theleip
2
Being that this seems to be an issue for people and that I had a long day with not much to do, I thought I would post this here. It started off simple then turned into a monster, but I think it might be good to help some people. Let me know what you guys think or if there is anyhting I should add. I figured weight loss would be the best section to put it in, but if it should go in the article section, feel free to move it.
So you have been doing everything right, taking in fewer calories, doing your cardio, and getting in a good weight training routine. You saw great progress, lost some fat and are on a natural high. Then it happens, the fat stops dropping or even comes back on a little, your strength increases have stopped and you don’t know how much longer you can keep trying so hard and not getting anywhere from it. In short you have just hit a weight loss plateau.
Let’s look at what the word Plateau means first, “A relatively stable level, period, or state”. Stable in this instance is a funny word to use because it’s the last thing you feel. You know those great hero action movies where the bad guy is just wicked powerful. All your normal tricks don’t seem to work. You throw a building at him and it just shatters and he gives an evil grin. This is very much how battling fat can feel for some. However the good guy realizes the bad guys Achilles Heel and in the end we are cheering his victory.
First let’s make sure you are at a plateau and don’t just need to smarten up your routine. I read a lot of times “I eat clean, I workout right and I just can’t lose the weight”. A lot of people think they are eating clean and then share they are having 3 meals a day and 2 of them are Lean Cuisine. This is not effective and will certainly stall your efforts. So here is a quick and simple look at a steady eating habit and workout routine. I encourage you to further look upon this stuff in detail later on if this is new to you.
-5 to 6 meals a day. In short you want to have small meals throughout the day, this keeps your metabolism going.
-Get Lean Protein and Good Carbs at every meal and also include good fats.
Lean Protein: Skinless Chicken Breasts, Turkey, Egg Whites, Whey protein, Fish, 96% extra Lean Ground Beef, Bison, Crab.
Good Carbs: Complex Carbs (Oatmeal, Sweet potatoes, Whole Grain Breads, Beans, Lentils, Whole Grain Pastas) Fruits, and veggies.
Good Fats: Fish/Flax oil, Natural Peanut Butter, Almonds, Avocados
-The Right Ratio. In mathematical terms ratio means “The relation between quantities expressed as the quotient of one divided by the other”. What we want to shoot for is a healthy ratio of proteins, fats, and carbs. Most people start out with success with a ratio of 35% protein, 25% fat, and 40% carbs. If you find you are fatigued by carbs or don’t need all those carbs then move down to a 40% protein, 25% fat and 35% carbs. You do need carbs for weight loss, however timing them and figuring out the right amount for you takes a little trial and error as it is different for each person’s body.
-Eat the right amount of calories. More often then not a person is eating the wrong amount of calories for their body. In most cases they are eating to few, thinking that less calories the better. However this will stall fat loss quicker than anything else because your body will store everything it has hoping to not in a since starve. So figure out your calories needs and subtract 500 from that number (sometimes even less if you are at a small weight loss need) and remember you need to eat to lose.
-Eat for your activity not for your tummy. What this means basically is early in the day you know you will need a lot of energy, so take in higher energy foods (Complex carbs and fruit). However when you know you are going to be on your butt for the rest of the night when you get home you wont need all that energy so stick with veggies and your proteins/fats.
-Cardio 5-6 days a week. If you weren’t already doing Cardio 5-6 days a week well get to it. Cardio is very key to fat loss and it needs to be done that often for most people to see results. We will talk about what kinds a little later.
-Full Body Strength Train 3 days a week. No you won’t get bulky because you are in a calorie deficit so hit those weights to maintain your muscle. Muscle burns fat, the better it is the more fat you burn by doing nothing! However don’t over do it, give at least a day between each training session.
-Get Plenty of water. This is often one of the most neglected needs for weight loss especially for women. Getting in a gallon a day will replenish your system and reduce water weight and retaining.
-Sleep/Rest. Get at least 7-8 Hours of rest a night. If need be take a afternoon nap. Rest is when your body repairs itself, if you aren’t getting proper rest, you aren’t getting proper restore. Give at least 1 day a week where you do no working out.
So if you haven’t been doing these things, if you have been sneaking of carbs at night (cause that’s when the cravings hit), if you have been eating under or over, not getting enough cardio, getting to much cardio, not sleeping right, neglecting your water… Well there is where you need to start. Get this is order first and you will see results from tightening your efforts.
Alright so now comes the time when you say “Look I do all that, been doing all that I swear and its not working and I am just stuck here holding my flabby tummy.” It’s going to be okay, now put down your tummy and let’s break down what you can do to restart your fat loss progress.
