Whatever nutritional program you are following and regardless of your current approach to personal training, you likely have two overall goals in mind. One, you want to lose weight, and two you want to increase your overall health and physical performance. In fact, these two goals are pretty much the same for everyone – from Olympic athletes to mums joining their local gym or weight loss group.
When you first take up personal training and adopt a healthy diet, the kilos will fall away in the first few months. Then, something upsetting happens – we get stuck and hit a weight loss plateau.
Like in every athlete and dieter’s lifetime, inevitably you will come across the dreaded weight loss and personal fitness plateau. A wall if you like, where no matter how hard you diet or work out, your fitness and weight loss simply seems to hit a point you can’t push past.
The main thing to keep in mind is that no, your body isn’t somehow broken. Encountering such a plateau is completely normal.
Why do we encounter plateaus?
The reason is relatively simple. Our bodies are experts when it comes to establishing overall metabolic harmony. When you reach a fitness plateau it means that your body has completely adapted to your new personal training or weight loss program.
The bad news is that as soon as people plateau, they are much more likely to give up. What’s the point, after all, in continuing with your present diet or fitness program, if you are not going to get any fitter or thinner from this point onward?
The truth is that reaching a fitness or weight loss plateau should be something that encourages you rather than makes you feel dismayed. Your body is telling you that it needs a change – so take the challenge!
The easiest way to break through your weight loss plateau it is to shake up your present fitness program by switching to something like outdoor running and/or cycling. Similarly, a dietary plateau can often be easily overcome simply by looking at your diet and honestly asking yourself if you could improve it any further.
The main thing to remember is not to starve yourself or to keep intensifying your personal training schedule. All this will lead to is exhaustion and the rapid accumulation of weight (and bad training habits) as soon as you realise that you simply can’t push yourself any further.
Have you recently reached your personal fitness or weight loss plateau? If so, don’t lose faith in all the hard work you’ve done so far. Simply start to experiment with new healthy eating plans, exercises, or fitness programs like KX Pilates, and you will be back on your feet in no time.
