3 Easy Steps to Manage a Weight Loss Plateau Podcast Episode 154
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Transcription of 3 Easy Steps to Manage a Weight Loss Plateau Podcast Episode 154
Hello, and welcome to fit and fabulous with me, Dr. Orlena Kerek. I hope that you are feeling fabulous. Hello from rainy, rainy Spain. Oh my goodness. It feels like the sea has landed on my head. It just has not stopped raining for days
3 Easy Steps to Manage a Weight Loss Plateau
Today I want to talk about when you are on a weight loss journey and you reach a plateau.
Now, so many people think that reaching a plateau is time for despondency and despair. And I say, no, it is, well, it can be a time for celebration, but it is definitely a golden learning opportunity. And when we think about the journey that you are on, whether it's a journey to lose weight or a journey to get more healthy, or both, there are going to be times that you will feel tested.
And these are the times when quite often people go, oh my goodness, I can't do this. Life is happening. I'm just going to Jack it all in. These are the danger moment. And if you can just keep going, hooray, hooray, hooray. You will get there in the end. So what we're going to do is have a deep dive and I'm going to share my method of what I do when my clients reach a plateau.
Step 1 Evaluate. Are you being consistent?
And we'll go through this step-by-step so that you have a. Okay. So step number one, when you reach a plateau is not to panic, not to go, oh my goodness. It doesn't work. The first thing you really need to do is be honest with yourself. And so you need to get a little bit of self-awareness and you need to take a step back and you need to have a look at what's going on.
Have Bad Eating Habits Slipped in?
So there are two possible scenarios. The first is that things have slipped a little bit, that you have been changing what's going on. So you've got your routines, but perhaps it's holiday season, perhaps life is happening, perhaps you're a little bit more stressed, perhaps the truth is that you have been eating a little bit more of the stuff that you're trying not to eat, doing a little bit less exercise.
So that is scenario number1 . Now, if you fall into scenario, number one, do not panic. Do not go, oh my goodness. This isn't working for me. Take a big breath, be compassionate with yourself and use it as what I call a golden learning opportunity. So have a think about, Hey, why is this happening? What's going on?
And then get back on track.
Have you Reached a Weight Loss Plateau?
Now scenario number two is that you have been doing all the same things. So you've got your systems, your habits, your routines you've started on your healthy eating journey. And you've been doing exactly exactly the same and you reach. And this is when a lot of people go, oh my goodness, despondency, despair, help.
Celebrate Your Weight Loss Plateau
It's not working. And I say, no, hang on a minute. This is a time for celebration. You have reached a plateau. This is a milestone you need to celebrate. You need to congratulate yourself. So let me explain a little bit about what's going on and why I say this. Say for example, you want to lose a hundred pounds.
And you change the way you eat. So you stop eating calorie, dense cookies, cakes, and you move across to healthy, delicious fruit and vegetables. So you're naturally getting less calories in your day. Now that means that for the weight that you are, you are giving your body less energy. You're giving your body more opportunity to use.
Those stores, the fat stores as energy. And that's what you need to do. You have to give your body the opportunity to use the internal stores as energy, because otherwise it's just going to stay there now, as your body gets smaller and smaller, it needs less energy every single day. So eventually you will reach a stage where your energy that you are in.
Is what your body needs. So in the first few months, or however long, that is you are eating less than your body needs and you are losing weight until you reach a stage where you weren't giving your body exactly what it needs. And that is a platter. And that is amazing because you have got to a smaller size.
Step 2 Create a “Plateau Plan”
So rejoice celebrate. That is the main thing. And then you need to make what I call a plateau plan. So what is a plateau plan? Well, essentially you need to make changes. You need to think. Okay. So that worked now. Now I need to find something that is going to work going forwards. What does that look like?
What it depends. It depends what works for you. It depends where you are right now, but essentially you want to be looking at the way your. And so you might be looking at your day and thinking, okay, what's the worst thing I do in my day? Where is it that I am eating in a way that I don't want to be eating, create yourself an avatar, super healthy, me, super healthy, or Lena.
