Breaking Plateaus: Strategies for Overcoming Fat Loss and Muscle Gain Plateaus

00:00Real quick, if you want to learn more about macronutrients and understand that methodology on how they can help you achieve your body composition goals of changing the way your body looks, I put together a free 15-minute training where I dive into macronutrients and how you can control your body for the rest of your life with them. That link is in the description below. Click on it after listening to the show today. Stress has chemical releases in the body, and it will do things to make your body just stay where it's at. And so if you continue to have your mind stressed about why you're not seeing results, you're not going to see results.

00:36What is going on, you guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show. Or if you are a new listener, welcome to the show with Nikkie Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. And on this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkie Stott, and welcome to today's episode, episode number 87, where we are going to talk about breaking through plateaus.

01:09And I want to give you guys strategies for overcoming fat loss and or muscle gaining plateaus. And look, first and foremost, we've all been through them. We've all experienced them. They are common. I want you guys to know that. And I understand that they can be discouraging. However, understanding how to identify and navigate through them is crucial for your understanding of your journey, but most importantly, for your continued progress.

01:43So we're going to break it down into hows. Okay, there's going to be three hows. How to know you're in a plateau. How to assess your current state and fitness, where you're at. And then how to not freak out or stress about being in a plateau. Okay, and I think each of these segments are very, very, very important, especially that last one. How to not freak out or stress about being in a plateau. For all of you guys that are like, I can't break through this. I've been in this for X amount of weeks or X amount of months, and I just can't seem to, you know, get past it.

02:18And it's really frustrating. It's discouraging. And it makes you want to just stick your hand into a box of Oreos and just eat away your misery of being stuck in a plateau. Okay, this last one's going to really help you guys. So make sure that you stay all the way until we get to that last how. But the first one, I want you guys to understand first and foremost, how to know that you are in a plateau. Okay. And this first bullet point that I want to just highlight, speak to really nail down into your brain is consistent effort with no results.

02:50Okay. This is how you know you're in a plateau. First and foremost, consistent effort, consistent effort, consistent effort with no results. Okay. Because there's many of you guys that will go for six weeks and you'll be like, I'm in this plateau and I can't get through it. And wait, first and foremost, how do I know this? Because I've heard this hundreds of times. And my always go-to question is, well, tell me how consistent you've been with your nutrition in these four to six weeks. And I will always be like, yo, tell me the truth.

03:23I need to know the truth so that I can help navigate this through with you in an honest manner. Because you not telling me the truth is not going to help you at all. And so usually, typically, majority of the time, I get that, well, you know, I had this happen this week and I was traveling this week and I was off on these weekends because of this. And I'm like, okay. So if we had to break it down into a percentage, you've probably been consistent 25% of those last four to six weeks.

03:54Right. And when that just comes to awareness and that just, it's like a, it's like a weight lifted off of X client's shoulder. And, or maybe it's a weight lifted off of yours too, because it's like, you know, instead of being buried in that you're not making progress, it's like, oh, what is the actual honesty of why I'm not making this progress? And the more that you're honest with yourself and honest with the coach that you're working with, you guys can navigate through that to put you on a good path moving forward to help you be more consistent.

04:27But to this point, if you have been consistent and let's say like those four to six weeks, right? I always allow that much time because four to six weeks in a woman's, you know, cycle, if you're still getting your period, there's a lot of ebbs and flows to that. I'm not going to dive into our period that could be for a whole nother podcast, but let's say there's a week that you're getting your period. You're going to gain some weight, not from actual fat gain, but from there's the inflammation that your body is experiencing from internally. And it's going to reflect on the scale. It's going to reflect in your picture.

04:58It's going to reflect in your body composition. Okay. But anyway, going back to the consistent effort, let's say you've been consistent. You've put in the effort and you're still not seeing the results. So you've been consistently sticking to your macros, your nutrition, your exercise regime, but you're not seeing noticeable changes in your body composition and or like, you know, your progress photos. I don't really tend to really lean on weight here because you could still be losing body fat and reflect in your progress photos, but your weight could still be hovering around the same give or take three pounds.

