How to say bye, bye, bye to weight loss plateaus

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Today I took a half day so I could go get my lap-band fill. Actually an un-fill as it was a little tight. I love going seeing thewonderful staff at Day One Health. Dr Elli has been amazing and is such a great guy. One of the most important things about having the lap-band is the maintenance and listening to your body. When I notice I am eating more than I should and am not able to maintain my portions, I can go in from a fill to make it a little tighter. If it gets too tight due to various reasons (have I traveled, weather, stress, etc) I can go in and get in un-filled, like I did today.

I have lost 25lbs since my last fill and I feel great! Total weight loss is about 85lbs to date. I have about 15lbs to go to my goal weight and this is always the hardest to lose. I have been stuck here a few times and really want to get past this. So what do I do when I'm stuck on the weight loss plateau? Revise and revamp my habits.

Whether you have lap-band or are just trying to live a healthier lifestyle and lose some weight, check out what I am doing to get off the plateau and back on track to weight loss.

1. Make a meal plan. Making a meal plan is great because it helps keep me accountable for what I'm putting in my body and doesn't let me take the easy way out. It takes away the annoying question of "What am I going to eat for dinner?" and doesn't leave room for getting off track health or budget wise. It's not always easy to come up with different things every week and I have to admit, sometimes I like eating the same things over and over so it might be boring to some. Luckily JoeyWaffles and I also like to try new things as well and incorporate them in with our staple meals. Tonight's dinner was salmon and lemon garlic spinach with avocado. I deviated a little from the menu but that's okay. It's about eating at home with simple, delicious, unprocessed meals.

2. Buy things you'll actually eat. It's great to get excited about eating well and wanting to 100% change what you're eating but it's not going to do you any good if you don't eat what you buy. I used to put a ton of things in my cart I thought I should be eating and ended up with a huge cart of great food, a lot that went to waste. I would end up throwing out great produce because it never got used since I bought so much. Sometimes I didn't like it but thought I should be eating it because it was healthy. Now I buy just what's on my list and try not to deviate. As you can see on the right, these are my groceries for this week. Underneath the island we keep spices which we'll use on most of the food above it (we even add some cayenne pepper to our smoothies). Remember, don't buy all the things you think you should be eating, buy what you'll actually use. Even if you slowly transition your unhealthier foods out for better alternatives, make sure you won't be causing cravings that can lead to binge eating junk food. If that happens, forgive yourself, get back up and keep on prepping and making healthy changes!

3. Prep your food. This is a great follow up to making a meal plan and going grocery shopping. Once you know what you're eating, it really helps to get it ready, This is the best defense to eating off your plan or eating something not to good because it's faster and easier to deal with. JoeyWaffles and I spent Sunday grocery shopping and meal prepping, among other things. Sunday and Monday are usually fish days because we buy it fresh and don't want it to go bad. We marinate our chicken, steak, even make our burgers ahead of time, so that everything can be cooked as soon as it's needed. If we're having chicken for lunch that week we cook it (grill in warmer weather) ahead of time so we can grab it and go. Vegetables are faster to cook so unless it's for lunch, I usually make them fresh. It's just as easy though to sautee, steam, or bake them ahead of time. You can make the banana pancakes ahead and they last all week as well. Pair with some cooked chorizo and you're good to go for breakfast on the go! We even pre-bag our smoothies so we can just dump them in and blend instead of peeling and chopping which can be time consuming. Plus it's a fun way to spend time together.

4. Hit the gym. Eating well might be 75% of losing weight but it isn't going to tone my body. No matter how tone you are, being healthy is important. You don't have to look magazine perfect to be healthy. I know that no matter what the scale says, I need to be heart healthy as well. I just made 2 appointments with my personal trainer and I will be going to yoga tomorrow. I might have to start practically all over again but I don't care. I will re-start working out and re-gain my muscles and strength. If you fall 7 times, make sure you get up 8. Plus the benefits of exercise are so numerous and affect your mental state as well as physical so it's really important to do. Finding a balance in my day is hard when there are always so many things to do but meal prep helps with this as well. If I can get home by 7 and throw food in and eat by 7:30 it's a lot easier then getting home with nothing prepared and then having to start from scratch and eat late. Plus, just getting into the routine of the gym is important, once you've made it a habit then you can start switching up your workouts and incorporating weights. Maybe try a new class to keep you motivated!