Ep #52: Plateau

You are listening to the Weight Loss for Successful Women podcast with Shannan Christiansen, episode number 52.

Welcome to Weight Loss for Successful Women, a podcast for women who are ready to break the diet cycle and end their struggle with weight for good. Here’s your host, Fortune 100 executive and Certified Life Coach, Shannan Christiansen.

Hello love. I am just so happy to be back with you. I’m excited about today’s show. I have ladies who come into Transform because they’ve hit a plateau and they’re starting to sabotage their weight loss success. So in today’s show, we are going to talk all things plateau.

But first, as always, I want to give a listener shout-out. This is where I read a review of the podcast every week. This week’s listener shout-out is to Joanne Edwards. She wrote, “Good morning. Just finished listening to your podcast. What you say makes a lot of sense and true, evidently hit on several issues I have. This is not just a weight loss program but a self-journey.”

Thank you so much Joanne. I love it. I believe in the journey too. I talk to my Transform ladies about this all the time. We’re just on this journey so I love that word. I love the reviews and honestly ladies, I read every single one of them. And I love that you ladies are listening.

So to celebrate our 50th episode, I had announced that I am doing a drawing. When you leave a written review on iTunes, you will be entered into a drawing. And I’m going to give away two $150 gift cards to Amazon. I mean, we all love Amazon, right? I do.

And so to be entered, you must leave a written review on iTunes, also known as Apple Podcasts. And then email me at shannan@bflycoaching.com and that’s shannan@bflycoaching.com with the title of your review.

And it has to be on Apple, so if you have an iOS device, easy. If you don’t, you still can download iTunes on a Windows computer and leave a review. So exciting. I can’t wait to see all the reviews. I loved seeing the reviews that you ladies have already done. I love it.

So it’s a little strange here in Arizona, being still in somewhat of a quarantine. I find that I don’t leave the house much. I go for my daily walks and that is it mostly. I get my nails done once a month, but other than a few doctor’s appointments over the last couple months, I really have not left the house.

I have never been home so much in my life. But mostly, I’ve enjoyed it. I love my house, and of course, I love who I share it with. I love it when my g-babies come over and life has slowed down a bit for me. I keep seeing all over the place about how ladies are wishing away 2020. It is not lost on me how much pain, struggle, and uncertainty have happened in 2020.

But I want to offer you that you can finish the year by making progress on your goals, losing weight, having fun, finding yourself. And love, loving the rest of the year. I know this because we control nothing. I know, I wish we could control the things in the world and other people, but we can’t.

We cannot control anything outside of us. We only control what we think about and how we show up. Love, today is the best day and it’s the best day because it’s the day we have right now. And I just want to offer you to not wish away the rest of the year. Find the joy, the love, and the beauty of it.

On October 17th, I am doing the Transform Boss virtual event. I know I’ve talked about it on the podcast before. I am going to help my Transform ladies finish out the year like a boss. I am going to teach them how to stop sabotaging and how to get through the holidays and actually lose weight. If you want to be a part of this life-changing event, there is still time. I invite you to join Transform. You can learn more at bflycoaching.com/join.

So on to today’s show. Plateaus. I was thinking back to when I lost weight and I remember when I hit many plateaus, but I was thinking about this one where I was stuck. The scale was not moving. I started to feel frustrated and then I noticed all the old thoughts.

They just came flooding back in like, “You’re never going to lose weight, Shannan, you’re not going to hit your goal weight, you are meant to be heavy, this is always going to be your struggle.” It was like all the work I had done in a couple week plateau; all the thoughts came rushing back in.

Plateaus happen for many reasons. So I want to go into those today and then I’m going to leave you with a few tips to help you get through them. But first, I want to define what a plateau is because I know loves, we think, especially if we’re following our plan and we’re doing all the right things, we think if we don’t lose weight for two or three days, we’re on a plateau.

That is not a plateau. A plateau really, in my definition and how I view it, is when you’re doing all the things, you’re following your plan, and you’ve not lost weight for two or three weeks. So I just want to make sure we’re all clear on what an actual plateau is.