05:31Okay. And this has been going on for several weeks, right? And like your progress, like I'm very fine too. When I check into my client's progress photos, I'm like face to computer, right? I'm like, where can I see these small minute changes that are very important for the client to understand is going on too as well, because they're not looking for that. They upload, they take a picture, they upload it for you to see from the coach's perspective, right? For the coach to see. And they're like trying to find all the negatives, right? So I try and find all the positive for the client that I'm working with.

06:02Then our coaches do too as well in the VIP program for Warrior Babe. And we highlight those things, right? Or we ask our clients, hey, do you see the X, Y, and Z when you're lifting the weight, right? Do you see more muscle fibers showing through? Do you see more muscle definition when you're lifting and working out? Those are positive things to pay attention to, right? But again, I'm going off track here. Consistent effort with no results. That is how you know you're on a plateau. So if for four to six weeks, you're not seeing these changes reflect in your progress photos,

06:32and if you're not taking progress photos, you need to be taking progress photos. But like, let's say you're not seeing progress in the progress photos. And, you know, some things have stalled elsewhere. This is how you would know you're in a plateau. The second thing that marries with the first one is that you've stalled strength or endurance gains, right? You're stalling in the amount of weight that you can lift. Like, if you're not progressing in the weights that you lift, or let's say you're focusing on some type of endurance running, and those levels aren't, they're pretty much stalled at this point.

07:05Like, you're not experiencing a progress with it, and you're consistent with your training. I just need to add this in there. You're consistent with your training, right? Like, you're hitting your four to five strength training sessions a week. You're doing whatever is in alignment with the endurance training that you're doing. If you're doing it, right? And, like, you're consistent with that. Then you might be in a plateau. And what I mean specifically to speaking to weights is, like, let's say for the last four weeks, you have been using the same weight each time, and that is a challenge to you, right?

07:37And you can't, and I would say, like, maybe, like, one week going up, like, five to ten pounds is too much of a challenge to you where you can't finish the prescribed set and or reps. And so this might be at a point where you may, you're experiencing a plateau, and the littlest adjustment to nutrition can help with that. And that's why it's really good to have a coach on your side. And then the last point that I want to say to how to know you're in a plateau is diving a little bit deeper into point one where I said with progress photos, right?

08:10Maybe you're somebody who's taking measurements, and you're using the measuring tape, which some clients do this, and some clients don't. Not necessary. Depends. All of the things. But let's say you're taking measurements, and you're usually measuring tape, and you're doing it to, like, your waist, your hips, your biceps, like, all of these things, but they're not changing in those four to six weeks, like, especially your waist, right? Like, if you're decreasing weight and you're overweight, then you should see changes in your waist. If you're decreasing body fat, you may see changes in specific areas of your body.

08:41Like, people lose body fat in specific, in different areas. All women do, but majority of women will lose it from the top down first. And let's say in those four to six weeks, like, we're not seeing much movement in terms of measurement over that time. So these are all things of possibilities of you being in a plateau. But the first one I spoke to is probably the most obvious one is, like, consistent effort with no results, right? You're being consistent. You're honest with your consistency.

09:11And we're still not seeing any progress. So then we would make some adjustments, right? And adjustments I'm not going to dive into because we're just speaking to, like, how to over, or speaking to when you know you're in a plateau and what you can do to overcome it. And adjustments would be very individual for the person. Whatever that person may be experiencing, why we're in a plateau, what's going on lifestyle, X, Y, and Z, right? There's many factors that could be a thing. But I just wanted to give you these strategies in terms of, like, how to know you're in it, right?

