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Hey team, welcome back. Welcome to week 11. We are in the final stretch, and I want you to sit with that for a second because look at what you've done. Look at where you are and how far you've come. You've shown up each and every week, week after week, through those busy days and the tired nights, and perhaps the moments where it would have been easier to skip that workout or to get takeaway. And regardless of that, you've kept going and that's really worth celebrating. So congratulations on getting this far. And this week we're talking about two things that often trip people up almost more than anything else in their health journey. And the first one is plateaus and why progress tends to slow sometimes, what's actually happening in your body when it does, and what we can do about it. And the second is the pleasure trap, where we're taking a bit of a deep dive into why processed foods are genuinely so hard to resist and what that has to do with your brain rather than your willpower. So let's start by talking a bit about plateaus, and you'll find all this information in your health track lesson. So make sure you take a good look there because you'll see the term metabolic adaptation and how it relates to plateaus. So that's what we're going to have a look at now and how we can keep moving forward even when we feel like progress might have stalled. And perhaps this might resonate with you. You might be in a position right now where the scale might not have moved for three weeks, even though you are tracking meticulously, you're training consistently, and perhaps you're starting to wonder what's wrong with me. And if that's you right now, I want to say really clearly that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you, but perhaps your body is adapting. And adaptation is actually a sign of an intelligent and responsive system, your body doing exactly what it's designed to do, which is to protect you. But I know that it's not always how it feels. And when the scale stalls, most of us reach for some kind of explanation, some kind of answer. And that's where we often fall upon the idea, or we might have heard people talk about starvation mode, and that's the idea that if you eat too little for too long, your body panics and it clings onto every scrap of fat, and it simply refuses to let go of weight no matter what you do. But here's the truth because mostly starvation mode is a myth. What actually happens is something different, and once you understand it, it changes how you respond when that progress slows. So I want to break it down with you a little bit now. When you consistently consume fewer calories than you burn, your body loses weight. But over time, as your body becomes lighter, it becomes more efficient. It adapts to the lower calorie intake by reducing the number of calories it burns at rest. And this is called metabolic adaptation or adaptive thermogenesis. And it is real. What also happens is that because you're a lighter body with less muscle, you actually require less fuel. So not only is your body more efficient at conserving energy, you actually require less energy because you're burning less energy when you exercise, because you have less body to move, and also because you're burning less energy at rest, because you have less body mass, less body size and muscle. And there is a famous piece of research that shows this really quite clearly, uh, and it's in quite an extreme form, but back in 1944, there was a group of about 36 young healthy men who took part in an experiment that's known as the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. So these men decided that as an alternative to serving in the war, they would volunteer to have their calories drastically reduced for six months. And they allowed researchers to study them and to see what happens as their bodies were exposed to prolonged calorie restriction. And here's the thing that happened: their bodies did not stop losing weight. Even after they were exposed to a very long calorie deficit, they kept losing fat right through to the end of the study. But their bodies did adapt along the way, and that was demonstrated by a reduction in their resting metabolic rate. So it was demonstrated that the number of calories that their body burned just resting and existing, doing nothing, dropped by 40%. So their bodies did become more efficient at running on very little calories, but they did continue to lose weight because they continued to remain in a calorie deficit. So the question is around why their metabolic rate did reduce, and that's simply because a smaller body needs less energy to function, because like I mentioned before, you have less muscle mass, less lean tissue, that means you're not burning as many calories around the clock. And the body senses that it's not getting much fuel, so it becomes really economical with how it's using that fuel budget. So what does this tell us? Well, it tells us two things really clearly. First, the body does not go into some sort of mythical starvation mode that simply stops fat loss. People will keep losing weight if they remain in a genuine calorie deficit. But second, and just as important, that deficit does not stay the same, doesn't stay the same amount or size over time. Your calorie deficit will adjust as your body adjusts to having less fuel over time. And there is modern research that shows us the same thing, that after a significant weight loss, your resting metabolic rate can decrease by around 50 to 100 calories per day. And that might not sound like much in the grand scheme of things, but it does mean that the calorie deficit that was perhaps working for you six weeks ago is now smaller than it was, and that we need to adapt because we need to adapt our calorie deficit, potentially increasing that that uh dropping your daily calorie intake to allow for that adaptation. It just means that the rules have slightly changed, and if you keep eating and keep training in exactly the same way that you did when you first started the program, then your progress is going to slow. So I always like to say that what you do to lose the last five kilos is definitely very different to what you need to do to lose the first five kilos, particularly if you have a significant amount of weight to lose. And that's because of this adaptation, metabolic adaptation happening over time. So make sure to have a read of the content in the app this week, and there's a visual there that demonstrates how that metabolic adaptation takes place as