Tired of Plateaus?

I am finding many of the challengers are hitting plateaus during this challenge. Here is a way to really jump start your metabolism and this will eliminate the feelings of starvation at the end of the day. If you feel sluggish in the evening or if you find yourself very hungry while you are fixing dinner then you are not eating like you should during your day.

It is important to first start your morning with (2) 8 oz. classes of water because over the 7-8 hours of sleep you become dehydrated. Drinking water will jump start your metabolism first thing in the morning and hydrate your body. Think of your metabolism as a wood burning stove, if you don't put wood in the stove during the night your house is cold in the morning. You need to throw a lot of wood in the stove and keep it fueled throughout the day. Your body needs food throughout the day so don't starve yourself. Skipping meals will actually do more damage to your metabolism and you will have a much harder time losing weight.

Once you have your metabolism started you need to eat a filling breakfast. I start my morning off with 1/2 cup dry oatmeal (cooked = 1 cup), 2 tbsp. of Stoneyfield French Vanilla yogurt added to the cooked oatmeal, along with blueberries, raspberries, bananas or apples. I also eat scrambled eggs (1) egg white and (1) whole egg and a bottle of water or 1 cup of hot green tea. This is a very filling breakfast and you want to consume most of your calories during the morning and by lunch time. You do not want to feel like you are starving at any time during the day. When you get the first signs of hunger eat!

As you can see in the picture below here are several snack ideas. Kashi bars, oranges, Hummus with vegetables, Ezekiel bread with almond butter or natural peanut butter. Another snack idea is a protein shake especially if you had a hard workout. Your goal should be to eat at least every two hours or 6 times a day. I mean eat "Clean" when I say eat. You do not want to consume empty calories and waste your calories on food high in sugar. Sugar will give you a rush but once it wears off you will crash hard. Listen to your body, drink a lot of water to keep yourself hydrated. Sometimes you can misread what you body is really telling you and think you are hungry when actually you are just dehydrated and need something to drink.

If you change the way you eat and stick to your daily workouts, I believe you can make a change and knock that plateau out. A plateau occurs because your body is used to the things you are doing and it needs a change to restart the program. When you plateau for more than three weeks then it's time for changes.