When you plateau, mix it up

By David Tepera, January 22, 2020

We frequently have people reach out to us because of being stuck with current exercise routines and diets. For some reason, even though they’re being strict and consistent, people’s bodies are no longer making changes.

It’s what is known as “plateau,” and it will happen to everyone who stays on the same routine week after week.

I’m going to try to explain this as best as possible. You see, our body’s job every single day is to survive. If we start overheating, the body will perspire for coolant. When we get too cold, the body will shiver to produce heat. When the body needs food for energy, it creates hunger.

When you lift weights, it produces micro tears within your muscles. At night, during rest, the body will repair itself and build more muscle tissue to take on that same weight. If you continue to use the same weight, the body will no longer build more muscle. It has already survived the weight you placed upon it. Make sense? To build more muscle, you must use more weight, including changing you weight routine.

The key is to keep confusing the body into building muscle tissue. If the body is confused, it has to keep making changes to survive.

This phenomena is the same process for dieting. For those of you who go on these strict or crazy diets, once your body has adjusted, you will no longer lose weight. Remember, after a period of time, the body has already survived. That’s why diets don’t work!

A good friend of mine went on one of those no carb diets and lost plenty of weight in the beginning. She was depressed and frustrated that she was stuck and plateaued. I told her because of the lack of carbs, it’s time to throw down some pizza, burgers and fries. She thought I was crazy, but when she did, her metabolism kicked back in and lost more weight. It was time to confuse her body.

If you deprive your body from certain important food vitamins and nutrients, your metabolism will shut down to survive.

When you start a diet, you must ask yourself, “Can I stay on this diet the rest of my life?”

Whatever is going on in your life, do not accept or be satisfied being “plateaued” because today, you’re going to mix it up.