It happens all the time. You change your eating habits; start exercising and you lose weight steadily each week. Then suddenly as you get closer to your goal your weight loss begins to slow down drastically and eventually seems to come to a stand still. No matter how hard you try, you can not get the scale to move and weeks go by while you are still the same weight. This is perhaps the most challenging part of losing weight and getting fit and it is also where you are the most vulnerable. This is the point where you are at the most risk to fall back into old habits. It is very frustrating to be doing everything right and trying so hard and not seeing those numbers change on the scale. It is frustrating enough to make you reach for a bag of candy to make yourself feel better. Before you reach for that candy and sabotage all your hard work, know you are not alone. You have simply hit a plateau.

A plateau is simply when your weight loss efforts come to a stand still. It happens to everyone at one point in their weight loss. The problem is, since we are all different, we can’t predict exactly when a plateau might happen to us but when it does it is not fun. A plateau does should not mean that we are going to fall back into our old habits. A common misconception that we have about plateaus is that they mean we failed. We haven’t failed. We are just at a standstill.

So what can we do to break through this plateau? The first thing is to make sure you are eating properly. Make sure you are eating enough to compensate for your workout also. Ideally you should eat within a half hour to 2 hours after your workout to refuel your system and make sure it is a balanced meal that includes carbs. You might want to try drinking a little more water to avoid dehydrations also.

Another thing to look at, did you add rest in your exercise program? Rest is very important especially when strength training. Whenever you strength train tiny tears happen in the fibers of your muscles. Those tears repair themselves with stronger muscles but in order for that to happen you have to rest those muscles. Ideally you should rest 1-2 days between workouts. If you did legs on Monday, you should not do them again till Wednesday or Thursday.

Lastly, try switching up your cardio workouts. If you have been using the treadmill, try using the elliptical. If you have been taking step classes, try taking a kickboxing class. If you have been using workout videos, try a new one and see what happens. The possibilities are endless. You can also change the duration of your workout. You might want to try and do a shorter but more intense workout one day and then an easy longer one the next day. One day you could take a 30 minute kickboxing class and then the next day take a 45 minute walk around your neighborhood. Keep variety in your workout.

Following these easy suggestions will bust you through that plateau in no time and if you hit another plateau you have the tools to know how to handle it.