How to THINK to Get Out of a Weight Loss Plateau

How to THINK to Get Out of a Weight Loss Plateau

If you Google “how to break through a weight loss plateau,” you’ll get lots of action tips like eat less carbs and increase fiber and protein. For non-food related action tips, you’ll get recommendations like decrease stress, increase movement and improve sleep.

All of these are great things that will help you get out of a weight loss plateau, but they’re not enough.

You also need to be deliberate about how you THINK.

Your thoughts play a massive role in a weight loss plateau, and that’s because your thoughts affect your actions.

So, I’m teaching you how to THINK to get out of a weight loss plateau. First I’ll explain how your thoughts can help or hinder. Then I’ll give you the how-to of course, with some examples of thoughts you can try out for yourself.

And just a note, weight loss plateaus happen all the time. It’s often because your body is adjusting. Here’s a little on the science of that from the National Library of Medicine: Management Of Weight Loss Plateau

I like to look at it as your body just re-calibrating and getting ready for more changes (as long as you’re still at a body weight that isn’t classified as “underweight” or “ideal body weight”).

How Your Thoughts Affect a Weight Loss Plateau

The definition of a true weight loss plateau is if you are following the same protocol you were losing weight with, but have not lost any weight for a number of weeks. (This number of weeks can vary depending on the source.)

So imagine this. You’re putting in the effort, losing some steady weight and all of a sudden the number on the scale isn’t budging for 3 weeks in a row.

Frustrating, right?

When our human brains are doing actions and getting rewarded, it’s easier to continue doing the actions. (This is just the way our brains developed, for survival purposes.)

When you’re seeing weight loss results, you’re having a thought about that. When you’re not seeing weight loss results (or even weight gain), you’re having a thought about that too.

Your thoughts then affect how you feel (which can be an emotion that is motivating or one that is not.)

How you feel of course determines your actions or inactions. So, if you have a thought that makes you feel discouraged or frustrated, you’ll be less likely to continue with your weight loss efforts. This will cause you to give up or start slipping back into old habits.

Conversely, if you have a thought that makes you feel encouraged or determined, you’ll be more likely to continue with your weight loss efforts. Maybe even trying to problem-solve for the plateau if needed.

Then, you’ll DRASTICALLY increase your likelihood of getting out of that weight loss plateau.

• GET WEEKLY TIPS: Eating Habit and Weight Loss Tips
• LISTEN OR READ: 5 Mindset Shifts to Help You Lose Weight (Podcast Episode)

4 Thoughts to Help You Out of a Weight Loss Plateau

So we’re going to create some thoughts ahead of time to help you out of a weight loss plateau. That way, you’re prepped and ready to go.

If you’re currently in a weight loss plateau as you’re reading this, then you’ll definitely want to grab your pen and paper, so we can do this together right now.

To make it easy for you, I’m giving you 4 thoughts to use as examples that can create a feeling that is motivating.

Not all thoughts will resonate with you and you’ll probably enjoy revising them a bit to better suit you.

The best thoughts to help you out of a weight loss plateau are the ones that create the strongest motivating feelings that will drive your actions toward your goals.

So what you’ll write down on your paper are a few thoughts that you like. Then you’ll want to test them out, which I explain in the following section.

Here are a few examples:

Thought #1 – “My body is just getting ready for the next level of weight loss.”

Your body really is getting ready (unless more weight loss will harm you). It’s just re-calibrating.

Thought #2 – “This isn’t anything I can’t handle.”

Think about all the challenges or even other areas you’ve plateaued in life. You’ve gotten through many of them, right? Well the same will be true for this weight loss plateau.

Thought #3 – “This plateau makes the upcoming success all the more sweeter.”

It really does! Think about another time that something seen as challenging felt really good when you finally got out on the other side of it.

Thought #4 – “Hitting my goal is non-negotiable.”

Another way to word this (which is a personal favorite of mine) is, “It’s as good as done.” Makes you feel powerful, right?

• LISTEN OR READ: What ACTUALLY Motivates You (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: 2 Tools for When You Feel Unmotivated (Podcast Episode)

How to Test the Thought Out

Now that you have a short list of some thoughts that resonate with you that you believe will create a motivating feeling, we’ll test them out to make sure.

You want to see if the thought ACTUALLY creates a motivating enough feeling. I’ll also have you pick the one that creates the strongest feeling.

First you’ll read each thought to yourself or out loud and then pay attention to how your body responds. What emotion does the thought elicit? Name that emotion and you can then even rate it on a scale of 1-10 (10 is the strongest) as far as the intensity.

For example, let’s use the thought, “Hitting my goal is non-negotiable.” Let’s say that when you think this thought, you feel determined. You feel like that determination is pretty intense, so you rate it a 7.

Then, you’ll move onto the next thought and do the same thing. Do this for all the thoughts on your list and pick the one you feel will provide the most amount of “fuel” to persist with your weight loss efforts.

You’ll practice this thought by reading it, writing it, or saying it aloud every day (pick the same time, place or circumstance), even after you’ve gotten out of the weight loss plateau. By doing this, you’ll create a “thought habit.”

• GET WEEKLY TIPS: Eating Habit and Weight Loss Tips
• LISTEN OR READ: Thought Habits and Your Results (Podcast Episode)

Final Notes (& More Help)

It’s really easy to read something, see how it makes sense, and then completely forget about DOING it. So to help prevent that, I recommend doing the quick exercise that I talked you through above right now.

Or, if you really can’t do it now, then print this out and set a time for later today to do it. Your health and weight loss goals are WORTH the 5-10 minutes it takes to do this.

You’ve got this.