6 Pack 6 – Halfway Home!

Chrissy and Lisa tied again this week – it’s getting sorta hot in here!

Please take note: Due by Tuesday March 17th – Your training log for this week (March 8-15) needs to be turned in with your score sheet. It should include day, date, activity and time of workout at a minimum.

Everything works, but nothing works forever!

We are halfway through 6 Pack 6, and we are seeing some great results. I am proud of the effort you are putting in! This is the time to keep your focus, be consistent, persistent, and determined!

What brought that up?

Well I want to address a question that has been coming up lately.

It goes something like this “I was going along great, losing weight and inches, and all of a sudden this week it stopped. What am I doing wrong?”

Well unless you started visiting KFC 7 times a week, probably nothing.

It may just mean you have hit a plateau.

Following is an article taken directly from our “Weight Management 101” series. It addresses common challenges and strategies for overcoming plateau’s – a period where you don’t seem to making any more progress.

Please take time to read it, as you will gain good insight to what is happening, why, and how to blast through it!

Here are the main points I want to emphasize:

Don’t drop your calories to unhealthy levels.

Do keep your body well nourished with healthy foods.

Do get the rest and recovery we recommend. 7 days off every 8-12 weeks. Our scheduled rest week is March 30 to April 5.

Do read the rest of this article and find out why!

Hitting a plateau is a common experience. It can be one of the most de-motivating things to happen.  Plateaus are the number one reason why people abandon exercise.  They bring on feelings of discouragement, confusion, and utter frustration. Thankfully, overcoming it is easy… all you need to do is prepare for it to happen and know the steps to take to overcome it.

What is a plateau?
The human body has a regulatory mechanism that works to keep the amount of energy you consume in balance with the amount of energy you use. In other words, the body does not like to lose weight, thus the slowing or halt of fat/weight loss in spite of exercise consistency and consistent, proper food intake.

Look at the experience of a plateau as a good thing!  Your body telling you “I am ready for the next stage”- “I have conquered this current routine” – “Give me something new!!”  This is when fitness gets fun and you can add creativity to your routine.

The human body is amazingly adaptable for a variety of reasons.  What you first need to do is identify the reason for the adaptation and make then proceed with the proper changes.  

Plateaus: The Reasons & The Solutions

Lowering calories too far…
“It takes calories to burn calories,” which is true both internally and externally.  Internally, the body simply slows its metabolic rate (burns fewer calories) when it senses a decrease in food intake.  The body still functions correctly, but requires fewer calories, creating hunger and preventing fat loss.  Externally, the body is tricked into doing less,(i.e., you get lazy, tired and therefore, move less and more economically).

What to do…
To prevent a plateau, keep your calories slightly below the amount recommended for maintenance to keep your metabolism and energy levels high during exercise and daily activities.  A deficit greater than 500 to 700 calories makes it much more difficult to maintain lean muscle.

Loss of lean body mass
Lean body mass uses up to eight times the calories as fat does. Therefore, loss of enough of this fat burning commodity (muscle) dramatically lowers metabolism and brings fat loss to a screeching halt.

What to do…
Keep your body nourished with supportive foods and a quality multivitamin. Follow your exercise recommendations; resistance training at least 3 times a week, no more than 20-30 minutes of cardio.

Net weight loss
The less you weigh the fewer calories it takes to move your body, even during exercise.

What to do…
Concentrate on increasing lean muscle through resistance training. This is an ideal way to compensate for the fat loss of calories, due to net weight loss, and enhance your look.

Body becomes Efficient
The body is required to make hundreds of internal changes to adjust to different workloads. Each of these reactions consumes calories. Therefore, once the body stops repairing muscle from exercise or adding new cellular machinery, the calories burned to make these changes are no longer spent and the amount of energy your body uses decreases.

What to do…
Never let your body get used to exercise.  Keep it guessing by changing frequency, intensity, type or time of exercise.

Overtraining

More exercise is not always better. Just as in under-eating, overtraining may decrease the amount of calories you burn. This is partially due to adaptive thermogenesis, (a survival mechanism). In other words, there may be a point of diminishing returns, when an increase in exercise energy expenditure is negated by an equal decrease in non-exercise energy expenditure.  This negates the additional work, at least until expenditure is dramatically increased and/or calories decreased. By the way, the girl to your right is in no imminent danger of overtraining!

What to do…

Take at least seven days off from your regular exercise routine (this should be done every 12 weeks, regardless).  Start back with less and a different type of work and increase only as necessary (e.g., the least amount of specific work to initiate change).  Your metabolism and daily activities will reset and increase again.

Enhanced physical condition
When you are in overall better shape, your system is more efficient – burns fewer calories to operate. The primary benefit of exercise is to improve health through an

appropriate regime.  Improved health can cause a slower resting metabolic rate.  In other words, fewer calories are burned during normal daily activities.  This is partially due to an increase in cardiopulmonary efficiency (e.g., lower resting heart rate).

What to do…
Stick with your goal of staying healthy.  Concentrate on exercise intensity and type changes for a longer “after-burn” (calories burned above the normal resting metabolic rate after exercise).

Just as a well-tuned car gets better fuel economy, a well-tuned body can also thrive on less fuel (calories) when consistently challenged.  By making a few changes, you can jumpstart your routine and see positive results in no time.

Remember, the best ways to stave off a weight loss plateau involve boosting your metabolism, not decreasing your calories. Consider the following Plateau Busters:

• Reassess exercise time and intensity. If you’ve walked 30 minutes, three times a week for a few weeks, that’s great! But it’s time to add small bouts of extra intensity so 20 minutes now feels challenging. Do the extra rep or two, increase your range of motion, and increase resistance as you get stronger.
• Reassess exercise activities. Try new activities to cause muscles to be challenged and burn more calories.
• Consistency. Improvement and change occur when you do things often. Stopping and starting all the time will kill any momentum you need to succeed. You must find ways to stay in the game. Moderate forms of exercise, done consistently, provide far better results than the occasional full-body pummeling. A lifestyle that includes multiple forms of exercise five to six days a week guarantees results.
• Avoid the scale. Focus on inches lost and the leaner you are becoming.  Your body fat percentage will decrease significantly over time.

• Make sure you are eating smaller, more frequent meals. Every time you eat the right amount and type of foods, you give your metabolism a small boost.
• Reassess the short-term goals that you made in Session Two to be sure you’ve selected the right strategies. Perhaps you need to re-evaluate the goals you made and come up with new solutions.
• Use your Fitness Journal to track and view how far you’ve come and how well you’ve done. This positive feedback will hold you accountable and help you stay motivated.

6 Pack 6 Results

Week 6 Top Ten

Lisa A.	72 Points
Chrissy S.	72 Points
Robin S.	71 Points
Evelyn P.	71 Points
Judy S.	68 Points
Angela D.	67 Points
Julie D.	65 Points
Joanne R.	62 Points
Nadia K.	62 Points
Gretchen W.	62 Points

Overall Top Ten

Lisa A.	430 Points
Chrissy S.	428 Points
Evelyn P.	420 Points
Julie D.	395 Points
Judy S.	395 Points
Robin S.	384 Points
Joanne R.	372 Points
Greg S.	366 Points
Karyn M.	358 Points
Gretchen W.	329 Points

Make It Happen!