Breaking Through a Weight Loss Stall
There have been two times in my THM journey that my weight loss stalled – REALLY stalled. I’m not talking about a few days or a few weeks of a stall – I mean MONTHS or more!
I’ve been on plan with Trim Healthy Mama for over 10 years, so in retrospect these periods of time were blips on the radar.
But at the time I was going through those weight loss stalls, I remember feeling completely frustrated, overwhelmed, and ready to quit. One of these stalls was well over 12 months long during a period of very high stress. 😳
Breaking through a weight loss stall that lasted longer than 12 months was TOUGH.
I go into detail of how I did it in one of my favorite weeks of Bootcamp – Week 4 is all about Stubborn Weight, and I share a full list of tips (including my “secret sauce” plan for stubborn weight – a special printable packet that lays out what I ate and when to break through my stalls).
But when I’m working with clients, I also tell them it’s MORE than just the secret sauce…more than just the tools I teach to stay on plan no matter what…more than just the consistency. For me, breaking through a weight loss stall required doing ALL OF THE THINGS.
What were the things?
- Consistent movement
- Staying on plan
- Drinking water
- Sleeping well
- Balancing my hormones
- Managing my stress
- Focusing on my timing (this is one of several reasons I focus so hardcore on timing in Bootcamp – in my opinion, it was a critical piece for me when it came to finally breaking through and losing the weight).
There was more to it than that, and there may be more to it for you, too. But my point is that I had to be consistent in more than just nutrition to break through.
There have been plenty of times on my 10+ year THM journey that just the THM Basics were all I needed. And then there were times that I had to consistently show up, over and over, in multiple ways to get where I wanted to go.
Every habit worked together to make my journey on THM a success, and those habits are what I teach in Bootcamp. At one point in my journey, I noticed immediate results. At another point, it was only after three months of focusing on all of the above areas that I finally noticed all of my clothes were fitting better.
I really think in my case it was due to various levels of health and how much inflammation I had in my body, but I was so fascinated to see how consistency made such a huge difference.
One of the toughest stalls emotionally was after baby #5, when I was stuck for about 8 months.
For the 8 month stall, I learned a hard lesson about how good I was at lying to myself. I was going around telling myself and others that I was doing everything! I was staying on plan! I was exercising! But I wasn’t losing anything – it just wasn’t working!
The TRUTH was that even though I really thought I was doing well, I wasn’t. I was going off plan about once per month. I was eating crossovers. I was walking and working out when I felt like it (not too often), OR I wasn’t listening to my doctor OR THM and was over-exercising (and raising my cortisol levels…ugh). I wasn’t spacing my meals correctly every day, and I wasn’t sleeping well at night. It took some time for me to be honest with myself. Saying I was “on plan” and THM wasn’t working just wasn’t really the truth.
So I put a list on the notes app of my phone (see photo below – I took a screen shot from the desktop version of my notes app). I’d also added “devotions” there because it was an area of my life where I really wanted to work on consistency.
Once I was honest with myself, I was able to make a solid plan to show up for myself more. And once I started changing the areas I wasn’t doing great in to “excellent” I started to see real improvements.
If you’re still with me, thank you! The point of this long post is to encourage you. I’ve stalled due to medical issues. I’ve stalled due to lack of consistency. I’ve stalled for reasons I never quite figured out, but I believe were due to inflammation and my body just needing to heal. But I DID come out of those stalls, and I DID break through, and I believe you can, too! I’m rooting for you and I’m here to help if you need me!
