Progress Stalled? No recent gains, or losses?
How do you know your progress has stalled? Here are 5 ways you can tell progress has stalled and 10 things you can do about it today!
Identifying a stall in fitness and weight loss progress can be particularly challenging, especially for women over 35 years due to hormonal changes, metabolic shifts, and lifestyle factors. Here are 5 ways to tell if your progress has stalled:
ONE A Plateau in Data If you’ve been consistently following your diet and exercise routine but you haven't felt or seen any shift in your data (ex: weight, measurements, the way your clothes fit), this could be a sign you're stuck or your body is maintaining.
Maintenance isn't bad; it's just ... the same.
That said, although your body could be adapting to your current daily routines, there are other positive metrics you could look at. We'll cover these in the TIPS section.
TWO No Changes in Body Measurements or the Way Your Clothes Fit: Even if the scale isn’t moving, changes in body composition (such as losing inches around the waist, hips, or thighs) can indicate wins in the direction you would like to go.
If measurements have remained the same despite ongoing, consistent efforts, it suggests a stall.
Even if you aren't looking to 'get smaller' (maybe you want to grow some muscle or gain) no changes suggest support and re-evaluation might be helpful.
THREE Performance Stagnation: If you’re not seeing improvements in your physical performance—such as lifting the same weights without being able to increase them, or performing the same rep count of swings with the same weight without increase —it may indicate that your body has adapted to the current routine and needs a new challenge.
FOUR Lack of Energy and Increased Fatigue: Persistent fatigue and a noticeable drop in energy levels during workouts can signal that your body is not responding positively to your current fitness regimen. This might be due to overtraining, inadequate recovery, or nutritional deficiencies.
Having a coach to guide, feedback and support your journey is an INVESTMENT in what you want - in FUTURE YOU. Sometimes troubleshooting with your Coach about what's happening and then feeling hopeful or sustaining motivation is all you need to persist and break through.
FIVE Mood and Motivation Changes: If you notice you feel discouraged or frustrated, or hopeless when it comes to your strength and health journey, it could be a psychological indicator of stalled progress. This can be exacerbated by the absence of visible results, leading to a negative feedback loop.
A personal coach can help you check your thought process and bring you back around when you feel like you want to give up.
Here are 10 action steps you can take RIGHT NOW to get you moving in the right direction to overcome your plateau and feel renewed:
Reassess Your WHY? Why do you want what you want? What makes you push for it? What does your brain say about what you want? You have GOT to get your brain on board, or the battle is ALL UPHILL.
Most often: your WHY has to be BIGGER and MORE MEANINGFUL than weight loss.
Freshen Up Your Training Are you going through the motions? Do you still believe that you need 6 days a week of HIIT to reach your goals? When was the last time you walked? Or rode a bike? Or suntanned and snoozed
Guess what? You need to slow down and add more weight to the bar. And you need to stretch and release the stuff that is stored in your tissues. And you could benefit from daily walks, breathing deeply.
Switch it up. Add to it. Change the intention. And the workload. It's time.
Embrace the Boring Shit Like Eating More Protein You probably struggle to eat enough protein each day. Annnd you probably cheat yourself out of your own results with drive through drink stops and 'no big deal' kid's snacks.
Although most coaches will tell you that healthy diets and bodies can handle any food (there is no bad food) - there is still a truth of food. And when you deny it, you set yourself up to struggle.
Calories VS Hormones: I feel like this should be on a T-SHIRT.
If it was calories in - calories out, we'd all have the body we want. Your body is NOT a calculator. If it was JUST eat less, exercise more - we wouldn't have a business. It's not that - and it's not, NOT that...
We must begin to understand how stress is influencing our ability to get what we want. We have to begin to understand what food is telling our body to do. We need to respect our glucose-insulin relationship - AND SOMETIMES you need a coach to walk you through that.
Lean into UNSEXY Habits: Planning. Preparation. Pre-cooking. Packing. Consistency. Follow through. Persistence. Patience. Stress management. Tuning into our body. Not eating when our body says we should. Showing up when we don't fucking want to.
Ensure Adequate Sleep: Poor sleep can negatively affect hormones related to hunger and metabolism, such as ghrelin and leptin. Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night to support overall health and weight loss efforts.
If you're struggling with sleep, you're going to struggle with reaching your goals. Deep sleep and enough deep sleep is where your magic happens.
Stay Hydrated: Dehydration can affect your metabolism and energy levels. Drink plenty of water throughout the day to keep your body functioning optimally and to support digestion and metabolism.
Don't forget these amazing simple hacks - use zero sugar electrolytes, reduce coffee, caffeine and carbonation and omit sugary drinks.
Here's a new one: add mineral water.
Manage Stress: Chronic stress can lead to hormonal imbalances that affect weight loss and fitness progress. Every stressful meeting, or, holding your breath while you respond to emails, or rushing to each of the appointments in your day, or sick kids and aging parents, or tensions in relationships ends up with a squirt of glucose and an insulin response in your belly - and it SHOWS - IN YOUR BELLY.
Stress is probably getting in your way more than you know or are willing to admit.
Track Your Progress Differently: Get off the scale and track other metrics like step count, consecutive days of 7.5hrs sleep, protein grams eaten daily, days in a row without snacking or kilometers walked.
Other cool metrics on progress are: rings that slide on and off easily, less belly bloat, better bowel movements, and photos that show muscle definition.
Get Some Help: Going back to what you've always done before isn't working. Short term diet trends are discouraging. Starting and stopping breaks your spirit.
When you hire a Coach to walk with you - you obtain a patience, personalized witness to the process.
Our Metabolic Blueprint coaches CUSTOMIZE your food, training and habits to help you figure out where you're stuck and what to do to get the ball rolling.
If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results - then enlisting our expert coaches is the next best step for you.
Even if, you're UNSURE about whether you can or should commit, sometimes a CONVERSATION is enough to get you moving in the right direction again.
REACH OUT!
kim@ironlabinc.com
joely@ironlabinc.com
amber@ironlabinc.com
Also: the YOU 2.0 Retreat is all about OVERCOMING the plateaus in your life.
It's one to one, personalized coaching, reflection and future you planning in a 3 day immersive course.
And we now offer a 3 payment plan if you need it. Get in touch with Brie to get set up. info@ironlabinc.com
We are here if you need us.
xx Kim and Jo