well. So, what can we do if and when this happens? The first thing to do is to check our food tracking accuracy. So before concluding that you've hit a plateau, it's worth really being honest with yourself about whether or not your food tracking may have become a little bit looser over time. Perhaps your portion sizes have crept up gradually, and I know this is something that I can find myself slipping in as well, particularly when I am trying to be in a calorie deficit, trying to lose a few kilos, perhaps. I will notice that naturally I want to go for a slightly extra bigger scoop of um oats or a bigger scoop of yogurt, and that's my body just trying to sneak in those extra calories. So perhaps the thing to start with is just to pull back on, you know, get the scales back out, make sure you're measuring and tracking your food accurately and getting those portion sizes right. And just know that it's it's not a criticism. This is something that we all tend to do over time, just as our habits become more automatic and the precision with you know our attention to how much we're eating is just starting to relax a little bit. And secondly, we want to look at your training because perhaps your body has adapted to the training stimulus, that the same sessions that you're doing over and over again are just producing less adaptation. And that's genuinely because you've become fitter and you need to challenge yourself more or overload your muscles more. You need to increase the weight, increase the reps, increase the intensity of which you're training, just to make sure that you're still getting the same stimulus from your training. So if you've been doing the same thing for weeks and weeks, just know that your body could have adapted and it is time to you know speak to your coach about perhaps you need to level up how much effort you're putting into your sessions, and so we can measure that and make sure you're getting the right stimulus from your workouts. The third thing to consider is whether or not it might be time for a diet break. And this is one of those evidence-backed and you know tools that we can use to help with fat fat loss, but it's really rarely ever talked about. Uh, and it's taking one or two weeks at maintenance calories. It's not a free-for-all, but it's a deliberate and controlled increase to your calorie intake that has been shown to restore partially your metabolic rate, and it helps recover those leptin levels, uh, which is those hunger and fullness hormones that we're talking to talked about in previous weeks, which make subsequent fat loss a little bit more effective. So this is something that we use as a strategic break from being in a calorie deficit, and it's something we use for people that have done multiple blocks back to back, and perhaps they just need a little chance to let their bodies recover from that constant uh calorie deficit, bring up the hormones again, bring up the metabolic rate, and then your subsequent attempts at fat loss are more effective. And it's yeah, it's not giving up, it really is just factoring in and structuring in a little rest period. The fourth thing I want to talk about is what's called reverse dieting, and we tend to use this tool for someone who's been dieting for a long time and perhaps they've reached their goal and now we're trying to stretch their metabolism and recover their metabolism a little bit, or it's someone who comes into the program and has had their metabolism downregulated or adapted, like we've spoken about, due to many attempts of weight loss in the past. Perhaps there've been extreme dieters in the past, they've restricted their calories very heavily, they've done lots of yogio dieting, and as a result of many years of that under um nourishing undernourishment, their body has downregulated. And so we spend a period of time doing what's called a reverse diet. And this is where we're gradually increasing your calories back up, uh, and that can take months or weeks to get your metabolism to a stronger baseline again. And it is the longer game, and it might mean setting aside fat loss for a period of time, but it is really essential and helpful for those that need to build a more robust metabolism. Metabolism that's going to support your goals for the long term and allow you to have a more sustainable fat loss journey. So if this is something that feels like it might be what's happening for you, then obviously speak to your coach and make sure that you know we are actually reading those signals right and that it's not something else that we need to address first. And the fifth thing to check is your sleep and your stress levels. And we've covered this in weeks seven and nine in more detail, but just to say again that that elevated cortisol can impair fat loss. Even if your nutrition and training is on point, perhaps if life has been particularly hard lately, you your body may simply need more recovery time before it's willing to release more body fat. So rest and good sleep is super important to sustainable fat loss and to avoiding plateaus as well. Now, the most important thing I want you to take away from this section is that a plateau is not a sign that your body is broken or that it doesn't work. It's a sign that your body has adapted and that the approach needs a small adjustment or refinement. And that's a very different thing. So be kind to yourself, chat to your coach, there's always a way to work around it. One thing uh worth naming as well, because I know it is relevant for some of us here, uh, is GLP1 medications like a Zempic. They can be part of a weight loss journey, and if that is you, know that you're not alone and there's absolutely no judgment here. Uh, I think they can be a really valuable tool in the weight loss journey. But what matters most if you are on one of these medications is protecting your muscle. And usually your doctor will speak to you about this, but rapid weight loss on GLP1 medications can include a significant amount of muscle loss. So, therefore, strength training and adequate protein has to be prioritized alongside the medication. Because, like we have already mentioned several times in this in this episode, that losing muscle directly reduces your metabolic rate, which then works against you in exactly the way that we've been discussing. So, if this applies to you, keep training, keep prioritizing strength training and prioritizing protein at every meal. So make sure to have another look over your health track lesson for the full guide as well as the visual reference to help you with your