Fit Friday

The weight loss plateau...it should be a four letter word. Being in one of these is so frustrating. You work hard, do what you need to be doing and then you get on the scale and it hasn't budged. Makes you want to say,"What the beep?"

I was fortunate in my weight loss in that I only hit a wall twice. However, John has hit plateaus that last for months. They're terrible.

The good thing about plateaus is that it means that you really have lost a significant amount of weight. Your body is smaller now which is awesome but it also means that you don't burn as many calories because you're not lugging around as much body.

When you hit one of these you need to pay close attention to the calories you're taking in. You may be taking in too many to keep the pounds coming off.

Here's Prevention's calorie calculator.

If you're at the right calorie intake then you may want to look at your exercise. Crank it up a little bit and add some resistance training if you haven't already. Building muscle means you'll be burning more calories.

Another thing I learned with the Biggest Loser is to eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. This keeps your metabolism going. I learned that my meals were small so that I had time in between them to burn off my calories. The theory is that you don't want to take in too many calories at one time that you won't be able to burn by the next time you eat.

During weight loss here was a sample day of eating for me six days out of the week (for me to lose weight my calorie intake was 1200-1400 a day):

Breakfast:
Package of instant oatmeal
Yoplai lowfat yogurt

Morning Snack:
20 grapes
string cheese

Lunch:
1/2 peanut butter sandwich
2-3 celery stalks cut up

Afternoon Snack:
4 broccoli spears
.5 oz of raisins

Dinner:
Pinto beans (1/2 cup), salsa (1/2 cup), brown rice (1/3 cup) and corn (1/4 cup)

Evening Snack:
apple (3/4 cup slices) and mozzarella cheese (1 oz)

These are just some tips and tricks I've learned over the last couple of years mostly from the Biggest Loser online. I'd love to hear some more.

Hope you're having a fabulous Friday.