Stuck at a certain weight? How to break the weight loss plateau…

Stuck at a certain weight? How to break the weight loss plateau…

Have you ever found yourself stuck at a weight plateau?

You know, that number on the scales that seems to have some kind of invisible barrier around it, no matter how hard you exercise or diet, you just cant get down past it?

Many of my clients talk about this as the major pain point in their weight loss efforts. It seems that they are doing “everything” right and still can’t get to their real dream weight.

There are many things that can cause this invisible barrier. Here are some of the most common…

Only focusing on losing weight.

If you are only focusing on losing weight, you are actually focusing your mind on the fatness that you don’t want. It’s like driving while only looking in the rear view mirror. You absolutely must be able to picture your future self clearly, to feel, hear, smell and taste that moment of success. That will create a compelling forward vision that can get you over the hump.

Associating food with pleasure and comfort.

Food is just food. Just fuel for your body and brain. That’s all. It’s not love, or happiness, or comfort. Those are ideas that you may have associated with food through your experiences, memories and beliefs. It’s not food though. They are abstract concepts that you have linked to eating. You can get comfort, love and happiness without food. Really, you can.

Having sneaky negative beliefs about slim people.

Even though you really want to be slim. If you’re struggling, you may have sneaky, unconscious negative beliefs about slim people. Some of the ideas I have heard over the years include; slim people are no fun, they are picky, bitchy, nasty, arrogant. If you’ve had ‘skinny bitch’ thoughts over the years and like to think of yourself as a caring, fun, relaxed person, this could be an invisible, mental barrier that creates stuckness and sabotage because unconsciously you don’t want to become nasty and bitchy.

 

Wanting to reward yourself for how far you’ve come.

When you have already lost weight, you tend to compare yourself with how you used to be, and as you get less fat, you feel like you have something to celebrate. The problem is that you might want to celebrate with a cupcake or glass of wine or two.

Not believing it’s possible to really get there. It’s just too hard.

Many women have such a long and arduous history with their weight battle that they don’t believe that it’s really possible for them to achieve the results they secretly dream of. This is a huge barrier in itself.

You’re stuck in the middle of big and small.

Often the set point, stuck weight is not the fattest you’ve ever been, it’s usually somewhere in the middle between your biggest and your goal weight. The reason it’s in the middle is because your two end points hold you there. Imagine you have two giant rubber bands around your waist, at one end is the biggest you, (painful fatness & comforting food) and at the other end is the smallest you (painful deprivation, and slimness). These represent extremes of your personality, both pulling you in different directions. Because both sides have merit, both have benefits and drawbacks, and both are inaccurately distorted, you end up fluctuating somewhere in the middle to unconsciously avoid the pain of both ends.

If you are stuck like this, AND you want to make a lasting change. Email me to apply for coaching to make a massive mindset shift before the New Year, or get started on my Kickstart Motivation Program instantly.

Comments (4)

  1. Hi Kylie,
    Awesome article as always. What i want to know is that, are we pushing against our desire to not have emotion attached to food ? Like – is food actually supposed to be attached with emotion as we’ve always been nurtured with it ? Or is that why women in particular comfort eat with choc etc more than men as we are more emotional ? ( speaking generally i know ) .
    Because aren’t you enjoying the emotion of going out to dinner with your partner, or coffee with a friend etc etc… isn’t there still always going to be an emotive element there ?
    B 🙂 xx

    Bianca
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    • Hey Bianca, Thanks. Yes, you’re right! To a degree food is naturally linked with emotion, when you get right back to basics as a baby your first experience of comfort after birth is with your mothers breast milk. The problem is when we OVER-associate food with love or fun or family. When this happens, you will tend to emotionally eat much more. Food is not love! Although family times are often centred around food, the emotion does not come from the food, it is what’s happening at the time. When you understand that it’s your relationships and experiences with other people that bring the emotion, you can de-pleasure food a little bit and then create a healthier relationship with it. When you can see food a little more objectively it removes the intense emotional cravings, and helps you to get your emotional needs met outside the kitchen. Thanks for the question! Keep em coming…

      Kylie Ryan
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      Reply

  2. Right on target Kylie, this all makes so much sense…. the future self thing, food equalling pleasure and fun (which it does but you have to tell yourself the zing ain’t worth the sting) and as you say it really is just fuel. Last point though about being stuck in the middle particularly resonated with me – it’s not so bad being bigger – I’ve been bigger and I’m the same person I was then with the same friends, social life and people who love me – it wasn’t the end of the world and I’ve been a bit smaller/lighter and nothing much changed in that scenario either – same love and acceptance, looking better in smaller clothes but underlined by a fear of blowing it and “going back”, hence defaulting to middle position.

    HeatherBelle
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    Reply

    • Thanks Heather, I’m glad to hear the stuck in the middle point resonated with you. I have been thinking about this for a long time and I think this is a really big key to shifting your “set point” weight forever. When you understand that there are good and bad things about being overweight and super fit and skinny, then you can come into a balanced perspective and more easily reach a goal that is right for you and your life goals and values. Many people fantasise that their life will be perfect when they are slim, and simultaneously vilify themselves for being overweight. I have written many times before about how this self-loathing creates the very problem it is attempting to solve. Life will not be “perfect” when you are slim. Of course, being as healthy as you can possibly be is always something to strive for, and adjusting your end points, (i’ll write more about that in the next articles) can help you to easily maintain a weight that is right for you.

      Kylie Ryan
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      Reply

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