First of all, my apologies to my Fabulous Family Friday readers–I had a post I was working on, the links I wanted to use weren’t working, then my brain just wasn’t putting things together very well….so I am letting it perk and see if I can get my thoughts together better for this Friday!
Part of it also might be that I was nervous for teaching my first T-Tapp classes Friday and last night! (Both went well!)
So, what about that dreaded word–plateau?
Somewhere along the way we got the idea that when we lose weight/inches/sizes, once we start a “program” (dieting, way of eating, exercising, etc.) that we’ll just lose, lose, lose, lose until we reach our goal! And live happily ever after!
I don’t know who came up with that, but it is not reality. I’m sure it probably sells books and exercise programs, though!
The usual scenario, depending on how much we need to lose, is we get excited about the new _____ we’re going to try, and we get off to a great start. We’re encouraged by the continuing loss. Sure, we might not get into smaller clothes yet, but we’re headed in the right direction! We might get into the next size down–woo-hoo! Excitement!
But then…..it seems things slow down. What do we do? We usually cut more calories, change diet plans, exercise more (my body must be adjusting so I need to “change things up”), etc.
The problem is, we need to give our bodies time to regroup–to find balance. Fat stores hormones as well as toxins, so when you burn off fat, you will have some extra “garbage” to deal with.
In fact T-Tapp trainer Webra Price-Douglas said just that, about the body rebalancing:
A plateau is just allowing the body to balance, to regroup–to keep the benefits it’s gained.”
You can actually sabotage your efforts if you try to “step it up a bit” just because you stalled in inch loss!
Now there are definitely times we need to re-evaluate where we are and maybe change some things we’re doing. But please don’t immediately assume as soon as inch loss slows or stops you have to “do something” about it!
I have certainly experienced the truth of the body needing to regroup, balance out and do some inner healing before it showed on the outside.
I started at a 22W. Yes, I had some impressive losses in the beginning, but remember–I started as a More-to-Lose and so I had just that–more inches to lose!
My losses went like this:
January 2007 to August 2007–lost 4 sizes from a 22W to a 16 Misses
August 2007 to February 2008–lost over 40 inches but not ONE size!
March 2008–Lost 1 size, down to a 14
April–Lost another size, down to a 12
One YEAR later–down 1 size to a 10
One YEAR later–down 1 size to an 8
So you can see I didn’t lose lose lose lose and hit my goal in a few years. There were times I needed to let my body heal. I didn’t gain all that overnight, and I surely wasn’t going to lose it overnight, either!
And my weight loss has never been a good reflection of what’s going on inside! 
Considering I started at around 175 lbs. and now weigh somewhere around 145 (it fluctuates)…well 30 lbs. doesn’t seem to add up to an 8 size loss, now does it?!
I heard of one lady who was sharing my story with a friend who told her that was impossible–I hope she sends that friend to my blog! 
What if I had stressed about those “plateaus”? What if I decided I needed to cut calories and add more cardio?
I believe I would have had a big CRASH!
I know from experience that pushing yourself to go “faster, better, farther, higher” can send you into an adrenal tailspin. I decided in the summer of 2009, after 2 1/2 years of T-Tapp, that I was strong enough to bump things up a bit. I did a blitz of sorts, and I had bumped things up to a full workout every other day. Problem was, I decided to “do a few moves” on my off days. My “few moves” added up to about the same amount of moves in BWO+! I was doing 6 on off days, BWO+ only has 8!
Now there are some who do “short workouts” on their “off days”. But I would not advise that for long term, and especially not if you are battling any health challenges (adrenals, thyroid, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, etc.).
Added to my new “strenuous schedule”, I decided to address my eating and started cutting out snacks. Problem was, I couldn’t get enough protein in during my meals. Not enough fuel + overexercising = burnout!
My adrenals crashed–thankfully not a terrible crash, but I had a hard time getting out of bed and functioning for about 3 weeks. I don’t know if my hormones needed tweaking and added to the crash or the crash made my hormones need tweaking, but I had to have some changes.
Thankfully, I could at least do MORE Chair to keep the lymph pumping and was able to steadily get back to consistency without setting myself back.
I have probably gained a size back since my mom died in May of 2010, because I knew my adrenals took a big hit with her unexpected death. Maybe I erred too much on the side of caution, but I did not push myself at all. So I have gained some back. But that’s okay—I knew when my body was ready, I could get back to consistency and in time, it will come off again. I’m really not too worried about it.
I think this is the beauty of T-Tapp–you can lose, you can stall, you can maintain, you can back off—it is truly a workout for real life. I know many people enjoy watching The Biggest Loser. I haven’t actually seen it but have heard a lot about it through friends. I think it’s great these people are trying to do something for themselves, however–in reality, not too many of us can just take some time off our regular lives, hire a personal trainer and chef for a period of time to help us lose. And even if we could….at some point we have to get back to “real life”–and we can’t sustain that kind of dedication!
For me, T-Tapp is perfect–it works from the inside out, rehabbing as well as reshaping, and it works with real life–the real life of a busy mama!
But we have to be patient, and allow our bodies to heal, and we certainly need to fuel our bodies well (I think you probably have figured out I am not for deprivation dieting! ). This quote by Dr. Diana Schwarzbein is very important:
It is very important to match your energy input with your energy output. Any amount of exercise is too much if you are not eating well. If you do not eat enough food, your adrenaline/cortisol levels will be higher. Be careful not to fall into the trap of feeling good when you are using up your biochemicals because of adrenaline and cortisol. You will feel good initially and even feel stronger because of your higher adrenaline/cortisol levels. Eventually, however, you will burn out.
Inner healing, toning up….these don’t show up on scales or a tape measure!
Let’s be patient with ourselves and not stress out over a “plateau”–it really isn’t a bad thing, after all!
Happy Tappin’!
A few threads you might find interesting:
The Tape Measure Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story!
Results of T-Tapp that You Just Can’t Measure!
A Plateau Is *Not* Always a Bad Thing! (Similar content to this post)