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Weight Loss Plateau’s – Changing Their Meaning Once And For All

A couple of weeks back I finally broke through a long, 10 week weight loss plateau. This was my second plateau in a year; the last one was horrible. It was the worst.

It sucked, to say the least, and that’s because I didn’t know how I should have been looking at plateaus. With this new way of thinking, I almost relish the thought them. I’m imagining the look on you face right now (cute!), but stay with me I’ll explain everything, it’s life changing!

How it came about…

It was Monday, about 7:30 in the evening; I got to my slimming world class like normal, and I can remember thinking…no wait, it was more like I was praying for some progress on the scales.

It was my tenth weigh-in. I got on the scales, looked down and that when I felt the willpower and determination racing to leave my body like a greyhound out of the traps. Stepping off the scales I felt as though I was running my heart out but not getting anywhere. You’ve felt like that before, haven’t you?

I put my trainers on, picked up my jacket, and made my over to the semi circle of chairs; my shoulders felt like the entire world was on them, pushing me down, desperately trying to make me quit, and go back to me my old.

I remember sitting there with my book open in the palms of my hands, staring down at the last 10 weigh-ins, listen to my brain scream things like, “what the point? You might as well give up“. I did my best to silence the voice, but there was one question that wouldn’t go away “when’s was it gonna end?“, and that’s when it hit me like a bullet from a skilled marksmen rifle, square between the eyes; why hadn’t I seen it sooner!

There, it was clear as day, just staring at me; in the last 10 weeks I was still at the same weight; some weeks I put on a pound or two, and vice versa off. That aside, from the start of the plateau on 08/07/2013 until tonight’s weigh-in 16/09/2013 I weight the same, 17 stone 5lbs!

I was MAINTAINING!

The new meaning of weight loss plateau’s

I think it’s time for some honesty. In the last 10 weeks, I can’t honestly say I’ve been 110% on the slimming world plan; don’t get me wrong, I’ve followed it, but truth be told I was pretty bad thinking back and deep down I know that’s the reason behind the plateau, BUT, and this is the positive part.

As I’ve just admitted for the last 10 weeks, I’ve been eating pretty normal, by which I mean I’ve had the odd biscuit, packet of crisps, slice if cake here and there. I’ve haven’t really been thinking about what I’m eating or going to eat; I’ve just been doing it, a lot of the times it was good, healthy food that I’m used to, but there have been times that I’ve just thrown something frozen in the oven (not slimming world friendly), been out and about and grabbed something, and I can’t forget the weekly cheat meal I have every Monday night!

I’ve done all this, in moderation of course, not mad, and going overboard, just little bits here and there, and I’ve stayed the same, isn’t that FREAKING AWESOME!

ZERO POUNDS in 10 weeks NOT living like a RABBIT!

The second I realised this, that weight that had taken up residency on shoulders and getting heavier with every passing week suddenly vanished! That wasn’t all, the willpower and determination that was itching to leave my body was now surging through my veins at 1000 mph. It was electrifying I felt super pumped and live.

The bright & positive road ahead

This has given me a real positive boost for when I hit my target weight and being able to maintain it over the long term. I don’t think the old (fatter) me would have stayed the same in 10 weeks.

I think I’m changing. I feel things are starting to become second nature. It’s an amazing feeling; A thousand times better than “oh I’m not losing weight, this sucks“, that’s the old school plateau way of thinking; this is the new an improved plateau 2.0!

Now its your turn…

If your on a plateau right now, stop thinking of it as a negative and a failure. I get that you want to lose more weight, me and you both! But just for a moment look at it this way; if you’ve been bouncing around the same weight for 5, 6, 10, 20 weeks it doesn’t matter! There I said it!

You’ve already lost weight which is great, sure losing more would (will) be fantastic, but maintaining is a million times better than regaining and returning to your old fat self, isn’t it?

The plateau your on right now is showing….no scratch that, it’s proving to you that you can live a healthy, realistic life without gaining weight that doesn’t have to suck like most people think it does, and when finally reach your goal weight whatever that might be, you WILL be able to maintain it.

Let’s just be positive shall we!

I think the weight loss world needs a giant kick up the arse; the words “losing weight & diet” have got such a stigma attached to them, and its because the weight loss niche is bursting with poisonous negativity that doesn’t help anyone apart from the jerks that are selling worthless “miracle diet garbage“; yeah I hate them scum bags!

We as a community need to come together and be positive because we are doing the right thing, we are changing our lives for the better, sure it may be slow, but you know what, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and nor were you!

Have you experienced a weight loss plateau in the past or currently on one? Here’s what I want you to do, leave a comment below about how it made you feel, and if this new way of thinking about plateau’s could help you in the future; I’d love to hear your thoughts and feelings.

As always, you guys rock!

QUICK UPDATE:

I wanted to add a quick update to support this new found thinking; I was in class last night talking to a guy that joined slimming world around the same time as I did; funny enough it was between me and him for the man of the year competition a few months back. Anyway, we were talking about how we were both getting on and despite his fantastic weight loss he’s been stuck on a plateau for about 15 weeks! (Know that feeling!)

From the start, right up till now he’s only gained 1.5 lbs.…in 15 weeks! He looked so down and dishearten telling me, and that when I turned round and said “15 weeks! That awesome!” His face was a picture, it really was ha-ha.

I then asked him, “Hand on your heart, in the last 15 weeks have you been flowing slimming world 110% ?” his answer was exactly like mine, “No, I’ve had the odd bits and bobs here and there, nothing too bad just normal living”. I had one last question for him before I explained my way of looking at plateaus; “In the last 15 weeks have you been unhappy with the way you’ve been living (eating/food wise)?” His answer was short and to the point, “No, the only thing that has been getting to me is the lack of weight loss and the dam plateau”.

I then explained my new plateau concept (above) to him; that he’s been living a normal life, not living like most people think you have to when you’re on a diet; instead he’s been happy getting on with things having the odd packet of crisps, chocolate bar, whatever here and there and he’s only gained 1.5lbs in 15 weeks.

Telling him that this was a good thing and that he should look at this plateau as a dry run for when he reaches his target. It was fantastic to see what this did to him; it brought so much relief and happiness to his face it was amazing; it was like he’d just been told he was doing well after he had been telling himself the opposite for so long. He was amazed to look at it from this perspective and couldn’t believe that he hadn’t thought of it like that before now.

You can see why I wanted to share this, can’t you. I love to help anyone I can with anything, and this was the perfect example, most people (the whole weight loss industry in fact) take not losing weight when trying to as a bad thing, but it doesn’t have to be.

I’m not saying this concept will work for everyone because it won’t, but if you only take one thing away from this article let it be this, don’t be so hard on yourself because the minute you do, that’s when things get 10x harder. It’s a vicious circle that we need to stop, not just in weight loss but in every aspect of our lives. Find the small wins in everything you do and slowly you’ll get to where you want to be without all the un-necessary stress and pressure.