Standing here on my plateau...waving at you on yours...

We all reach a point in life where we are stuck in a rut.  Whether it’s with work #insert curse words here#, the grind of everyday life, your relationship, your health, your weight… we have all been there.  So even though this plateau-thing seems common-place, it’s not exactly the perfect place to be…but because I tend to look at life through my pretty rose-coloured lenses, I’ve decided that being on a plateau is a great opportunity!  The good thing about being on a plateau is that 1) you know it, 2) it gives you the chance to re-evaluate things, and 3) it gives you the perfect opportunity to get off your butt and DO and make the changes that you need to make so you can happily go mountain-climbing again!

I think we can all agree that it’s about impetus, and getting things moving.  So I’m going to use the analogy of my weight here.  I have been on the LCHF eating plan pretty much most of the year.  Weight has been steadily dropping off, and myself and my group of friends have been seeing some awesome results.  Then came winter…we exercised less.  We felt like red velvet cake and the odd carb.  We started drinking creamier and creamier coffee till it tasted like pudding itself.  We drank a bit more wine.  And then tasted something here and there.  And guess what? Yip, plateau with a giant P!  We have been talking about this plateau for weeks now and luckily for us, help was on the way…one of the leading LCHF bloggers and experts on this eating plan in Sweden, Monique le Roux-Forslund, happens to be my besties’ sister.  She also happens to be in Cape Town for a couple of weeks so we decided to have lunch and ambush her with lots of plateau questions.  As we were eating an amazing lunch, we chatted and this is what I got out of our conversation: 1) you can make something difficult or you can make it easy, 2) if you want to see results you gotta change something, and 3) sometimes you have to think out of the box.   

So with all that in mind, I needed to evaluate myself against the 3 things we talked about…first thing, I decided I am going to make my weight loss easy.  I know that carbs are bad for me (especially because of my insulin resistance), so why the hell I eat what I know makes me feel awful AND put on weight I really just don’t know.  I need to just stop making it hard for myself (yes, it is really that simple).  Second thing, I need to change some things…in the context of eating LCHF, I realised that I was not eating enough high fat, and that sometimes the carb content of foods was too high.  Change things up.  I also need to up my exercise, because exercise creates endorphins which make you feel fantastic and motivated and then you eat well etc etc.  The third thing…sometimes you have to think out of the box….and boy was this out of the box.  The lovely Monique demonstrated how you think out of the box with a cup of bullet coffee.  Bullet coffee is a relatively new idea coming out of the states and it complements the LCHF way of life.  But before you start thinking that it’s a miracle enema, let me assure you it is not.  So yay for that!  It is, however, coffee mixed with about 3 tablespoons of butter and a tablespoon of coconut oil.  And breathe.  Yep, I’m not making this up.  So with our gagging reflexes at the ready, we headed to the kitchen to have a bullet coffee…and…. it was actually not bad AT ALL.  In fact, I rather liked it!  The benefits are that you are ingesting a high volume of the good type of fat and it keeps you full for ages and it has amazing health benefits and speeds up weight loss (so watch this space).  Now if that is not thinking out the box … then show me what is!! 

Getting back to this as an analogy of the plateau-like status in the various parts of our lives…jobs, relationships and daily life…firstly, we have to choose how to view something…our thoughts have immense power and can inspire us to action or they can lead us to failure.  The key word here is choice.  Only you have the power to make a positive choice in whatever aspect of your life. I love Dr Seuss and one of my favourite quotes is this “Think left and think right and think low and think high.  Oh! The thinks you can think up if only you try!”.  So make a decision that you are going to CHOOSE to view your life in a positive light for all the glorious chaos that it entails. 

Secondly, you may also need to change something to move you on from the plateau – sometimes you gotta realise that your job is going nowhere and they are never going to appreciate you for what you do and will never pay you what you are worth.  You need to change it.  Again, only you can do this.  But imagine what can happen if you do? Imagine taking the leap and getting to do something you love?  Only you can limit your own possibilities!

Lastly, but not least…sometimes you have to have a “bullet coffee” and think out of the box to do what you need to do to get your life moving in the direction that you want.  This could apply to your relationship too.  Long-term relationships are hard.  After that first glow wears off, you and your partner are in it together, come hail or sunshine, that’s it.  And sometimes, just sometimes, when life happens, and along with it kids, lack of sleep, money (or lack of it), your and your partners’ families in all their glory and all the other stuff that entails a relationship…you come to the realisation that you have not taken out enough time for you as a couple and you hit a plateau.  Maybe you need to think out of the box.  If that means spicing things up 50 shades of grey style, go for it, whip in hand!  Maybe it means going to see a counsellor and learning how to communicate effectively.  Maybe it means that you need to acknowledge that things are not good and then decide to move from there.  Be what it may, only you have the power to change things.

All in all, I can say this, life can be tough, and even more tough if you feel like you are stuck in some shape or form.  But remember this, please.  Life, for all its’ toughness is also beautiful, sometimes at its most beautiful right in the middle of your chaos or mundane day…but get this…you will only see it if you choose to notice and appreciate it.  Albert Einstein said “Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance, you must keep moving”.

So evaluate, change things up, have that bullet coffee and we’ll wave at each other from our respective plateaus for the very last time today!

Till next time,

Yours in love handles

xx