Now for another analogy, I know but seriously visualization is good for you and it allows me to rant. Let’s say your car is stuck in the mud and it won’t move. You know from before a good push can get you moving. You get out and you push, but it won’t budge (doing the same thing and not getting a result). This mud is a little deeper this won’t work. So then a man drives by and you ask him to step on the gas while you push the car forward. This just causes your tires to spin to fast and causes a burn out because you are applying to much energy to a situation that doesn’t need it (overtraining). So you are realizing that pushing the car just isn’t working and you have a look around. You see a board lying on the ground and take and put it under the tires for the car to get traction on. You get in the car, step on the gas lightly and before you know it your back on the road. In a sense you changed your approach to a completely different way and made progress and achieved your goal. Apply this same realm of thinking towards your plateau.
Have you been doing the same cardio for weeks or months at the same intensity on the same machine? Have you been lifting the same amount of weights with no increase? Have you been eating the same exact foods at the same times everyday? See where I am going. If you don’t progress in how your workout, you can’t progress in losing fat. Our bodies are very quick to adapt to life that surrounds us and the activities we lead. This shows in everything from sweating when it’s hot outside to centuries of body changes to fit with the current state of our planet. It takes no more than 30 days for your body and mind to understand that something is a habit. In a sense when in a plateau what we need to do is break the habit. So your assignment if you will is to analyze your routine and break your diet/workout habits.
Here are some “tricks” that you can do to restart your burning and help your body move forward.
-Diet. Some people can eat the same thing day in and day out and never have any problems. However if you find yourself in a long plateau it may be time to re-work that diet even if it is clean. Mess with your ratios, try some carb cycling, check out some new foods that you haven’t tried before. Different can do wonders. If have been doing high protein and denying the carbs then take a chance and throw in some complex carbs. If you have been chugging carbs, get in more protein. Don’t have a lot of fats? Up it to 30%. Do it smart, but do it different.
-Bounce those calories. Again make sure you know what you need, that is important. Account for all that activity. When you know what you need pick within that range and bounce the calories. Meaning if your lowest mark (500 deficit) is 1500 and your maintain mark is 2000 then try some bouncing. On days of strength training and cardio eat on the higher ends around 1900-2000 calories. On the days of just cardio bounce between 1600-1700. On rest days just do 1500. Give your body something different to expect everyday. Even on a rest day sometimes go all the way to 2000 with no working out at all. This is also a good way to keep away from starvation mode if you happen to have underestimated your calories intake. Its good all around.
-Cardio. There are different intensity levels to cardio. Put simply low/med/high. Everyone has different opinions on what works best for fat burning. Well guess what doesn’t matter know why, cause you are going to do all of them. Set up your cardio routine to where you have 2 days of low intensity for 45-60 mins. 2 days of medium intensity for 30-35 mins. And 2 high insensity sessions for 20-25 mins. What does this do? This keeps your body guessing is what it does and accesses the benefits of all the different cardio types. And don’t just do this cardio on the same piece of equiptment. Do some running outside, climb some stairs, try biking riding, kickboxing, jumping rope. For 2 weeks at least try to choose a different cardio session as much as possible. Here is an example.
Day1-Low/Long walk 60 mins
Day2-High/Cycling with high burst of almost falling over
25mins
Day3-Medium/Stair climbing at normal pace 30 mins
Day4-Low/Bike riding through the park at low pace 45 mins
Day5-Medium/Tennis with friend 35 mins
Day6-High/Jumping rope till you drop 20 mins
Day7-Rest
If you do all your cardio in the morning, change it up try some in the afternoon or vice versa. Split up your routines even. On a low day do 30 mins when you wake up an then 30 mins after dinner. Just mess around with it, get creative. If your getting bored chances are your body is too.
-Stength Training. If you have been doing a Full Body workout 3 days a week try a 4 day a week workout doing a upper/lower split. If been doing a split try doing a full body. Change your movements. If you have been doing regular squats try jumping squats. Been doing regular bicep curls, try preacher curls. Been holding those planks for 30 secs, take it up to 1 min. It’s the same as with the cardio change it up. Just don’t over train as this will defeat the purpose. Rest is important.
-Pre and Post Workout Nutrition. Yes what you eating throughout the whole day is very important and Slamming down a huge whey shake as soon as the dumbbell hits the ground can be a bit silly. That being said pre and post workout nutrition has its place and it is an important one when doing strength training. Pre-Well what do we need before we work out? We need energy as to not fall over 15 mins in. So try to get a good carb/protein meal intake in your system 35-60 mins before your workout. This gives you enough time to settle, but provide enough energy for your session. Post- You probably guessed the protein right, well of course it is important for muscle repair and growth. However when you workout you also decrease your glycogen storage so it is important to get a quick insuline raise with your protein. So protein and a high glycemic carbohydrate shake is your best bet for muscle repair post workout.