So one of the reasons we hit plateaus is because at different times of the month, one of the reasons, we have hormonal changes. This makes our weight increase or stay the same. I weigh myself every day and I know I can fluctuate, anywhere from really three, five pounds, even seven pounds sometimes, depending on the time of the month.

Why this is important is because you think what you’re doing is wrong when you start to see the scale move or stay the same. And so if you start to believe that you’re doing something wrong, you’ll slowly start overeating. You’ll slowly start eating off plan.

This is self-sabotage at its best. Then you will for sure hit a plateau. I don’t let myself go down the rabbit hole of self-sabotage or that I’m suddenly doing something wrong. I recommend all my ladies to weigh every day, at the minimum, every week.

And I know ladies, you’re like, but I hate the scale, Shannan. The scale is just data, my love. It just shows you the data of what you’re doing. The scale has nothing to do with you. The scale has nothing to do with who you are as this beautiful human.

Check out episode number 35 to see how to stop fearing the scale. You can go to bflycoaching.com/35. Another reason is we’re eating more than what our body requires for fuel. There are days when you are super active, and you need more food as fuel. And some days, your body requires less.

As you lose weight, you will continually have to check in with your hunger because as you lose weight, you’ll need less food for fuel. Now, this isn’t a punishment. It doesn’t mean that you’re going to feel deprived. Once you start to check in with your body and you start to feel hunger, then you really start to understand what your body needs for fuel.

And it doesn’t feel like it’s being deprived. This is something I really go in deep in Transform with my ladies because we’ve been on the diet roller coaster for so long, we have disconnected from our bodies. Learning to feel the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger, it is really one of the keys to losing weight and getting off the diet roller coaster for good.

I’ve also seen where we just kind of start picking. We start eating a little more, eating off plan a little more, not making our plan. So I really want you to take a good look, if you’re on a plateau right now, look at your last week and just be curious about what you’ve been doing. Don’t beat yourself up. Just take an objective look.

Remember love, it’s just data. And I want to give you three things I recommend when you have a plateau. Number one, it’s all about your mindset. If you keep telling yourself that you can’t lose weight, that it’s so hard, you will feel frustrated or disappointed. And when you feel that, you will have an urge to eat off plan or overeat.

So my love, watch your thoughts. Write them down. And then practice another thought like, I can lose weight, weight loss is easy, or I have lost weight. Something that can help you feel a different way.

Number two, sometimes you need to change up what you’re eating. Shake it up a bit, love. Sometimes you have to add in extra food. You might also want to try eating at different times of the day or different intervals. This all comes back to you becoming the scientist of your own body. I love being the scientist of my body. I love figuring out how it works and shaking it up. It’s so fun, my love.

And number three, look at the data without judgment or a beatdown. Really get honest about what is happening and then you can make adjustments based on data. Not on shame or telling yourself that you’re not good enough. You just look at the data and then you can just make an adjustment. You can try something a little different, or sometimes you just have to stay the course. Keep doing what you’re doing and then your body will release the weight.

Love, plateaus are just a way that our bodies are actually maintaining weight. This does not mean anything has gone wrong or that you can’t lose weight. Love, you got this. It is so possible for you.

So today’s transformational questions are, number one, what’s the data? The true data. And number two, what are your thoughts about hitting a plateau and what do you want to think on purpose? So good, my love. Next week, I’m going to talk about one emotion that really derails our weight loss. Talk to you soon, my love. Bye for now.

If you loved listening to this podcast, I would love to have you come check out Transform weight loss program. It is my monthly coaching program where we take this work to a whole new level and ladies learn how to lose weight for good in a way that they can always do. Join me over at bflycoaching.com/join. I’d love to have you join me in Transform weight loss program.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Weight Loss for Successful Women. If you love what you heard today and want to learn more, come over to bflycoaching.com. That’s B – F – L – Y coaching dot com. See you next week!