Plateau — the word no dietitian, nutrition pro, or trainer ever wants to hear. More than likely, we’ve all experienced plateaus with our clients, and chances are we will again. A plateau is a period in which progress towards a specific goal stops temporarily. But how do we, as professionals, equip our clients with the most effective route to continue forward progress following a plateau? Let’s explore why clients face plateaus and what you can do to help them jumpstart their progress to overcome them.

What Causes Plateaus

Clients could experience a plateau for many different reasons including repetition, fatigue, boredom, or loss of motivation. These causes can be applied to nearly all professions but are particularly common with health and fitness.

For example, a training client doing the same training program for 3 months with initial weight loss has now stopped losing weight. Or a nutrition client wanting to stay within their macros has been eating the same meal plan for a month is now unmotivated to try new things.

While these routines may have produced results in the beginning, they may not continue to contribute to our client’s goals. Our job as nutrition professionals is to recognize when these plateaus arise and identify the underlying cause so that we can coach our clients through them.

But identifying the underlying cause might not be as straightforward as you think; you may need to peel back all the possibilities for plateau. Even if a client has a weight loss goal, their plateau could have nothing to do with food and movement. Their plateau could be poor sleep or high stress. You must be on the lookout for other possible factors that are the true root cause of their plateau.

Plateaus Signal a Need for Change

When our clients hit snags in their motivation, weight loss plan, or gym routine, they can be strong indicators that something needs to change. We all need change to achieve long-term goals because our bodies are able to adapt to new patterns, routines, and diet plans. Once our bodies have fully adapted, the measures we once took to reach our goals won’t produce the same effects.

There is no magic number of days or weeks to tell you that a client will hit a plateau so it’s important to communicate with your clients to see if they are still feeling challenged. If they aren’t, that’s a great signal to work together to come up with a new plan of attack.

When discussing plateaued progress with your clients, make sure they know that plateaus are completely normal and are actually a sign that your client has worked hard and reached a new level of progress. It takes time, effort, and dedication to reach a plateau, so take time to celebrate that with your client. This can help clients avoid getting discouraged at this point.

Resetting from Plateaus with SMART Goals

Now that we’ve discussed plateaus and how they signal that it’s time for change, let’s dive into how we can reset with our clients after experiencing a plateau.

First, it’s crucial to revisit their ‘Big Why.’ This is their reason for doing your program to achieve their goals — their ultimate motivation for making changes in their life. Is their Big Why still their main goal? Or has it changed?

If it has changed or if their initial Big Why wasn’t the underlying motivation after all, work together to figure out what their motivation is. Then, restructure your program and coaching to help your client reach that Big Why.

If the Big Why has remained the same, ask your client to share more about it. What are some of the smaller goals that are part of the Big Why? What things initially got them excited about achieving their Big Why?

After revisiting the Big Why, create smaller, more manageable goals with your client. For many coaches, this includes SMART goal setting.

S - specific

M - measurable

A - attainable

R - realistic

T - time-based

If a client’s Big Why is to lose 15 pounds, their SMART goals could include ways to break through barriers as to why weight loss is difficult for them. Some of these could be getting more fiber and protein at meals, increasing physical activity, or reducing the amount of processed foods in their diet.

A SMART goal using this framework might be, “I will hit a minimum of 25g of fiber daily from fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains for the next 2 weeks using EatLove to track my progress.”

If your client was seeing good progress with a SMART goal, it might be time to add another SMART goal to their program to add the change that they need to progress further. This will allow you to continuously challenge your client without leading to quick burnout.

Coaching through a Plateau with EatLove

When clients experience a plateau, we don’t want to overwhelm our clients with changes. Doing too much at once will only create more burnout. To be an effective coach, make changes and set goals slowly so your clients have a chance to integrate them into their new lifestyle — this is how they will achieve their Big Why.

EatLove Pro is a perfect tool to help your clients work through a plateau. And the best part is that you can sign up 2 clients FREE for life. Check out some of our pro tips below!

For Clients:

  • Encourage clients to interact with their grocery list to learn meal planning strategies
  • Have clients focus on their most challenging meal first
  • Help clients create recipe collections of their favorite recipes or recipes they want to try

For Practitioners:

  • Send weekly check-ins through our HIPAA-compliant messenger to keep your clients accountable
  • Coordinate your client’s nutrition prescription review with your your check-in calls
  • Update your client’s SMART goals in their Care Plan so they can reference their goal at any time

Once you and your client have identified one or more factors that need to be addressed, you can restructure your program to match and, best of all, lean on EatLove Pro to help them reach new heights.

Remember, plateaus themselves are a great achievement, so don’t forget to celebrate with your clients as you go. And clients may experience multiple plateaus throughout their health journey — it’s just part of the process. With the right tools, communication, and consistent effort to push forward, you can coach your clients through any plateaus they face.