How would super healthy or Lena eat in this situation? She would be eating salad for lunch instead of. Crackers and cheese instead of pasta, instead of whatever it is. So have a think about what that looks like. And normally you can switch your white refined carbs for more vegetables. Let me give you a hint.
Leafy greens are your friends because they are naturally low in calories. Full of fiber, which is good for us, but it bulks you out. It makes you feel satisfied. It gives you that feeling of, oh my goodness. I'm full. Now, if you have a coach, this is the time that you need to go and chat to your coach and think, okay, what's my plan going?
And I would say as well, that there is a certain amount of mindset work that you need to do around this. And it doesn't have to be difficult. It's just, Hey, I'm entering a new phase, but my brain is going to lag behind a little bit. My brain is busy saying to me, Hey, this is what I normally eat. This is what my body wants.
This is how I like things. I like what we did before. And another part of your brain needs to go to heart. It is time for change the change. Isn't going to be as bad as you think. And quite often it takes a little bit of time for your brain to catch up. So let me give you an example. A few years ago, I decided that spurred on by my husband.
I was going to stop having a teaspoon of honey or condensed milk with my morning breakfast. So I have a big bowl of. Fruit and nuts and seeds with some porridge. And I used to have teaspoon of condensed milk or. And when I first stopped it, my brain would be like, oh my goodness, there's something missing.
My breakfast feels like it's not complete because I was looking for that rush of sweetness. Now that lasted a bit, it got easier and easier. I just got on with it. What I actually did was I didn't buy honey or condensed milk for that period of time to make it easy for me to not have condensed milk because you know, at seven o'clock in the morning, I'm not going to go shopping for condensed.
So that was a really easy trick just to make it easier for me to do what I wanted to do, as opposed to taunting myself with a bowl of a jar of honey on the table. So it got easier. And now a few years later, I don't even think about it. It doesn't even cross my mind. I just get on with eating the breakfast that has changed.
So your brain will catch up, but you do have to give it a little bit of time to do. So that in a nutshell is a plateau plan. You just have to make changes. You have to think, okay, I'm going to do things differently. And there are all kinds of different changes that you can think of. You can be thinking of one, increasing the amount of vegetables you're eating.
You can be thinking of to decreasing your portion sizes. And that this depends on different people. If you think that your portion sizes. You know, it's up to you. You have to make something that works for you, but it can be that you're going to decrease your portion sizes. You can think about having days so intermittent, fasting days, so you could have.
Reduce your window of intermittent fasting. If that works for you, or you could have days where you think I'm going to do a little bit of intermittent fasting. So, you know, there are lots of options. You have to find something that works for you, but in a nutshell, that is your plateau plan, make a plan and then stick to it.
Step 3 ReEvaluate Your Weight Loss Plateau
And I would say, you know, after a few weeks you want to stick to something for two to four weeks and then reevaluate and think, yeah, this is working or this isn't working. And that doesn't necessarily mean looking. At the figures, first of all, is it working for my life and my lifestyle? Or am I just finding this total, total agony?
And then obviously looking at whether it is being effective or not. So I hope that makes it gives you a plan of action for what to do when you hit a plateau one, do not panic to. Celebrate use it either as a golden learning opportunity or to celebrate the fact that you have reached a new milestone. Now, if you are interested in having support on your healthy, you either weight loss or not weight loss journey, then give me a shout.
It is November right now, and I have five more spaces in my group program that I am looking to fill before the new year. So let me know if you would like to do. And no obligation chat to just come and chat doctoral Lena's roadmap to healthy you chat. I will leave a link in the show notes, have a fabulous day, and I will see you next week.
Bye-bye.
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Written By Dr Orlena
Dr Orlena Kerek (MBChB from the University of Bristol, UK) trained as a pediatric doctor. She is now a family health coach. She helps busy mums who want to feel amazing by eating healthy food, enjoy a healthy life, get back into their honeymoon shorts and teach their kids healthy habits all without thinking about it.
Want support and help in your weight loss journey?
Book a chat with Dr Orlena: https://bookme.name/drorlena/lite/healthy-you-healthy-family-scholarship-program
