Everyone hits a plateau, it's what you do about it that matters!

👎 SOME BAD NEWS, 🙂 SOME GOOD NEWS, & 🤩SOME GREAT NEWS

👎 THE BAD NEWS

If you’re working out hard, eating right, yet you feel like your progress has slowed down or even stopped completely, no matter what you do, you may be in a plateau.

Plateaus are frustrating. They can make you feel like a failure, like your progress has stopped, and that you’re not making any headway.

🙂 THE GOOD NEWS

It doesn’t have to be this way! Even though plateaus are normal, they don’t have to be the end of the road for your fitness journey. In fact, there is usually an underlying reason why they happen in the first place … so it makes sense to figure out what yours is.

🤩 THE GREAT NEWS

We're giving away free copies of our brand new "Break Through Your Plateaus" Guide! Grab it by going to this link and keep reading for more info below on how to bust through a plateau!

3 Things That Cause A Plateau (See the full list in the FREE guide!)

WATER WEIGHT

The quick drop of weight when you first start eating a healthier diet can actually be water weight (not fat). This happens because when you eat less or eat fewer
carbs, your body taps into its glycogen stores to get the energy it needs. Glycogen is stored in your muscles and liver. It’s partly made of water, so when your body burns glycogen for energy, that water gets released. That can translate into quickly dropping a few to several pounds.

This effect is just temporary, though.

YOUR METABOLISM HAS SLOWED DOWN

When you lose weight, you lose some muscle along with fat. In fact, it’s estimated that up to 25% of the body tissue lost during weight loss comes from muscle! (We’re going to talk more about this later.)

This affects your metabolism because muscle burns more calories than fat. It’s a small difference, but multiplied over time, it can really add up. This is why protein and strength training are so important.
More later...

YOUR FOOD CHOICES

Some foods can cause your body to retain water, especially for women. Top offenders are foods high in carbohydrates (one tip: the second half of the word is “HYDRATE”) and sodium.

3 Ways To Bust Through A Plateau (See all 10 ways by downloading the FREE guide!)

START TRACKING YOUR FOOD.

Yes, using a food log can be tedious and it takes time, in the short term. But in the long term, it will give you valuable information that can actually SAVE time by
speeding up your results. You will learn how many calories you actually are taking in vs. how many you think you are eating. You’ll see a big picture of your food choices, and whether you are eating enough nutrient-dense foods (i.e., rich in vitamins and minerals vs. calories). It can be a valuable check-in on your portion sizes.
Some online food trackers to try: MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, and the Fitbit app.

CHECK YOUR ACTIVITY LEVEL

The daily activity you do outside of your workouts makes a huge contribution (as much as 30%!) toward your overall daily calorie burn. This means sitting vs. lying down, standing vs. sitting, walking vs. parking close to the entrance, doing household tasks vs. watching TV for an hour.

This does more than simply burn calories. It can help keep your body’s fat-burning pump primed! The enzyme lipoprotein lipase (LPL) plays a major role in your body’s ability to burn fat for energy. But when you’re sedentary, you don’t have as much of it in your system. Moving throughout the day can keep your LPL level up, which means your body is able to burn more fat.

Using an activity tracker (like a FitBit or Apple Watch) can help you monitor your daily activity.

YOUR BODY NEEDS A BREAK

If you’ve been in a calorie deficit (eating fewer calories than your body would normally need) for a long time (several months), your body might need a little break to reset. This doesn’t mean STOPPING your plan. The goal is to MAINTAIN your results for a month or two, and then restart again when your body is rested.

Three steps to a mini-vacation from your weight-loss plan:

1. Boost your calories to maintenance level
2. Make sure you get enough sleep and rest
3. Change your fitness goals to get stronger and put on a little
muscle, which may mean doing less cardiovascular exercise
(depending on your previous program)

Then, restart your plan.

We hope this info has given you a solid glimpse into why you are in a plateau and a few ways to bust through! We have tons more info for you in the FREE guide we created. Click here to go grab it now!