Happy Hump Day, lovies! In today’s edition of Work It Out Wednesday I’d like to talk about my struggles getting over my personal hump – the dreaded plateau.
Over a month, I’ve been stuck at the same weight. I’ve had my normal little fluctuations, but my morning weight was pretty consistent. I just didn’t get it. I was working out 10-15 hours per week. I limited my calorie intake, steering clear of all the things like fried foods, white starches and alcohol, and upped my fruit and vegetable intake. All the while, I’m thinking to myself “Man, these last few pounds are going to melt off!” Little did I know that it wouldn’t be that easy.
After a few weeks and no significant decline in the scale later, I approached my spinning instructor Nita from Vixen Fitness and vented about my weight loss plight. You see, Nita is a nurse and has been in the fitness industry for years, so if there’s anyone I should be asking about breaking through a rough spot, it’s her. After a few minutes of hashing through my daily workouts, meal plan, and supplement intake, we came to find out that I just wasn’t eating enough. At 26 years old, my metabolism is on fire compared to hers, and with all the stress I’m putting my body under by hitting the gym 2 hours a night, I wasn’t fueling the machine properly. Don’t ask me why eating more makes you lose weight, but it does. Now, that’s not to say that you can just eat whatever you want and not work out. And just in case you thought I was condoning that, I’m not. I repeat, YOU CANNOT EAT WHATEVER YOU WANT, NOT WORK OUT AND EXPECT WEIGHT LOSS! There is a balance.
WeightWatchers is a great tool to use, but if you don’t have the means to pay the meetings membership or the online subscription, check out LoseIt.com. It’s the same principle – make note of calories in (what you eat) versus calories out (what you burn working out) and find your deficit. The program will encourage you to replenish your daily calories burned to make sure your body is well fueled and you have the proper weekly deficit.
Sometimes when you hit a plateau, you just have to switch things up. Reduce your carb intake for a week. Try a new work out. Work out at a different time of the day. Keep your body guessing and the pounds melting off!
Happy Losing!
♥ - The Bougie Budgetista
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