Victoria, I’m eating a low-calorie, low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. I’m exercising 5 times a week. I’m doing everything right and I’m still not losing any weight. I keep reading that carbohydrates don’t matter, but I am beginning to question that after reading some information on your web site and I was totally intrigued by your personal story.

What do you think I could do to get over this hump and get my weigh to start to go DOWN! I am so tired of getting on the scales and not seeing any progress. Maybe I am just not being realistic since everyone in my family is heavy.
-Karie


Karie,
That’s the million dollar question. We are always working on our fitness and nutritional program. You feel like you are doing everything right but your body reaches what is called a set point.

Set Point Theory

Set point theory states that every individual has a personal metabolic rate that maintains at a given weight, regardless of your perceived calorie intake. This frustrating dilemma is believed to be why some dieters find that their weight loss slows down when they reach a static place that is also referred to as a plateau. It doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s absolutely frustrating.

It's not just a matter of willpower - there's a biological reason that your body gets to a point and it feels comfortable there. When you restrict your food too much and your metabolic rate slows down to preserve muscle, your weight stabilizes. It makes you feel discouraged.

That’s what has happened to you. You have reached a set point where your body wants to settle in and the scale seems to be stuck at the same number. Don't panic... it's only a temporary situation.

Sometimes our bodies may get in a sort of "rut" and doing the same old, same old just seems to stop working. Don't let this situation stop you dead in your tracks.

Even when you seem to be doing everything right… and yet it’s not working. There are several factors that can trip up your best weight loss efforts.

Now is not the time to give up! Here are a few tips I have found helpful in breaking through weight loss plateaus and breaking through your set point. If you can identify and conquer them, you’ll be well on your way to long-term leanness

1. Be honest... are you cheating? Sometimes if we don't monitor our eating habits very closely, we fall back into old habits without giving them a second thought. Are you falling into the mindless eating trap? Are you stressed and responding to it by eating? Have you stopped paying attention to portion sizes? Are you writing down absolutely everything -- even sodas or candy from your co-worker's candy dish -- in your food diary? Even if you don't normally keep a food diary, track what you eat for a minimum of three days. Do you see any patterns -- certain times of the day, certain foods, eating with certain people? Doing a little extra stringent self-monitoring may point out some areas that need improvement.

2. Be Kind to Yourself
Accept yourself as you are today as you work toward developing your perfect life. You may not feel perfect today. That’s okay. You are exactly where you are supposed to be. The shame would be if you wanted a different result and did nothing about it. Accepting today and growing with improvement tomorrow is a grand formula for succeeding at weight loss or any other successful venture, or as I like to say adventure.

Love yourself unconditionally every day. We all love our families, friends and pets – it’s time for you show some love for yourself. When you have a quiet moment or are in bed at night in your mind tell yourself that you love yourself – it’s easy, no one else can hear you. Say nice things about yourself. Look in the mirror and have an uplifting conversation with yourself. Learn how to feel comfortable complimenting yourself when you do something good.

Make sure you're not depriving yourself of fun and enriching activities and events. If you have no personal fun and self-enriching activities, then you are setting yourself up for a binge. Sometimes we "make up for" not playing along with not eating our favorite foods for days or weeks at a time by overindulging when we finally do say yes to our craving... which certainly sets us up for a stumbling block. Instead, let moderation guide you.

Remember that many times we are eating for other reasons than hunger. We can have a tendency to eat for comfort and other emotional reasons. What good is a great body if you are miserable? Nurture yourself so that you are full on life, love, fun and happiness!

3.Shock Your Body
Let’s start with your exercise program. Have you been doing the same thing for a while? Getting bored maybe? When your routine becomes ho-hum, your body quickly adapts to it and your results are less dramatic. So, if you always do the same aerobic activity at the same intensity, or you always do the same circuit of weight machines in the same order it’s time to switch it up.

To keep seeing results you need to present yourself with new challenges. It’s important to try new things, choose activities that you genuinely enjoy, and exercise at an intensity that challenges you.

Whether you’re trying something new or just spicing up the old routine, you want to achieve a gradual and progressive increase in intensity. This might mean incorporating an occasional hilly route into your bike rides, intervals of slow jogging into your walks, adding some free weights to your machine workout, or signing up for a spinning class instead of reading magazines on the stationary bike. Just keep it interesting. Boredom and complacency can unravel your best-laid plans.

4.Pump Some Iron
Lightweight resistance training is the cornerstone I have used for my clients to develop a lean body while working on training their bodies to have a fast metabolism.

The more lean muscle you have, the more calories your body burns throughout the day. If you’ve been doing tons of cardiovascular activity, but slacking on the light weight for sculpting and shaping your body, that could be one of your sticking points.