understanding. Now, on to our mindset lesson for this week. And this is one of my favorites because when you understand this, it removes so much of the guilt and shame around processed foods and the pull that they can have on us. So I want you to think back to that time when you found found it really hard to resist that packet of cookies or that block of chocolate or maybe it's a bag of chips. It you found yourself just you know only going for a small amount, but then working your way through the entire packet. That experience is not about your willpower, it's actually about your neuroscience. And understanding that will change the way that you manage this moving forward. And the thing I want to talk about here is the design of our human body, and that is that we're designed to be really good at detecting calorie-rich, energy-dense foods. This ability of our bodies to be able to reach and recognize and and taste and and sense those foods that are high in energy, high in calories, goes back to our evolutionary history when finding the most energy-dense high-calorie food meant survival. So back then that was an instinct that we needed to keep us alive. The problem is that the modern food industry has weaponized this instinct. So processed foods are manufactured using enormous resources to identify the precise combination of sugar, fat, and salt that triggers that response, that triggers the dopamine reward system in our brain. Researchers call this the bliss point. It's the formulation that makes food irresistible and drives overconsumption. And it's not accidental, this is actually deliberate. These processed foods or supernormal stimuli, as Dr. Doug Lyle calls them in his book, The Pleasure Trap, light up the pleasure centres of our brain in ways that natural food simply can't match. There is a excellent video in this week's lesson, so make sure to watch it. It's just a short three-minute video where he explains that in a really great visual sense. And it it goes to show that a bowl of roasted vegetables just simply doesn't hit the the brain's dopamine system in the same way that a packet of chips does. And that's not a character failing on our part. That is actually just our biology. So when you eat these foods, your brain experiences those dopamine spikes that reinforce the behavior and make you want to eat more of it. So your body's off switch that's triggered when we eat protein and fiber is simply not activated. So it you keep eating the same foods because you're not getting the signal from your body to stop. And here's the good news that this is not permanent, but as you are consistently exposing your body to more whole foods, your brain does recalibrate the baseline shifts. So foods that once felt bland and tasted boring start to taste better. And the processed foods that once felt irresistible begin to lose their grip. And researchers call this a shift in food preference, and that's driven by those changes that happen in the gut microbiome. Remember what we talked about in week seven, where what you eat eventually becomes what you crave. And hopefully you're noticing this in yourself after 11 weeks of consistently bringing more whole food choices into your diet, that you begin to notice that shift in your baseline. So, how do we break free from the pleasure trap? Well, it's definitely not about white-knuckling it or willpower. I hope that's well and truly struck home for you now. It really is about understanding the system you're up against and designing your environment so that the easy choice is often the more nourishing one. So that's purging the pantry like we talked about in week five. It's the meal planning, the batch cooking. All of it is about reducing the number of moments where the pleasure trap can catch you off guard and increasing the moments where it's easy to make the right choice, the best choice, because it's available in our environment. And if and when the urge does arise, just remember you can always pause. You don't have to react to every urge that comes up within you. Give it ten minutes. Maybe listen to some music, do something nice for yourself, go for a quick walk, um, read a bit of a book or phone a friend. Just make a minute to create some space between the urge and the action. And that way you're going to make a conscious choice rather than an automatic one. Often that pause will be enough to make you choose differently. And otherwise it might allow you to choose the processed food, but you eat it consciously with love and therefore less likely to overeat. And the more you practice that pause and practice becoming more conscious over your urges, the easier it becomes, and that's how the habit changes. As always, the mindset track lesson in the app this week goes into much deeper details, so it's definitely worth reading in full. And for your action track this week, we have just two things. First, this week I want you to be honest about your hunger before every meal and every snack, take 30 seconds to use the hunger scale and genuinely ask yourself if you're physically hungry or if you're just eating out of habit or emotion or boredom or stress. And just know that you don't have to change anything just yet. Just notice it because awareness is the first step. And secondly, if you have hit a plateau or feel like progress has stalled, make sure to bring it to your coach and come prepared to have a chat about what you've been eating and how you've been training. But before you do your check-in, do spend the week making sure that you are tracking your food more accurately. Notice if perhaps your serving sizes have crept up or if tracking has just gotten a little looser without you realizing. And because this is honestly one of the biggest things that makes the biggest difference to our members when progress does stall. So make sure not to skip that part because we would hate to be dropping calories more than we need to. So the more information you bring to your check-in, the more targeted support we can give you. And just know that plateaus are solvable. They just need a fresh set of eyes and sometimes a small adjustment. So for this week, notice your hunger, bring your plateau information to your coach, and that's it for your week. 11 weeks in team, well done. Remember, you're not the same person who started this program. Your thinking has shifted, your habits are forming, your relationship with food and your body is changing. It's changing quietly, consistently, and one week at a time. Two weeks to go, guys. Let's keep building, and I'll see you in the next lesson. Take care.