-Take a break. Has it been months of working out day in and out with one rest day here or there? If so stop. Stop doing anything, don’t run, don’t lift, sit you butt down for a week or two while still maintaining a healthy diet. Don’t be scared, because that break could be just what you need. Your body especially muscle likes being maintained. You will find if you give yourself 2 weeks off and then go back to it that you might be struggling a little to do those things you were doing so effortlessly before. If struggling to do something you could do before is different, then that means you broke a habit.
-Supplements. A multi-vitamin, green tea, super foods, fiber, fish oil…all these things can add to your day. For example if you find yourself sluggish during a workout, drink a nice cup of green tea before you get going, it’s a natural caffeine source packed with anitoxidents. Are you not regular in the bathroom department? Get some Fibersure to add in with you post workout shake. Sometimes people don’t always get what they need from just food, and extra add on can go a long way.
-Stretching. People underestimate the importance of stretching. Warming up your muscles prior to a workout can increase your stamina and your ability to go longer and safer. Strecthing after strength training is just as important as that post shake. We want our muscle to grow, but how can they do that when they are plump with no room to move? Fascia is what helps holds muscle in place with your body. However its very firm and doesn’t allow for much room for your muscles to grow, by stretching it you increase the area or room for that muscle growth. Otherwise its going to keep hitting brick walls and keep shortened.
-Relax. Are you running back and forth to the mirror all day long? Are you playng hopscotch with your bathroom scale like a mad man even right after you eat? Stress is something that contributes to weight gain and fat storage. Silly as it may seem the more you worry about how big your tummy is, the bigger it is going to get. So try and give yourself some good relaxing moments. Run yourself a nice warm bath with Epson salts and lavender. This is good for the muscles and the mind.
-Random activity. Its simple but so over looked. Stand when you can instead of sit, park at the end of a parking lot to walk. Randomly just sprint for the hell of it even for 30 secs. Yeah it may look weird, but if it helps raise your glutes its worth it. Whenever it hits you that you are just sitting not doing anything, get up and do a few jumping jacks. If you get a food craving and its not time to eat yet, jog in place for a min. Just doing something, anything is an extra calorie burned here or there. Just don’t do jumping jacks in elevators, its freaks people out.
Fat Loss Quicksand: Busting Through A Plateau
So you have been doing everything right, taking in fewer calories, doing your cardio, and getting in a good weight training routine. You saw great progress, lost some fat and are on a natural high. Then it happens, the fat stops dropping or even comes back on a little, your strength increases have stopped and you don’t know how much longer you can keep trying so hard and not getting anywhere from it. In short you have just hit a weight loss plateau.
Let’s look at what the word Plateau means first, “A relatively stable level, period, or state”. Stable in this instance is a funny word to use because it’s the last thing you feel. You know those great hero action movies where the bad guy is just wicked powerful. All your normal tricks don’t seem to work. You throw a building at him and it just shatters and he gives an evil grin. This is very much how battling fat can feel for some. However the good guy realizes the bad guys Achilles Heel and in the end we are cheering his victory.
First let’s make sure you are at a plateau and don’t just need to smarten up your routine. I read a lot of times “I eat clean, I workout right and I just can’t lose the weight”. A lot of people think they are eating clean and then share they are having 3 meals a day and 2 of them are Lean Cuisine. This is not effective and will certainly stall your efforts. So here is a quick and simple look at a steady eating habit and workout routine. I encourage you to further look upon this stuff in detail later on if this is new to you.
-5 to 6 meals a day. In short you want to have small meals throughout the day, this keeps your metabolism going.
-Get Lean Protein and Good Carbs at every meal and also include good fats.
Lean Protein: Skinless Chicken Breasts, Turkey, Egg Whites, Whey protein, Fish, 96% extra Lean Ground Beef, Bison, Crab.
Good Carbs: Complex Carbs (Oatmeal, Sweet potatoes, Whole Grain Breads, Beans, Lentils, Whole Grain Pastas) Fruits, and veggies.
Good Fats: Fish/Flax oil, Natural Peanut Butter, Almonds, Avocados
-The Right Ratio. In mathematical terms ratio means “The relation between quantities expressed as the quotient of one divided by the other”. What we want to shoot for is a healthy ratio of proteins, fats, and carbs. Most people start out with success with a ratio of 35% protein, 25% fat, and 40% carbs. If you find you are fatigued by carbs or don’t need all those carbs then move down to a 40% protein, 25% fat and 35% carbs. You do need carbs for weight loss, however timing them and figuring out the right amount for you takes a little trial and error as it is different for each person’s body.
