Beating that dreaded plateau

By Virginia Winder
Hills aren't the problem in this fitness mission - it's those plateaus that are hard to get over.
Some sports nutritionists say that our bodies do their best to stay in balance and don't actually like losing weight.
So we have to keep surprising them with different foods, new exercises and prevent them from slipping into that comfort zone.
Talked with a friend today and she's lost about the same amount of weight as me - 16kg - but feels she too has reached that levelling out place.
Her aim is to look great at her daughter's wedding, mine is to become an athlete again and I know others who simply want to be avoid all those health issues that come with ageing and being overweight.
Tonight I forced myself, despite feeling under the weather all day, to go to the gym. I had an appointment with Courtney from Contours and she was extremely helpful.
"It's 80% what you eat," she says about affective weight loss.
Then she quizzed me about my snacks.
The truth is I don't exactly have any, not really.
It seems that I'm doing it all wrong.
If I'm exercising so much I need to fuel myself by eating something every three hours, like fruit and nuts, or yoghurt and nuts, or canned tuna or salmon, or have a protein shake.
It's also important to have a small snack about half and hour before exercise and half an hour after, she says. All these snacks should include protein.
So smaller meals more often is the ticket, which I'm going to try for the next two weeks.
And, I'm going to keep a food diary for two weeks, just to see if I am on track.
The other big thing is water.
My new aim is to drink 1.5 litres before lunch and 1.5 litres before tea. So that's 3 litres a day, which is a good idea because of how much I'm sweating during workouts.
There is debate about how much water we should be drinking, with some doubters definitely against large amounts of water intake, but I'm going to see if it makes a difference to me.
According to the gym scales I've lost 2kg, but the tape measure shows only a couple of centimetres have disappeared from my body - from my left leg and around my stomach. Perhaps the rest of weight loss was from my brain, because it certainly feels like it.
Anyway, for the next two weeks, I'm going to refocus on what I'm eating, but still without dieting. I kind of like the idea of having to eat more often to keep my metabolism powered up. Who would have thought it, eh?
Found some great advice from writer Paige Waehner on about.com, so check out her plateau-beating tips.
Off to get some more water now...

Today, I:
Slept 5.5 hours (at night) and 3 hours this afternoon (yep, definitely feeling fatigued)
Worked 12 hours
Went to the gym and walked home, with a fast hill climb in there for good measure
Have upped my water intake (aim to drink 3 litres a day)
Had three nutritious meals, but only one tiny snack of nuts
Started a food diary (to do for 2 weeks)

Student becomes the master

By Virginia Winder
A journalism student with a double-degree in exercise prescription and management, plus sport and leisure reckons I should be eating more.
I was asking her about hitting a weight-loss plateau and what nutrition advice she'd learnt at university.
"What snacks are you having?" she asked over lunch at Sandwich Extreme.
"None, really," I said.
That's apparently the problem.
She recommends six small meals a day rather than three large ones. Also, I need to up my protein and drop my carbohydrates, which I knew.
It's interesting how our New Zealand diet is based so much around bread, rice, potatoes and other starchy foods. And I love them all, but haven't been indulging a lot.
However, it's time to do some more research and interview an expert or two.
On that note, I've got deadlines pending and a mega-early morning.
So, hi-ho, hi-ho, off to bed I go...

Today, I:
Swam 60 lengths of a 25-metre pool
Ate two meals (ran out of time for breakfast - not good!)
Drank 2 cups of coffee
Drank hardly any water
Slept for 6 hours
Worked for 9 hours