Plateaus... ugh.

Lately, I’ve been sitting in a place that feels familiar to a lot of us, right in the middle of a plateau.

We’re just coming off the holidays, and if I’m being honest, my eating wasn’t as on point as I would’ve liked. Nothing wild… just a few extra Oreos here, a peanut butter cookie there, a little more Nutella than I really needed. And yet, for some dumb reason, I expected the scale to reward me anyway. After all, I ran longer. I pushed harder. I exercised more.

But the truth showed up anyway.

All that extra movement didn’t magically cancel out those choices, it simply balanced them. And so for the past few weeks, the scale hasn’t moved. Same number. Same place. And that can mess with your head if you let it.

When I really stop and look at it, though, it makes sense. I fell into that sneaky “I deserve it” mindset. I ran harder, so I earned dessert. I worked more, so I could relax my choices. And while that thinking feels good in the moment, it comes with consequences, even when they’re subtle. A stall. A pause. A reminder.

It’s hard not to feel discouraged when effort doesn’t show up the way you expect it to. But I’m learning something important here: showing up matters more than being perfect. Weight loss and health were never meant to be a straight, clean line. They twist. They stall. They get a little squiggly. And that doesn’t mean failure, it means you’re human.

Right now, my line is a little squiggly. But I’m still here. I’m still showing up.

Plateaus are often an invitation, not a punishment. An invitation to revisit why we started in the first place. To make small adjustments instead of dramatic overhauls. To track what we’re doing, not to shame ourselves, but to see the truth clearly. Sometimes the win isn’t a smaller number on the scale; it’s awareness. Consistency. Honesty.

I’m learning to break this journey into smaller wins. Drinking the water. Getting the run in. Making the better choice more often than not. Writing it down. Seeing it. Celebrating it. Those small victories matter more than we give them credit for. Each one builds confidence. Each one creates momentum. Each one reminds me that progress doesn’t disappear just because it slows down.

And maybe most importantly, I’m reminding myself that food isn’t a reward for suffering. Movement isn’t a bargaining chip. Health is built in the quiet, unglamorous moments where you choose to keep going, even when it feels like nothing is happening.

A plateau doesn’t erase the effort. It doesn’t cancel the progress. It’s just part of the process. I keep showing up. I keep adjusting. I keep believing that consistency, imperfect, messy, consistency, will always win in the long run.

My path hasn’t stopped. It just wiggled a little. I’m still walking it.