How to Rise Above a Plateau

lesmills.com

It happened. I finally hit a plateau. I was doing so well dropping body fat and increasing muscle tone but then it slowed and eventually stopped. Anyone who has gone through a fitness regimen knows what I'm talking about. After following the same diet and fitness plan after a couple weeks, your body becomes accustomed to your routine and you stop seeing results. To overcome your body's boredom  you have to mix it up and do something new! To overcome my plateau, I decided to try some of the classes offered at my gym. I will admit that I never tried BodyPump because it seemed a little bit scary. Free weights were never my thing. I always imagined that side of the to be full of muscle headed men pumping hundreds of pounds and resting only to shoot up more steroids or down a protein shake, not my cup of tea. I do use weight machines about twice a week but usually I run and do some yoga and pilates. However, now is the time for my to change it up! I did my first body pump class and I loved it! The class is all about using a barbell with different sized weights to get a full body toning workout. My instructor was amazing and was super helpful before class in helping my choose what size weights I needed. I really suggest you talk to the instructor before your first time in ANY class because they can give you some key info and keep an eye on you during the class to make sure you're ok! I've decided that I'm going too to try some other classes too and make some sort of rotation so that my muscles don't get too accustomed to a routine. I'll be sure to post this schedule once I make it!

Now for the diet switch up! Your metabolism can get bored just like your muscles do! If you eat the same thing for lunch every day your metabolism will slow down over time because your body starts to process these foods on autopilot. So change it up! If you usually have oatmeal for breakfast try having yogurt one day. If you usually have a salad for lunch try having soup instead. The key is to keep choosing healthy options to rotate between. Even better news for all us health conscious ladies (or men) out there, it turns out a splurge meal every now and then helps your metabolism! That's right, Cassey from Blogilates recently published an article explaining how having your favorite cheat food every now and then can help keep your metabolism guessing. The trick for this to not go super crazy. I LOVE pizza but don't eat it super often because it tends to be really fatty. But when I do decide to indulge a little (usually once a week) I get a thin crust pizza load with veggies. The meats and cheeses that you can get on your pie are loaded with unhealthy fats and excess calories! The veggies are a low cal option and give your pizza a ton of flavor! The thin crust also cuts back on carbs and some of the empty calories that come with the white flour. Try to only have a splurge, not a blow out!  Your metabolism can take a little blow but not a complete sucker punch!

Have you ever plateaued? How did you overcome it?