09:42And these are the ones to know how you're in it. Now, I want to talk to how to assess, like, your current state for yourself. Because assessing these current states for yourself could be an indicator of how to break through broad level of these plateaus that you may be experiencing, right? So a couple of things. I want you guys to, if you're not, make sure you're keeping, like, a detailed log, documenting everything. Like, this is what we do inside the Warrior Bay VIP for our clients. Like, we are literally documenting everything. We have their access to their MyFitnessPals.

10:13We're seeing the food that they eat on a daily basis. We're seeing if they're consistent in that regime. We have an entire calendar of all of their workouts where they check into their workouts on a daily basis along with their rest days. We have progress photos. We have measurements. We have body stats. We have forms that these clients fill out, right? We're documenting everything, right? Because we have an objective view and a subjective view. And, like, it comes down to all of those things that I just said. The foods that you eat, the calories you consume, the specifics to your workouts, how much weight you're lifting, what was a challenge to you?

10:44We rate our workouts. Like, all of this will provide insight into areas that may need to be adjusted as I spoke to, like, how to know you're in a plateau. Then second thing, second to keeping a daily detailed log of everything. And, like, some of you guys will be like, I don't want to have to do that. Well, then, like, how much effort are you willing to put into your results? Like, seriously. Like, if you're just, you know, half-assed with the actual documentation of what you're doing, then you're going to get half-assed results because you're not going to be able

11:14to dial in into what isn't, if something's not working, how do you know how to fix it? Right? It's just kind of guessing or assuming. But if you're logging everything and you have a detailed documentation of everything and something along these things isn't working, you know exactly what to adjust. So that's on you. If you're like, this is too much, well, then think about getting to your results in a half-assed manner. Hey, hey, just want to drop a huge appreciation to you guys listening to the show. It means a lot.

11:45I hope you guys are enjoying it and there's so much more to come with it. If you are enjoying it, hit the subscribe button. I'd appreciate that tons. And also, it would help this podcast reach others who need to hear these messages too. Thanks so much, guys. Let's get back to the show. Another thing here is evaluating your sleep and your recovery. So, you know, I can't stress this enough. Adequate sleep, adequate recovery. Both of these guys play a pivotal role in your fat loss and your muscle growth.

12:15And so let's say one week out of those four to six weeks, you got shit sleep. Well, that is going to play a result in the type of progress that you see or do not see in the following week. And let's say two weeks out of that, you know, you had shit sleep. Same thing. That could play a progress in the results that you're seeing and or not seeing. And so being able to identify these things and being able to, if you're assessing these things, right? Like I wear an order ring. Like when I tell you guys I document everything, I document everything. This thing tracks my sleep. So if I can feel and see a physical change in my body and I've had shit sleep, right?

12:51Then I know that it's because of my shit sleep. And there's my answer. I don't have to go down this rabbit hole being like, fuck, my nutrition's off. Or maybe I need to adjust my nutrition or like maybe my workouts are just not enough and I need to go more intense. And then you just go down this rabbit hole of making your recovery even more shit. It's actually not the workouts. It's your sleep, right? So like paying attention to these things is so freaking important. And it allows you to get real with what needs to be adjusted and what doesn't. So those are the two main things, to be honest.

13:21Like where do, how to assess where you're at currently, right? Keeping a detailed log of everything and then being able to evaluate where your sleep and recovery are because those two things do not get enough attention in the fitness space. And so many people just think it's like, I need to fix my nutrition. I need to fix my workouts. But it's like, actually, you're super stressed and you're not getting enough sleep. And this is a pivotal thing that we need to pay attention to. And so being able to just assess that. And then the last thing that I want to talk about, you guys, and this one I said at the beginning is just so freaking important.

