The typical human form is capable of achieving a number of incredible feats that seem to suspend or defy the way science tells us things work. Athletes, through sheer willpower, can end up lifting something that their bodies should not be able to without suffering anything worse than muscle spasms. People can adapt to extreme physical trauma like four years ago I had congestive heart failure, one morning I was going to work and next thing I knew I was in the hospital and the doctors had put me out to treat me, I was on dialysis and the doctors told me I would be on it for the rest of my life. I said, "I don't believe you, I am not going to live hooked to a machine all the time. " My kidney doctor took that very well he just grinned and humored me. My heart doctor threw me out of his office said he would not treat me. Me I just started trying to get better on my own. Six weeks later I was off the machines. My kidney doctor raved on and on about me being a miracle. It has been four years now and I am abundantly healthy. It took a lot to recoup my self confidence and my faith that God and my body would take care of me. I am still trying to get some of it back. What those doctors did to me psychologically almost killed me. My body knows what it is doing if I just pay attention to it. Whenever, I don't pay attention to what my body is telling me I pay dearly.
While, in general, these amazing feats are useful in a number of situations, there are physical reactions that some people look upon with quite a bit of disfavor. Among these “disfavored reactions” is something known as a “hitting a plateau, when your body stops shedding pounds..”
Essentially, the “plateau” is a term used to describe a situation where the body has become incapable of losing any further weight, usually due to developing a tolerance for the amount of food being eaten. For me this always happens when my calorie intake get too low. My body thinks I am trying to starve it to death so it says, "I am not allowing you to starve me. " Most diet books decidedly ignore the existence of the plateau, primarily because it can be seen as negating the purpose of the diet and is, therefore, bad for marketing. There are, however, ways to counteract the human body building a tolerance for training regimens and low calorie intake.
The human metabolism, when presented with a pattern, will eventually adapt to that pattern. It is this natural adaptability of the human body that can cause the weight plateau, particularly if the person's eating habits and exercise routines have been altered severely. I have done this to myself by not eating enough food. One can eat a lot if you are eating right or you can starve and not drop a pound. As such, changing the pattern will, once a sufficient amount of time has passed, allow your eating habits and exercise routine to become effective again. This trick essentially involves confusing the human metabolism, and is often taken as a rather drastic way to get the body back to dropping those pounds without dieting. Diets do not work for anyone. If they work for a while and you gain it all back then you have not accomplished anything. Attitude is everything. If you relapse get back in there and eat right. Never go more than four hours without eating. Try and include hot soup, and a piece of fruit like a orange, or grapefruit before each meal. Include some protein in each meal.
There are, of course, several ways to effectively alter that pattern without causing the body permanent harm. One way to lose weight if you hit a plateau is to have a cheat day. Eat whatever you like and as much of it. If you want sweets go for it. This confuses the body and it relaxes and says "Whew she isn't going to starve me after all." After eating well all week and then having Pizza or Fish & Chips for one meal. I often weigh myself the next day and have lost 2 or 3 pounds, if I didn't that is alright too.
Adding strength and weight training and modifying one's exercise program can also help someone get past the plateau, in most cases. I usually add some heavier weights, then at least one dance class a week. I love to dance so that is just my preference. Belly dancing is just fun and I enjoy it so much I seldom think of it as exercise. I also try and get out of the gym and go row on the river. Just getting outside helps my mood and helps me forget it is exercise. The body will still burn through nutrients during physical activity, though the digestive system's metabolic rate can adapt such that more weight is retained rather than burned during exercise. Increasing the difficulty of the exercises, or changing the movements to target less-developed muscle areas, can effectively force the body to re-adapt. While the body is busy adapting to the changes, it can also start losing weight again. This method is best used with alterations to the person's diet, however, to maximize the effectiveness.
Another trick used to circumvent the problem of the plateau is to make changes to the time frame between meals. The internal clock that the human body's digestive system operates on can be altered to suit one's purposes, provided one executes the proper alterations to one's diet and eating habits. A simple action like altering the schedule of the meals, such as adding more meals but reducing the bulk of each, can have an appreciable effect on altering the metabolic rate. The key concept of this method is to fool the body into burning the food faster. I never weigh so I don't know if works always but once in a while the doctors office forces me on the scale. Then I am quite shocked at the amount of pounds that melted away.
When considering the options, it is helpful to keep in mind that what works for one person may not work for another person. Some slower metabolisms may require combination of diet program and exercise regimen modifications, while others can get by with merely shortening the break between meals. The critical point is to find a method that works and is effective for a specific metabolism, which can be a time-consuming process.
Eat what you like. For instance I do not like breakfast food in morning. I like leftovers in the morning. Soup it a big one for me it is hot and makes me feel like I have had something substantial to eat. I like pasta in the morning or pizza I love pizza with lots of veggie and goat cheese. Be sure you never leave the house without eating breakfast. Eat again in three to four hours include protein it breaks down slower and so sticks with you longer. I like breakfast foods in the evening. That is when I love bacon and eggs, pancakes, hot cereal. I eat very little meat that is not something I decided it is something my body decided. The thought of huge pieces of meat gag me. When I was really young I could easily eat a pound of steak now I never eat more than three ounces of meat. So casseroles and soups, a large salad with a hard boiled egg, they all fit my eating habits because I like a little meat but very little.
I bought a chuck roast last week and made borscht I found this recipe I used to make regularly I had not made it for a while because I got rid of my food processor when my daughter moved out and I hate chopping all those veggies. Well anyway, I put all this wonderful looking beef and veggies in the slow cooker. I have eaten almost all of it now but the meat tasted like cardboard. Next time I will leave out the meat.
Because I eat very little meat and fill uip on veggies and fruit which I mostly eat raw except for my soup thing, I lost about 20 pounds the first year I ate that way. I did not diet I just ate less meat then my body must have adapted because it does not like meat now. I eat lots of beans, lentils, veggies, and if I feel like I have to have something sweet I usually buy myself something expensive and in my world yummy like blueberries or raspberries. So my adivise is to not to try to change everything at once just change maybe one thing like I did with the meat. The pounds will come off. When I started belly dancing and I do love to dance after a year of dancing I had dropped 10 pounds. It tooka year but so what. Before that I was always heavy, always trying to diet and failing. Now with each yearly change I make I take off a lot of pounds and it shows.
My friend is taking horse back riding lessons. She is not so much thinner but she has shifted the weight so she looks better in her clothes.
So keep your eye on the prize. Forget chasing that model figure and enjoy your curves. Your goal is to feel better, be healthier, have more energy and have more fun.
Judi Singleton is the owner of bejewelu.com where the ladies in the family can dress for less
Photos from free google images and Iheartit
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