Overcoming a Plateau

"Strategies for Overcoming a Plateau" was the topic of my meeting last night, and it couldn't have come at a better time for me. I'm approaching two months at this same weight and I'm really eager to see it start moving down again.

Our leader gave us a statistic that 90% of plateaus happen because the person is not following the plan. That's fairly obvious and I'm not going to pretend to be one of the ten percent. It works if you work it, I've said it a million times. A woman at the meeting got her 40-pound star and the leader asked if she ever had a plateau, and she said no. Then the leader asked how she manages to lose weight every week, and she said, "I follow the plan and count the points." It's so simple. Not easy, but simple.

There were a couple strategies mentioned that I am already doing, such as joining a meeting and weighing in and keeping a journal and tracking points. I don't have any changes to make in that department, I just need to keep it up.

Something that I have not been doing is treating every week like it's Week One. The last time I did that was the first week after I joined the meeting, and I lost 5.6 pounds that week. Amazing how that works. I'm making the choice to treat this week the same way. That means weighing and measuring my portions, using filling foods instead of junk as much as possible, and following the guidelines regarding fruit, vegetables, dairy, protein, water, exercise, etc.

In addition to the above which I already knew, I got a few new strategies that I can try. It's nice to know I'm getting my money's worth out of these meetings and that there is still new stuff for me to learn after all these years.

One strategy is just to shake things up. Make changes to the daily routine to shock the body into weigh-loss mode. Suggestions included having breakfast for dinner, changing the protein-to-carb ratio, and adding dairy. I have decided to lose the lean cuisine from the middle of my day and replace it with a higher protein lunch like tuna salad. I also made a breakfast burrito this morning instead of my usual cereal.

Another is to reinforce good habits with repetition. That first workout or home-cooked meal feels like a chore, as does the second and the third. But after I push through the first few, it just starts feeling like part of the routine, and it feels weird not to do it. The tricky part is getting the motivation to start in the first place. But if I remind myself that I'm not only treating myself well but that I'm also making it easier for myself to do so even more in the future, that will hopefully be enough to motivate me to make the positive changes.

I feel like I'm on the right track so far. Grady helped me rearrange the equipment in the weight room so that I'd have more room to move around on the floor, and then I did a WATP video before bed last night. Then this morning it only took a couple extra minutes to cook eggs for breakfast instead of reaching for the cereal. I am making changes now to lay the groundwork for what I hope will be the routine in the future.

The final strategy, and this is the hardest one, is keeping a positive mental attitude. The leader asked us what we say to ourselves when we have another disappointing weigh-in. Then she asked if we would ever say that to someone else in our meeting if they did. My stomach sank. I would never talk to someone else the way I talk to myself, because that would be just horrible. So why is it okay to talk to myself that way? Apparently it's not. This week I'm committing to treat myself with the same respect I give others. It has already led to a lot of backspacing on this blog, which just tells me that it is definitely something I can work to improve.

So I'm half a day into the week I'm doing it right so far. I have the season finale of Losing It to watch tonight.