Getting Over the Weight Plateau - Page 4
Focus on the Bigger Picture
Getting baseline measurements and monitoring these numbers are great for motivational tools, but try not to get too hooked on these numbers, either. They are best used as benchmarks for progress and should not be the ultimate goal of your program. The things you do to lose weight or influence other kinds of numbers related to body size also have a positive impact on several important vital statistics, from your blood pressure and resting heart rate to your cholesterol and stress levels. It's the combined benefit of all of these factors, as well as many others, that provides the biggest payoff by reducing your chances of developing life-threatening conditions and improving your overall quality of life.
Here are a few other ways that you can track your progress and document the positive changes you've made for yourself.
- Keep a journal -- Keep a daily log or journal of your fitness activities, your measurements, your food intake, your sleep habits, and, most importantly, your day-to-day feelings. A growing body of research suggests that moderate, regular exercise can enhance mental well-being by enhancing self-esteem, improving mood, reducing anxiety and stress, and improving sleep. Detail exactly what you are doing to keep fit and how easy or difficult certain activities are, taking special note of whether you were able to do physical activities with greater energy and ease.
- Try on clothes -- How your clothes fit can be a great indication of how you're reshaping your body. For instance, if you replace 5 pounds of fat with 5 pounds of muscle, you will look leaner and will have lost inches in key areas because muscle is more dense than fat. The end result is that your clothes should generally hang looser in all the right spots.
- Test your overall fitness -- Sign up for a fitness test at a local health club to measure improvements in muscular strength and endurance, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility. By repeating tests at regular intervals, you can compare results from previous tests to assess any changes. Locate a club near you with this online tool from the American Council on Exercise.
When Everything Stalls
Plateaus are natural; they occur because your body constantly strives to maintain equilibrium. Similar to the way you may crave a new challenge upon mastering hobbies and pastimes, once your body adapts to a workout routine, you often need to change the length, intensity, frequency, and/or type of workout to get over a plateau.
Although sticking with your current program will help you maintain your fitness level, changing the type of exercise you're doing, varying the speed or intensity of the exercises you do, or cycling through different routines can bring additional benefits, such as improved cardiovascular fitness and increased muscle tone and flexibility.
Some specific programs led by a personal trainer, such as periodization -- which involves varying your training program at specific intervals -- may be another way to spice up the routine. Read more about this method.
Identify Other Possible Causes of Weight Plateau
There are some medical conditions that can cause you to gain weight or make weight loss harder than it normally would be. If you are trying to lose weight and failing, or if you are gaining weight for no apparent reason, check with your physician to rule out medical causes such as hypothyroidism, food sensitivities, blood sugar imbalance, or Cushing's syndrome. In addition, ask whether it may be a side effect of a prescription medication such as steroids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), diabetic medications, or antidepressants.
Also, if you are restricting calories too much or exercising excessively, your body will hoard calories and fat to prevent starvation. A good moderate plan should include no fewer than 1,200 calories per day for women and 1,500 calories per day for men.
"Get Over" the Weight Plateau
In school, if your only objective was to get high grades, you may not have appreciated the value of building a thorough understanding and knowledge of various topics. And just as a grade does not always reflect how much you've learned, the same holds true for using weight as a measure of health. The real value of good nutrition and fitness comes from lowering health risk factors, improving your overall well-being, and slowing the aging process, not just from losing weight. By shifting your focus away from your weight plateau and toward the many other benefits of good habits, you'll have the fuel you need to keep up your healthy lifestyle for years to come.
