eat Breakfast! You’ve clearly heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? Well, if not…it’s true! Not only has research shown that those who eat breakfast regularly consume higher levels of many nutrients, but it has also shown time and time again that those who eat breakfast daily have lower body fat levels and body weights! And, get this, you’ll be more physically and mentally alert all day! Please don’t skip this important meal.
There are always going to be many barriers to changing eating and exercise behaviors and breaking through plateaus. Step out of your comfort zone and have a change of mindset. It’s very easy to stop at a fast food restaurant or order a pizza for dinner, instead of taking 10 or 20 minutes to prepare a healthy meal. The time to make a change is now!
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