-Eat the right amount of calories. More often then not a person is eating the wrong amount of calories for their body. In most cases they are eating to few, thinking that less calories the better. However this will stall fat loss quicker than anything else because your body will store everything it has hoping to not in a since starve. So figure out your calories needs and subtract 500 from that number (sometimes even less if you are at a small weight loss need) and remember you need to eat to lose.
-Eat for your activity not for your tummy. What this means basically is early in the day you know you will need a lot of energy, so take in higher energy foods (Complex carbs and fruit). However when you know you are going to be on your butt for the rest of the night when you get home you wont need all that energy so stick with veggies and your proteins/fats.
-Cardio 5-6 days a week. If you weren’t already doing Cardio 5-6 days a week well get to it. Cardio is very key to fat loss and it needs to be done that often for most people to see results. We will talk about what kinds a little later.
-Full Body Strength Train 3 days a week. No you won’t get bulky because you are in a calorie deficit so hit those weights to maintain your muscle. Muscle burns fat, the better it is the more fat you burn by doing nothing! However don’t over do it, give at least a day between each training session.
-Get Plenty of water. This is often one of the most neglected needs for weight loss especially for women. Getting in a gallon a day will replenish your system and reduce water weight and retaining.
-Sleep/Rest. Get at least 7-8 Hours of rest a night. If need be take a afternoon nap. Rest is when your body repairs itself, if you aren’t getting proper rest, you aren’t getting proper restore. Give at least 1 day a week where you do no working out.
So if you haven’t been doing these things, if you have been sneaking of carbs at night (cause that’s when the cravings hit), if you have been eating under or over, not getting enough cardio, getting to much cardio, not sleeping right, neglecting your water… Well there is where you need to start. Get this is order first and you will see results from tightening your efforts.
Alright so now comes the time when you say “Look I do all that, been doing all that I swear and its not working and I am just stuck here holding my flabby tummy.” It’s going to be okay, now put down your tummy and let’s break down what you can do to restart your fat loss progress.
Now for another analogy, I know but seriously visualization is good for you and it allows me to rant. Let’s say your car is stuck in the mud and it won’t move. You know from before a good push can get you moving. You get out and you push, but it won’t budge (doing the same thing and not getting a result). This mud is a little deeper this won’t work. So then a man drives by and you ask him to step on the gas while you push the car forward. This just causes your tires to spin to fast and causes a burn out because you are applying to much energy to a situation that doesn’t need it (overtraining). So you are realizing that pushing the car just isn’t working and you have a look around. You see a board lying on the ground and take and put it under the tires for the car to get traction on. You get in the car, step on the gas lightly and before you know it your back on the road. In a sense you changed your approach to a completely different way and made progress and achieved your goal. Apply this same realm of thinking towards your plateau.
Have you been doing the same cardio for weeks or months at the same intensity on the same machine? Have you been lifting the same amount of weights with no increase? Have you been eating the same exact foods at the same times everyday? See where I am going. If you don’t progress in how your workout, you can’t progress in losing fat. Our bodies are very quick to adapt to life that surrounds us and the activities we lead. This shows in everything from sweating when it’s hot outside to centuries of body changes to fit with the current state of our planet. It takes no more than 30 days for your body and mind to understand that something is a habit. In a sense when in a plateau what we need to do is break the habit. So your assignment if you will is to analyze your routine and break your diet/workout habits.
Here are some “tricks” that you can do to restart your burning and help your body move forward.
-Diet. Some people can eat the same thing day in and day out and never have any problems. However if you find yourself in a long plateau it may be time to re-work that diet even if it is clean. Mess with your ratios, try some carb cycling, check out some new foods that you haven’t tried before. Different can do wonders. If have been doing high protein and denying the carbs then take a chance and throw in some complex carbs. If you have been chugging carbs, get in more protein. Don’t have a lot of fats? Up it to 30%. Do it smart, but do it different.
-Bounce those calories. Again make sure you know what you need, that is important. Account for all that activity. When you know what you need pick within that range and bounce the calories. Meaning if your lowest mark (500 deficit) is 1500 and your maintain mark is 2000 then try some bouncing. On days of strength training and cardio eat on the higher ends around 1900-2000 calories. On the days of just cardio bounce between 1600-1700. On rest days just do 1500. Give your body something different to expect everyday. Even on a rest day sometimes go all the way to 2000 with no working out at all. This is also a good way to keep away from starvation mode if you happen to have underestimated your calories intake. Its good all around.
