Fruity Quinoa Salad and Weightlossophy tip #7: How to Get off a Plateau

This salad is super-simple, quick to make, healthy and sweetish - a nice way to start your weekend. And the tip on what to do when your weight loss plateaus.

This week I was publishing tips from my Weightlossophy thanks to which I lost 55 pounds over 7 months. Like anyone else, during that time I hit many plateaus, when no matter how good I was, the weight would not go down. Here are some things you might want to try to get your scale cooperate again.

How to get off a plateau

  A plateau is probably the most frustrating aspect of every diet. When your scale shows a steady progress, it is relatively easy to keep yourself motivated. But when you are doing everything right, and the weight just would not budge, you start thinking that things are not working and are much more likely to give up. How many diets were broken by these plateaus!

  I think that indeed when you hit a plateau, your body is asking for a change. But the change does not mean giving up the diet altogether. Make small adjustments: change the types of food you eat, the workout style, your daily routine, the time of your meals, your calories intake. In fact, the changes don’t necessarily mean eating less and working out more. Taking a short break from your workout and eating slightly more can also work wonders, as long as you are doing it controllably and for a certain period of time. 

  I was very often saved from my plateaus by trips. I just cannot go to a new place without trying the local cuisine - for me food is at least 50% of my cultural experience :-). I decided that my diet does not apply when I travel, so I ate beignets in New Orleans, coconuts in Hawaii and steaks in Omaha. I tried to eat controllably, but it did not always work. I would come back home after 4-5 days and discover that I gained 1-2 pounds. But they would be gone after a day or two of my standard diet. And by the end of the week I would lose even more and move off that plateau! 

  If you’re looking for a “scientific proof,” check out the graph in “How I lost 55 pounds” post. The grey areas stand for trips, where I did not track my calorie intake and burn. In many place the orange weight line flattens out before the trip and then drops much faster after. 

And now for the healthy recipe of the day.

Fruity Quinoa Salad

Source 

Improvised

Taste 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 1/4 cup quinoa (155 cal)

- 1/2 cup water

- juice of 1/4 orange (20 cal)

- 1/4 mango (30 cal)

- 4 strawberries (25 cal)

- 5 grapes (20 cal)

Total 250 cal, 1 serving

Instructions

1. Cook the quinoa with water and orange juice for about 20 minutes over medium heat until all the liquids are absorbed.

2. Chop half of the fruit and puree the rest for the dressing. 

3. Mix the cooked quinoa with the chopped fruit and pour the dressing over the salad. Serve warm or cold.

Afterthoughts

This is a detox recipe, so I tried to make the recipe as simple as possible, without adding any spices, sweeteners, etc. It might have been a little bland, but the dressing made a huge difference and it turned out a really nice dish. Not just for the detox.