Weight Loss Plateau - Is it emotional?

As some of might know I'm always looking for the underlying psychological causes to our health issues and I think a weight loss plateau might also come into this category.

If you are someone who has reached a plateau for a while then maybe there is an emotional block to moving forward.

When I did some work on this for myself some years ago, my explorations revealed that holding on to weight was a form of psychological 'protection' for me. Fat meant being safe, that 'I couldn't be 'got'.', and only by recognizing and acknowledging this was I able to let it go and move on.

So if you think this might apply to you then ask yourself the following questions...

• Why did I put the weight on in the first place?
• How did it serve me? (e.g. helped me cope with a breakup, de-stress etc.)
• If I was to reach my ideal weight, how would my life change?
• What or who might I have to let go of that maybe I'm not ready to?
• Who do I think I'll become when I lose the weight?

If you want to explore these more then e-mail me for your complimentary Conscious Eating coaching session.

5 Tips for moving past the Plateau

1. Persist - just hang on in there! If you're sticking to your regime then it is coming off, just maybe not enough for the scale to see right now.
2. Check for hidden calories, it is surprising how many calories can be hidden in a teaspoon of this or a pinch of that - be honest with yourself.
3. Increase muscle building exercises - Muscle burns fat!
4. Revisit your goals and motivation for losing weight in the first place and ask yourself if maybe you have reached a plateau because that is where you body feels most comfortable.
5. ACCEPT that you are where you are, ACCEPT that your body is resting from weight loss right now, ACCEPT that you are eating for health whether or not you are losing weight, ACCEPT YOURSELF FULLY. Refusal to accept the reality of where you are right now will build into stress and likely be the cause of 'why do I bother' binges.

How to move forward when you reach the Weight Loss Plateau

I've been thinking lately of plateau's - specifically when after a few weeks dieting you hit what appears to be a wall and no matter how much excercise you do or how many calories you cut down to, the weight just doesn't budge.

Everyone on a weight loss diet will at some stage reach a plateau - maybe for a week or two, maybe even longer. Rather than becoming despondent over this - that your 'hard work' seems to not be paying off anymore I would like to invite you to take this opportunity to review and revisit your plan.

Firstly, accept that for the moment your body is resting where it is. Getting annoyed will only increase resistance, make you unhappy and probably contribute to you giving up.
Secondly take a moment to acknowledge what you've achieved to date, not just the pounds lost but the way your clothes feel, the way your body feels - relish in your success to date!

When you've done that you will be in a far more positive place to then take a look at your plan.
So when you do ask yourself the following questions...

• Are your original goals still valid or do you now have different ones?
• Does your original strategy for achieving these goals need to be changed or varied?

Although our bodies work somewhat like machines, unlike machines we cannot guarantee the output and our bodies will work at the pace they want to work, maybe you need to vary your routine, maybe up the exercise, maybe leave off the exercise for a day or two.

If you are considering reducing your calories more, just remember that your bodies need a minimal amount of calories to function and cutting down too much is unhealthy and cause your body to hold on to fat if it thinks it is going to starve.

Giving up smoking and putting on weight!

Are you someone who has given up smoking and then put on a load of weight?

• Do you find yourself thinking you'd be better off smoking and being slimmer rather than cigarette free and fat?

The answer to this dilemma in principle is really quite simple - it's about understanding 'habits'.

You cannot simply drop one habit and expect it and everything associated with it to go away, you need to understand why you had that habit in the first place and how it was serving you. When you know how it was serving you and what it is you are REALLY needing at these moments then you will be empowered to choose a different way of getting this need met. Rather than dropping a habit you will be replacing it with another, preferable a more healthy one.

Basically what is happening when you find yourself putting on weight after giving up smoking it is because you are now 'munching' when you used to 'smoke' . However, rather than just trying to now stop 'munching' as well, what if you looked more deeply into this at what you are really wanting here. Why do you have the need to smoke or eat, what is it 'covering up'? For example, a common reason to smoke is to relieve stress, so if you can identify what it is you are stressed about and what HEALTHY option you can find to DE STRESS then you will have cracked this and you will have found a way to replace an old unhealthy habit with a new one. For all new habits to become habits they need to be 'practised', so don't give up when the old cravings come back, just notice what thoughts are attached to this and what it is that you REALLY need here and give this to yourself.

And if you want to look deeper into this and understand and change some of your habits then e-mail me for a complimentary coaching session.