Why Do I Stop Losing Weight, Even When I’m Doing Everything Right?

Weird Health Questions: Why Do I Stop Losing Weight, Even When I’m Doing Everything Right?

You gotta mix in some variety.
Doug always talks about “rotating” your antifungal supplements. This is where you take, say, oregano oil. After a couple of weeks, you switch to caprylic acid. After a few more weeks, you switch to olive leaf. The specifics aren’t important, but the variety and the change is.

Doug is the only person in the health world I’ve ever come across who talks about changing up your antifungal routine. But in the exercise world, this is standard practice. This idea is that your body can become used to a routine and adapts to it. When this happens, you “plateau”, which means that the progress you used to make just stalls out. By continuing to do the same thing over and over, it’s easy for the body to get into a rut.

If you’ve ever seen the infomercial for P90X, which is a series of exercise DVDs, you know that this is what they emphasize. Always switching up the routine. Our friend, Terri McCann, will tell you that the combination of Kaufmann 1 Diet plus an always-changing exercise routine can have incredible results.

Generally speaking, if you’re eating perfectly, exercising routinely, and supplementing right, you’re going to make progress. But if you’ve come to a place where you’ve stalled out, maybe you should change up the routine. If you only run, mix in some weights, for example. If you’ve only lifted weights, mix in some progressive sprints. If you’ve never tried MCT oil, maybe now’s the time. Maybe explore intermittent fasting. Any thoughtful change can be enough to shake you loose from a routine that is losing impact.

One other thing – very often, the closer you get to your goal weight, the less rapidly you lose it. If you’ve lost 75 pounds, your body doesn’t have to work as hard to simply carry you around. Sounds strange, but carrying around heavier loads makes the body work harder, and burns more calories. This is why I wear a weighted vest when I walk. The more weight my body has to carry around, the more calories it burns.

You’ll find that this is an art. Fighters who are trying to “make weight” for a contest always have the hardest time losing the final few pounds. The first 20 pounds is relatively easy. The last five are often the hardest. This is why they have nutritionists and trainers who not only understand this, but also understand the individual fighters, themselves.

Each person is different. For me, higher fat intake works beautifully. For others, more moderate fat in the diet works better. When you experiment and pay close attention to what’s happening, you’ll be able to dial up what works for you. When you talk to our friend, Todd Scarborough, who has won Mr. Arkansas multiple times, he’ll tell you precisely what he has to do to look flawless on a specific day. He calls it “circling the airport” when it’s leading up to contest day, and the last few days before the contest is “coming in for a landing”. This takes a lot of trial and error, but it’s worth it.

The point is, don’t be afraid to mix the routine up while sticking to Kaufmann 1 principles.