Plateaus: Hitting the Wall and Bouncing Back

Does this scenario sound familiar? You are nearing your goal weight or you have gained a few pounds, so you ramp up your determination to lose weight. You eat right and exercise and then get on the scale and find that you have not lost a pound, or worse, you have gained.

Or how about this scenario. You had your surgery 4 months ago. You have been losing at a nice fast rate, but all of a sudden you stop losing weight. You start to wonder, ‘Is this all I am going to lose? Am I going to be one of those that weight loss surgery doesn’t work for?'

It can be so frustrating. You have hit the Weight Loss Wall – the dreaded plateau. You may want to throw up your hands and say, “What’s the use? Why do I work so hard and why do I even try?” Do you crash and burn or do you rise from the ashes?  It is at that point when you are very vulnerable to gaining weight. It is a dangerous time. You are experiencing what we have all been through so many times. Do you give up or do you have patience and just keep going?

One flaw in all of this is that we think of weight loss as a steady progression, which it is not.  We just don’t normally lose weight consistently. Right after surgery it was that way, but that was a medically induced very special time that will last a short time in the whole scheme of things. True weight loss consists of three phases; weight loss, plateaus and small weight regains. As much as we don’t like it and only want the one third of the process that is the weight loss, the reality is that it is a 3 part process.   

You know that our bodies play tricks on us holding onto and adding pounds for no apparent reason. Sometimes it can be linked to salty foods (I never weigh myself the day after I eat Chinese food!), it may be a monthly cycle, or it may be the evil scale gremlins that don’t want you to lose weight because they want you to be prepared for the hardships of winter so our species will survive.  Those gremlins haven’t gotten the message that there are grocery stores and fast food places in abundance within a mile or two of just about everyone. Don’t give into those gremlins – they’ll just laugh at you!! Take a deep breath and keep going.

So how should you handle these dangerous times? What do you do when you you step on the scale and don’t have the results you think you should?

• Stop and take a breath. Don’t do anything with the exception of drinking water for at least 30 minutes.
• Consider that perhaps you are eating more than you thought.  Start a food journal immediately. Mark every bite down and then analyze what you have eaten.
• Change the food you normally eat.  We get into a routine of eating the same thing everyday for breakfast and lunch and even snacks.  Dinner is usually the only thing that we put variety into. Your body will adapt and learn how to process that food very efficiently so that you are burning less of it. Try new foods.
• Change your exercise. If you aren’t exercising, then start.  But start slowly.  If you don’t exercise and try to do it for an hour, you may do it for a day, but the next day you will probably come up with an excuse not to. Start with 5 minutes every day and work your way up.  If you are exercising, try something new.  Your muscles may have built up from those exercises and what was initially an effort is now a breeze.  Find another challenge.
• Be sure that you have realistic goals.  If you are trying to lose weight too fast, then your body will go into starvation mode and slow your metabolism.  When trying to lose weight, stick to abut 1,100 to 1,200 calories per day.

Weight control is a constant struggle.  Unfortunately we did not get a free pass when we had surgery.  We got a tool to make it easier, but the battle continues. We just fight it with a better weapon, but we still have to fight.