Have you been working out steadily, seeing results all the while? If so, great. Did you then hit a bit of a plateau, only to watch your results sort of reach a stand-still? Not so great. After that, did you remain on that plateau for quite some time, only to then start to actually have your results reverse a bit? Not great at all.

With regard to plateaus, they are an inevitable part of working out. They happen to me, they happen to you, they happen to just about everyone at some point or another who works out. Fortunately, plateaus are pretty easy to break through if you are willing to change your workout a bit. Because I've posted before on a few ways to do that, I'd rather now focus on the last stage that I mentioned above -- when your results start to reverse.

This can due to a couple of reasons. For one, the plateau you're stuck on really has you spinning your wheels. You're exercising all the time, but not happy with the way you look and feel anymore. Before long, you're just going through the motions and not pushing yourself as hard as you once were. This lack of motivated effort slows you down after a while, and before long, you've taken a few steps back. A second way this can happen is when you start to let your diet fall to the wayside a bit. This doesn't mean that you completely deviate from a healthy eating plan, but you instead do more "picking" than you used to. The Hershey's Kisses on the receptionists' desk, the handful of Skittles from the guy in accounting, the extra cocktail after work -- it adds up after a while.

If you feel a bit of exercise and diet burnout -- due to a plateau or otherwise -- a good move is to take a short break. A week off will not hurt you. In fact, it may be what saves you from abandoning your healthy program altogether. Before long, you'll be back on track and seeing those new results again.