I’ve reached the weight-loss plateau. For about the last 6 weeks I have maintained exactly the same weight. Feeling like I have followed the 5:2 regime pretty diligently, I should be just a couple of fasting weeks away from 2 stone total weight loss. Needless to say, the little self-destructive voices in my head are getting rampant.

Here’s my tripartite plateau breaking plan (try saying that one quickly…)

Focus on exercise

A study conducted by University of Cambridge researchers has suggested that inactivity is actually more fatal that obesity. I found this piece on BBC Breakfast yesterday morning pretty enlightening. We all tend to fixate on the aesthetics, of being ‘fat’ as the indicator of bad health when we should perhaps be equally worried about our sedentary lifestyles. I sit at a desk for at least 8 hours five days a week as I’m sure is very common. While the 5:2 aims to combat bad diet habits and the diet related issues we develop in later life, it is really up to the individual how much they choose to support the diet with exercise. I’d like to retract my advice in an earlier blog that one shouldn’t go to the gym on a fasting day. At first I did find this tough, but having practiced during the Christmas break I actually found it’s a great way to distract you from hunger. Exercising in a fasted state also seems to achieve the greatest results in terms of weight loss.

Focus on the positive achievements

Although my weight loss has slowed down considerably since first starting the 5:2, I have noticed some favourable changes other than what the scales say. I think I may be developing what people refer to as ‘muscles’? Or at least, these have only now become visible. It’s quite a novelty. My stomach, while still carrying the joyful extra tyre and the remains of quite sizeable ‘love handles’,  is also beginning to display the slightest hint of what people call ‘abs’. Considering I avoid the weights section of my gym, as this is the grunting, 90% steroid- people’s territory, I’m not sure where these so called ‘muscles’ have come from. But I’m pleased that they have finally made an appearance.

Focus on the end goal

I’d like to look like Beyoncé. Yea. Okay so that isn’t going to happen. But I do know what my ideal weight is. Once I reach that goal I can change my fasts to the 6:1 maintaining method, giving me a bit more freedom to choose what I eat and when. According to Weight Loss Plateau: Tips on How to Break It, the weight loss plateau is a very common occurrence on the journey to reaching the ideal weight and weight loss becomes harder, the leaner we become. So persistence is crucial. Mentally visualising ourselves having achieved the weight loss goal is the key and I find that looking at old photos of myself at my ideal weight, helps me gain great motivation. Keeping hold of those size 10 skinny jeans and trying them out every now and again as a mental reminder of the end goal is also a good way to implement a bit of ‘tough love’ motivation. The most important thing is not to loose faith.