On the flip side, if you’ve been faithfully pumping heavy iron but you can’t get shed the fat; perhaps a little more aerobic activity is in order. The two modes of exercise compliment each other. The weights sculpt and shape the body, and the cardio helps you blast the fat so that your muscles that are defined become visible as the fat is burned away. Together with elongating, stress reducing and detoxing stretching, they form the basis of any well-rounded program so that you can build a beautiful lean body while reducing your stress hormones that can make you fat.

This is why I love my Vertical Training, Power shaping DVD. I love the magic of that music and dance science combined with light resistance training creates. I have been able to keep my muscles long and tight while staying lean and flexible. I don’t have to worry about spending hours at the gym.

5. STOP IT! Sugar Supplies Your Set Point Are you consuming an overabundance of highly processed carbohydrates? Give away or better yet, throw away the extra holiday candies and goodies you have stashed around your home. Watch your intake of highly refined carbohydrates that are sold as fat free products such as fat-free cookies, rice cakes, other fat free snacks and definitely white bread. Try to replace them with heartier grains or legumes such as bran, natural sprouted whole grain breads, beans, lentils, and other unprocessed legumes. They are higher in fiber, protein, and other nutrients and they enter into your blood stream more slowly, providing you with a longer lasting more blood sugar balancing source of fuel.

The most critical factor in successful weight loss is your overall diet. Success of any body changing and health-increasing program is that success is mostly nutrition with the secondary factor being physical training. Basically you can have the best personal trainer on the planet with the best training routine ever, but if you’re not eating right, your results will be weak and poor. You will never have the body you want without the perfect diet.

To change your hips, abs and butt, you have to look at every morsel of food you’re eating. Be real about your portion size and be honest with how much you are eating. You have to ask yourself these questions and be honest with the answers:

What is your eating schedule? Is it regular or does it fluctuate based on a chaotic schedule?

Are you skipping breakfast and them binging later in the day? Are you snacking before going to bed? Are you eating a snack in the middle of a sleepless night? Have you not been eating enough healthy, anti-aging, anti-cancerous and fibrous calories? Do you start off fired up to diet on Monday morning and deny yourself all day only to binge on Wednesday night?

Analyze and Strategize
You need to analyze everything and become the master of knowing your metabolism and your metabolic response to the foods you decide to eat every single day. You have to figure out how to put yourself together an organized eating schedules. Eat several small meals and snacks a day (3 – 6) to keep your metabolism elevated and your blood sugar stabilized which helps you cut out snack attacks throughout the day. Don't go more than 5 hours without eating something healthy. You can pack lunches, snacks, etc.

You need to stop rushing around and stand still and take some time to prioritize your eating, training and resting. Train yourself to eat for energy and longevity.

Train for fun and increased quality of movement and health. Rest for recovery, stress reduction and rejuvenation of your mental strength. It is so important that you become mature enough to be able to pt yourself and your health first in all things that you undertake. You deserve the best!

Don't be afraid of heart healthy monounsaturated fats like those found in olive oil, nuts, seeds, and avocado. The omega-3 fatty acids found in fish are quite beneficial as well. A little bit of fat will slow the entry rate of carbohydrate into your blood stream, keeping blood sugar stable and helping to reduce hunger, mood swings, and cravings.
Include a little protein, carbohydrate, and fat with each meal or snack. You'll be more satisfied with your food and less likely to get hungry between meals.

6. Flush It Out
If you eat right and exercise at the intensity, frequency and duration proper for you, but still can't get rid of a little paunch here and there, you're probably just not drinking enough water.

Water helps boost your metabolism and helps you flush out the excess toxins that build up in your system. Your liver converts stored fat to energy. It has other functions, but this is one of its main jobs.

Unfortunately, another of the liver's duties is to pick up the slack for the kidneys, which need plenty of water to work properly. If the kidneys are water-deprived, the liver has to do their work along with its own, lowering its total productivity. It then can't metabolize fat as quickly or efficiently as it could when the kidneys were pulling their own weight. If you allow this to happen, not only overtaxing your liver, but you're also setting yourself up to store more fat.

Every time I want to shock my body into a super perfect state for a photo shoot, I step up my water intake to six quarts a day and within three days, my skin looks amazing, my weight drops enough for me to feel confident and I feel awesome.

You can start breaking your set point too, so drinking up. Start with 8-12 8 oz glasses of water every day. Don’t get crazy with this, but be reasonable and know that you must drink at least two quarts to start to flush your body.

Karie, whichever eating plan you choose be sure to adjust it accordingly depending on how you feel and how your body responds. Don't ever blindly follow a rigid "diet" based on massive media hype. Be informed and focus on powerful positive changes. That is why I created my Quick Start Energy Program. When I was obese, I knew that I needed a program that I could see and feel positive results immediately. Be kind to yourself, but be honest and monitor your program as you would your bank account.

You are the destined to succeed. It’s just a matter of refining your process. You can do it. Go for it. Start answering the questions I posed to you and then take positive immediate action to get that scale going down again my friend.

God Bless and make it the Best Week Ever!


Your Celebrity Personal Trainer!