-Cardio. There are different intensity levels to cardio. Put simply low/med/high. Everyone has different opinions on what works best for fat burning. Well guess what doesn’t matter know why, cause you are going to do all of them. Set up your cardio routine to where you have 2 days of low intensity for 45-60 mins. 2 days of medium intensity for 30-35 mins. And 2 high insensity sessions for 20-25 mins. What does this do? This keeps your body guessing is what it does and accesses the benefits of all the different cardio types. And don’t just do this cardio on the same piece of equiptment. Do some running outside, climb some stairs, try biking riding, kickboxing, jumping rope. For 2 weeks at least try to choose a different cardio session as much as possible. Here is an example.
Day1-Low/Long walk 60 mins
Day2-High/Cycling with high burst of almost falling over
25minsDay3-Medium/Stair climbing at normal pace 30 mins
Day4-Low/Bike riding through the park at low pace 45 mins
Day5-Medium/Tennis with friend 35 mins
Day6-High/Jumping rope till you drop 20 mins
Day7-Rest
If you do all your cardio in the morning, change it up try some in the afternoon or vice versa. Split up your routines even. On a low day do 30 mins when you wake up an then 30 mins after dinner. Just mess around with it, get creative. If your getting bored chances are your body is too.
-Stength Training. If you have been doing a Full Body workout 3 days a week try a 4 day a week workout doing a upper/lower split. If been doing a split try doing a full body. Change your movements. If you have been doing regular squats try jumping squats. Been doing regular bicep curls, try preacher curls. Been holding those planks for 30 secs, take it up to 1 min. It’s the same as with the cardio change it up. Just don’t over train as this will defeat the purpose. Rest is important.
-Pre and Post Workout Nutrition. Yes what you eating throughout the whole day is very important and Slamming down a huge whey shake as soon as the dumbbell hits the ground can be a bit silly. That being said pre and post workout nutrition has its place and it is an important one when doing strength training. Pre-Well what do we need before we work out? We need energy as to not fall over 15 mins in. So try to get a good carb/protein meal intake in your system 35-60 mins before your workout. This gives you enough time to settle, but provide enough energy for your session. Post- You probably guessed the protein right, well of course it is important for muscle repair and growth. However when you workout you also decrease your glycogen storage so it is important to get a quick insuline raise with your protein. So protein and a high glycemic carbohydrate shake is your best bet for muscle repair post workout.
-Take a break. Has it been months of working out day in and out with one rest day here or there? If so stop. Stop doing anything, don’t run, don’t lift, sit you butt down for a week or two while still maintaining a healthy diet. Don’t be scared, because that break could be just what you need. Your body especially muscle likes being maintained. You will find if you give yourself 2 weeks off and then go back to it that you might be struggling a little to do those things you were doing so effortlessly before. If struggling to do something you could do before is different, then that means you broke a habit.
-Supplements. A multi-vitamin, green tea, super foods, fiber, fish oil…all these things can add to your day. For example if you find yourself sluggish during a workout, drink a nice cup of green tea before you get going, it’s a natural caffeine source packed with anitoxidents. Are you not regular in the bathroom department? Get some Fibersure to add in with you post workout shake. Sometimes people don’t always get what they need from just food, and extra add on can go a long way.
-Stretching. People underestimate the importance of stretching. Warming up your muscles prior to a workout can increase your stamina and your ability to go longer and safer. Strecthing after strength training is just as important as that post shake. We want our muscle to grow, but how can they do that when they are plump with no room to move? Fascia is what helps holds muscle in place with your body. However its very firm and doesn’t allow for much room for your muscles to grow, by stretching it you increase the area or room for that muscle growth. Otherwise its going to keep hitting brick walls and keep shortened.
-Relax. Are you running back and forth to the mirror all day long? Are you playng hopscotch with your bathroom scale like a mad man even right after you eat? Stress is something that contributes to weight gain and fat storage. Silly as it may seem the more you worry about how big your tummy is, the bigger it is going to get. So try and give yourself some good relaxing moments. Run yourself a nice warm bath with Epson salts and lavender. This is good for the muscles and the mind.
-Random activity. Its simple but so over looked. Stand when you can instead of sit, park at the end of a parking lot to walk. Randomly just sprint for the hell of it even for 30 secs. Yeah it may look weird, but if it helps raise your glutes its worth it. Whenever it hits you that you are just sitting not doing anything, get up and do a few jumping jacks. If you get a food craving and its not time to eat yet, jog in place for a min. Just doing something, anything is an extra calorie burned here or there. Just don’t do jumping jacks in elevators, its freaks people out.
Last edited: