Getting past the dreaded plateau.

Hitting a plateau can be so frustrating.  At first, you are losing weight and seeing big results.   You are working out hard and eating healthy, then all of a sudden, nothing.  Do not despair because you can overcome this.

First things first, do not get discouraged and give up.  Hitting a plateau is common, its annoying but it is common.  To get over it and start reaching your goals you just need to figure out why progress has seemed to come to a screeching halt. 

1) Get your nutrition in check.  I have learned that there are a couple different things when it comes to nutrition and plateaus.  It might be that you need to increase your calorie intake.  Now that you are burning more calories your body needs to know that you are not starving it.  If the body thinks that you are starving it than it will store fat.  Try increasing your calorie intake by 200 for a couple weeks and see if you get any results. If that doesn't work you could try to decrease your calorie intake.  As you lose weight your metabolism will decrease because you do not need to burn as many calories. Remember to never go below 1200 calories per day if you are female and 1500 calories per day if you are male so you can keep that lean mass.

Keep record of what you are eating. This may seem to be a pain but it really is beneficial.  You may be surprised that you are not eating enough or eating too little.   

Eat a variety of food that is loaded with nutrition.  When you have a variety of food then you are making sure that you are getting all of your nutrients like carbs, fats, proteins and vitamins.  I have never dieted and do not believe in diets.  I do believe in eating whole foods and eating with a purpose.  Good sources of food with great nutrition are: vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, dairy, and lean meats.

2) Change up your exercise routine.  When you keep doing the same exercise routing the body gets used to it.  When this happens the body uses less energy so you plateau.  I start changing up my workout once it feels too easy.  When you work out you want to WORKOUT.  You need to sweat and really feel the burn and when you wake up the next day you should be sore.  There are some many different types of exercises out there that you should not have a hard time changing it up.  I change my workouts by doing weight lifting, cardio, yoga, and at home workouts.