I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “Abel, I have hit a plateau and I’m not dropping anymore weight or “Abel, I’m at a standstill and I think I’ve reached a plateau. When people say this 95% of the time it’s not an actual Weight loss plateau. It’s simply non-compliance with their food or exercise program.
An actual weight loss plateau would be when you are following your nutrition and exercise program to a tee for at least 3-4 weeks and still not seeing a change in your weight loss or body composition. You see, we have a tendency to start with good intention on losing weight or committing to an exercising program but where people tend to fall short is they don’t stay the course long enough to see the change in their body. Our bodies have to do something long enough for it to realize that it is an established habit. Typically it takes approximately 20 to 30 days of receptiveness to establish a habit and just as a reminder also to BREAK a habit i.e. eating bad food, not working out. So, your body is not only trying to build new, healthy habits but it’s also trying to break bad habits too. It’s so important to make sure when you commit to eating good foods you also have to commit to NOT eating bad food. In order to receive the benefits of a healthy fit body and lose the weight you’re looking for you also have to sacrifice by not eating the BAD foods that got you here in the first place. Don’t worry, after a couple of weeks your body will thank you for this. Got it?
Alright, now that we got that understood the rest is simple. The most important part of continued weight loss is that you have to stay committed long enough for your body to attach itself to the new habit of eating healthy and detach itself from the habit of eating bad. You have to stay the course! I can’t tell you how important this is. Just give it a chance and give it your full attention. Once you commit to an exercise program or a nutrition program you must stay committed. At the end of the 3-4 week period, re-evaluate the situation and go from there. You always want to be evaluating your situation to see if what you’re doing is giving you the results you desire. If it is than stay the course and if not make the changes immediately to get you back on track or headed in the right direction. You’ll quickly find that if you just stay committed to your weight loss program and follow your plans to a tee, the results will soon follow.
