how to prevent hitting a plateau?
 

so i've been reading a lot of (discouraging :( ) stories about people hitting a plateau that seems to last forever. Fortunately I haven't (yet..), but I was wondering whether there were things I could do in order to prevent hitting a plateau in the future (diet/exercise wise)? Or is it something I can't really do much about? Lol I hope the latter is not the case :c

Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated :)

I have been wondering that too... Especially since I'm only 18 pounds away from goal and haven't hit a plateau yet? I think what is working for me is I switch things up every day excersise wise, and I try to eat meals that are consistant. And when I say consistant I mean composition wise, where I make sure I have healthy fats proteins and carbohydrates at every meal. It has worked for me so far!!

If you can find a way NOT to ht a plateau you could probably earn a million dollars.

You can't.

Just keep on truckin'. The only way to fail is to give up.

This is just my opinion, and it's not based on any kind of comprehensive study, but: I think that most people will not ever hit true plateau as long as they stick to a plan that limits their caloric intake to fewer calories than they burn, averaged over time.

That doesn't mean that you won't see periods of several weeks where there isn't any apparent weight loss. And it doesn't mean that you will always lose weight quickly.

But if you stick to your plan with patience and perseverance and diligence, then over time you will lose the weight you want to lose.

True plateaus - periods of longer than, say, 6 weeks when someone has stuck to plan and still not seen any loss at all - are, I think, extremely rare.

Very frequently, people cry "plateau!" when they have not seen any loss for just a week or two (common case of fat loss masked by fluid retention) or when they have been mostly but not entirely on plan. That makes plateaus look a lot more common than they really are.

I'm with Carter on this one. I think we THINK we are doing everything on plan sometimes when we really are going over on calories. That isn't a plateau - that's more like accidental maintenance. Or we see a steady number while we truly are on plan. That's just our body adjusting to "whatever."

I can say this with accuracy - I "dieted" for 38 weeks. One week I stayed exactly the same. Two weeks I lost .2 pounds. Every other week was about 2.0 to 2.6 pounds, with the occasional whoosh of 3.5 to 4.0 pounds or the occasional smaller loss of less than 1 pound. I never gained. I was on plan about as close to 100% of the time as I could do it - with vacations, family weddings, showers, class reunion, family reunion, all thrown into the mix.

I am saying this not to call attention to what I accomplished, but rather to call attention to what anyone can accomplish with persistence and hard work. I think we are all capable of WAY more than we think, and sticking strictly to a healthy plan makes it all possible. Don't worry about fixing what isn't broken. Keep doing what you're doing and you'll do well all the way to the end of the weight loss and through maintenance.

Lin