I doubt 'plateau' is the correct term either scientifically, medically or geographically; but that's what they are to me. They are days, sometimes weeks, where you seem to make no progress whatsoever. For me it feels like trekking across the Sahara desert, or the Mongolian steppes or Siberia. I call them plateaux because it feels like you have reached a certain level and you will never reach your next goal. More specifically my notion of 'plateau' is when you have changed your lifestyle, you are exercising regularly, you are eating less and/or better foods and while you were making progress on the scales, suddenly nothing changes. You weigh in day after day, at the same weight. My theory is that it's your body asking for some time to come to terms with the adjustments! I doubt that is medical either, but I felt my body needed some time to catch up to where my mind wanted to be next. For this reason I found it critical not to give up. If you don't keep up your new lifestyle and eating habits you will most certainly slip backwards. Equally, if you stick at it, after sometime you will most certainly move forward. 'The plateaux', as I like to call them, can be depressing, de-motivating and enough to make you throw the towel in. Don't. I promise you, if you keep exercising, eat right, eat less, be good to yourself, then the you will reach the edge of the plateau, and your will reach your next goal. If you like, push yourself a bit harder with five more minutes of exercise, or an extra workout, and you will pass over 'the plateaux' just that much quicker. And, if it helps, think of yourself in some sweeping epic movie, trudging your way across some desert, glacier or plateau, and in the end you will be the hero of your own screen play! A hero in your own mind game! A legend in your own weight loss!
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