13:53It's how to not freak out or stress about being in a plateau. Because first and foremost, before I dive into these things, the more that you stress out of being in a plateau, you're going to stay being in a plateau. Okay, because your mind, your body, all these things have chemical, stress has chemical releases in the body. And it will do things to make your body just stay where it's at. And so if you continue to have your mind stressed about why you're not seeing results, you're

14:24not going to see results. And so I just want you guys to understand that from like a high level, like don't freak out. If you're especially if you're doing all these things that I already just said with assessing your current state, then you'll be able to kind of narrow down exactly what is going on and what you can adjust. And like I said earlier, if you're just like, if you're not doing that, then like, yeah, sure, you're going to wander all over the things. And you're going to have 10 different variables of what could actually what could be going on. And it's actually one of them. And then but let's try to say you're trying to change all the 10 variables like you're

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16:02And if you're not logging your things, that's where you're going to be. Whatever you're logging your things, you can pinpoint the one and you can assess it and there's less stress there. But anyway, first and foremost, with how to not freak out and how to not stress about being in a plateau, it's just recognizing that it's normal. Okay. For those of you that like say in a week's time that you're in a plateau in seven days, it's just absolutely flipping ridiculous.

16:32There's no way that in one week you could be in a plateau from not seeing, just because you didn't see results in one week doesn't mean that you're not making results. Okay, it literally, it just means that you need to just keep going. Like you need to keep doing things. I'm going to touch on that in a second. But recognize that it's normal. Everyone from a beginner, from elite athletes, from just like people that have been in the game for a while, they all experience, I have experienced plateaus.

17:04I first, let me just share this. I remember my first plateau when I was first fresh newbie into the space and first fresh into my experience and I was freaking out. Okay, so I get it. I've been there. Like understand. I recognize you guys like can stress out about plateaus. But the way that the way that my coach calmed me down is exactly how I'm calming you guys down right now. Like just knowing that it's normal and to just keep doing the things. Because sure enough, I kept doing the things that I was doing and I broke through it.

17:36Like it's not like you have to just like, sure, assessing the things. But like that's at like a six week mark, you haven't seen results. And then you need to adjust that one thing that may be off. But like if it's like two weeks, nothing needs to be adjusted. Okay, like some of you are like, oh my god, right? Or light bulbs are going off, which I'm so happy to hear that. Um, it just means that you need to just keep doing the things. Okay, and this comes into and just know to this is experiencing a plateau is a natural

18:07part of your journey, not a dead end, which so many of you guys think it's like the end of your fitness results. And so you eat yourself into a bag of Oreos because you're so sad that like you're not making progress. And therefore, when you eat a bag of Oreos, when you're experiencing a plateau, because you've allowed yourself to get to that point mentally, it only elongates your plateau. And it only elongates you getting to the results that you want. So it's just a natural part of your journey. If you're experiencing at two weeks, or even at six, it's a natural part of your journey.

18:40It is not a dead end. The second thing I want you guys to focus on is reframing your mindset. Instead of seeing it as a plateau or seeing it as a setback or seeing it as you being stuck, view it as a signal from your body to reevaluate and adjust certain things that I've just said before that need adjusting, right? It's an opportunity for you to understand how your body is working. And maybe in this aspect of the assessment is what needs to be adjusted. And for you to understand your body and that respect, grow and learn from it, right?

19:13Don't look at it as a setback. If you look at it as a setback, you're just continue to experience setbacks with it. Look at it as been like, okay, let me reevaluate or understand what is going on here right now. Or how your coach is, you know, if you have a coach that's a professional in this, they're really good at doing that. And then they can adjust it for you because they understand what's going on rather than you trying to figure out all the things because this isn't your profession. You have other responsibilities. Like that's why a coach is amazing to get. If you don't have one yet, and you've been sitting on figuring out if you want to be a part

19:44of Warrior Babe, consider this a sign. Check out Warrior Babe in the description below. And then another thing to not freak out, to not stress over being a plateau is celebrate other wins, okay? During this time in a two-week period, maybe your, you know, body composition and progress photos hasn't changed in like two weeks. But perhaps maybe you feel more energetic, right? Maybe your clothes are fitting better in this two-week period. Maybe you're sleeping better. Maybe you've improved in a specific exercise with its form, right?

20:16Or maybe you're getting stronger. Celebrate these other wins, these non-scale victory wins. Maybe you did more than a push-up than you could do two weeks ago. These are huge pillars of you making progress that, you know, some people just overlook because they seem so small, but yet they're so freaking big when you're doing things that you hadn't done before. And like, you know, the scale gets so much recognition and I don't know why, but like that thing just sucks.

20:46And it doesn't deserve as much like power as it has on women. When all of these other things that are positively happening for you, like all of the things that I just said, feeling better in your skin, more energetic, sleeping better, you're improving in your form, you're doing more pull-ups, you're doing more push-ups than you did two weeks ago or even six weeks ago. Like those things deserve more power than the fucking scale do. And so I want you guys to celebrate other wins. And then lastly, when I said in how do you know you're in a plateau?

21:18This one is for you to practice consistency and practice patience. Because the biggest thing is the key, like the key is to not get discouraged along your journey. And if you know that you're not consistent, then you can't get discouraged at yourself for that because you're going to just continue to be inconsistent. You need to stay consistent with your efforts. You need to be patient with yourself wherever you're at in your journey, whether it be the beginning or the middle or like you're experiencing life things and you got thrown off track.

21:50You need to be patient with yourself. Don't beat yourself up because it's only going to send you in a negative spiral from there. So make sure that you're consistent with your efforts, be patient with yourself. And most importantly, if at all that you do make adjustments when you're in this plateau, that you allow time with that adjustment to take place, right? People think, okay, I'm going to make this adjustment after six weeks. I'm going to make this adjustment. I'm going to see results in the first week. Dude, like that may not happen. And I'm just being blunt honest.

22:20Like people like, you know, all the things out there say you're going to see X amount of results in X amount of time. But like, dude, like your body may be different than somebody else that's saying this, right? And maybe you do experience the change in result in one week. But like, don't set your expectations so fucking high that you then just bury yourself in disappointment when you don't get that result in one week. Okay, that's how you get over, you know, feeling discouraged. And instead, just allow time, allow patience and just keep practicing consistency, right?

22:52And I guarantee you with all the things that I just said, you will overcome that plateau. It's just a matter of being resilient through it, right? Like still showing up, even though you may be experiencing this, accepting that something may be may need to be adjusted and adjusting it and allowing time for that adjustment to take place within your body. Okay, and so like when you are when you can do that, you will overcome it. So don't let the power of a plateau, get the power of you.

23:23Don't allow it to have so much power over you and your journey rather yet accept it that it's going on and figure out how you can adjustment, adjust it and then just keep going. Okay, right? Because as I said throughout the whole podcast, plateaus are a standard part of any fitness journey, you are going to experience them. They are inevitable, but they do not mean that you are failing. When you recognize the signs that I've just spoke to and you, you know, you're honest with

23:55yourself and you critically assess them and you assess your current fitness state. Are you logging all these things? Are you paying attention to all of them? Are you documenting all these things? Are you, you know, all the things I talked about and then, you know, you can assess them and you can be honest with yourself and you can move forward and you can maintain a positive mindset, you can navigate through all of those things and continue towards your goals. End of story. Better yet, end of podcast, you guys. Okay, so I hope that, that, you know, resonated with you guys.

24:27I hope that that helped you. I hope that you, that, you know, gave you a little bit more like weight off your shoulders if you're ever to experience or your next plateau when you, when you do experience it, right? Come back to this podcast if you need to save it. I wish there was a safe feature with podcasts, but just screenshot it, right? And, and save it into your, your photo so that you can come back whenever you need it. All right, guys. So again, I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you in the next podcast. Hey guys, real quick. If you're interested in taking your body to the next level, lose body fat, build more muscle,

25:00feel more confident. Do it alongside one of our 30 plus professional coaches. Work one-on-one with her to eliminate all of the guesswork that you may have. And all you need to do is just do the work that she tells you to do to get to those goals of yours. And to learn more, click the link below this podcast and apply to our VIP program right now. Thank you.

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