The good, the bad, and the plateau

I started counting calories on New Year's eve. I started exercising. The goal was not to lose weight, but to become healthier. And it worked for a while. I lost 30 lbs and two sizes, and felt the old confidence coming back.

What a time to get stuck. My weight has been stuck at 170 for the last two months. I have continued exercising through it all (yay!), but am returning to my pattern of over-eating when stressed (even though its mostly healthy stuff.) I know I need to dig in my heels and get past this plateau, but HOW?

Please share tips and advice on how to get past the plateau and stay motivated through it all. I'm mixing exercise routines and just started swimming, but yesterday I went on a weight loss fad diet website for the FIRST time. That's scary.

Tuesday weigh-in:

226.6 (0.0)

When I first jumped on the scale, it read 224.6.  But 3 more times all read 226.6 so we'll go with that.  Bummer.

Argh..don't you hate it when that happens, Sammalone? It happens all too often..

Tuesday weigh in:

162.4 (+1.4)

Damn. And its probably real weight I've gained. This has been the problem all along- the moment I stop the obsessive calorie counting and eating out of a plan, the pounds start coming back. Slowly but surely. I've fallen off the wagon rather spectacularly- the mornings start off well, healthy cereal and so on, followed by stressful day at work followed by dinner (healthy) followed by a free-for-all eat-what-you-can. I'm probably scarfing down 500 calories worth of mini-chocolate desserts in each of these binges. Need.to.stop.

Hey guys,

I'm not sure what happened but I've been weighing in at 199.6!!!!!! Even fully dressed I weigh in at 204!!!  This is pretty cool. I've finally hit the 35lb lost mark and can't wait to hit the 50lb mark. I'm 15lbs away from my sophomore year in high school...almost a decade ago...it's scary I can say that.

Original Post by nehajain:

Argh..don't you hate it when that happens, Sammalone? It happens all too often..

Tuesday weigh in:

162.4 (+1.4)

Damn. And its probably real weight I've gained. This has been the problem all along- the moment I stop the obsessive calorie counting and eating out of a plan, the pounds start coming back. Slowly but surely. I've fallen off the wagon rather spectacularly- the mornings start off well, healthy cereal and so on, followed by stressful day at work followed by dinner (healthy) followed by a free-for-all eat-what-you-can. I'm probably scarfing down 500 calories worth of mini-chocolate desserts in each of these binges. Need.to.stop.

 

Wow, is that ever a familiar pattern for me.  I'm sitting here desperately trying to not eat more tonight.  I've followed 'the plan' for today, been shoveling lots of snow today for exercise and now am STARVING.  I jumped out here to distract myself.  I've also been on a plateau and it's been a challenge.  It has taken 1.5 years to loose 25 lbs but I have to say it's taught me a whole lot about the expectations I have of myself and how to be patient.  I guess I'll just keep at it and see what happens.

Check out this CC blog, it's got some good stuff http://caloriecount.about.com/blog/partners/6 -step-plan-preventing-diet-relapses-b333357

Lilith3519,

Congratulations!! That's awesome. The 15 lbs will melt away as well..I bet it feels great. :) Keep it going!

Hi annschmech,

I saw the CC blog post and was all, 'How did they know?!' lol..relapses are par for the course, aren't they? I'm back down to 161.2 today, and got rid of all the halloween candy. THAT felt better. :)

I hope your distraction technique worked. :)

Original Post by nehajain:

Hi annschmech,

I saw the CC blog post and was all, 'How did they know?!' lol..relapses are par for the course, aren't they? I'm back down to 161.2 today, and got rid of all the halloween candy. THAT felt better. :)

I hope your distraction technique worked. :)

 

 

Hi Nehajain, congrats!  I really liked that blog, it was spot-on.

Yep, the distraction worked pretty good...  I'm glad I have a "place" to run to when I'm ready to eat everything that's not nailed down!  I don't have any kids that come out here so I don't have to have candy.  I'm glad of that, it's just to hard to ignore.  Last year I thought some kids might drop by, but no, so I dumped it all at a neighbors but then we had some wine and snacks which pretty much blew my calorie count.  Hope to do a bit better this year.  

We have a Monday weigh in group (you're welcome to join us) so trying really, really hard to be good.  http://caloriecount.about.com/monday-weigh-gr oup-ft137003-12

Hope you have a good weekend!

lilith3519,

You are now my hero! :)  A new century!

This Tuesday is going to be ugly for me.  No counting, no exercise, family events with lots of inappropriate eating..

..holding my breath.

annschmech,

Welcome, and thanks for link.  I read them all, much appreciated.

Tuesday weigh-in:

226.6 (0.0)

Hooray!  Okay, maybe nothing to cheer about, but I was expecting the worst.  I'm back on track this week so far, working out again and counting calories, so I'm hoping next week shows some results.

YAY you're right! That didn't even cross my mind! Well this past week has been pretty bad for me but I'm still excited to say that my tuesday weigh in is 199.6. I know it's only .4lbs but still. Can't wait til 195!

Tuesday weigh in:

163 lb. (+0.6)

:( I'm trying not to beat myself up about this, coz it only leads to more binging. On the positive side, I started exercising again. Consistently.

Goals for this week: Log everything I eat. (Corollary- do not eat food with unknown nutritional value.) Exercise daily.

Congrats lilith3519 for the new goal, and sammalone for getting back on track! You're my inspiration- hopefully I can get back on track like you did. :)

lilith3519,

Losing 0.4lbs on a bad week is great!

nehajain,

Don't you dare beat yourself up.  Since I started up with P90X full throttle again, my weight jumped up 3lbs in a day!  Normally, I'd be hitting the junk food about now (our office is filled to the brim with Halloween leftovers in addition to the usual homemade brownies, bagels, donuts, etc.); but I'm sticking to the plan.

So I'm over, so my trend line is starting to bend up... I've come this far, I'm not bailing out now over a little set-back.  Tomorrow I'm going to hit my goals.  Then the next day.

Hi guys..

Tuesday weigh in: 162 lbs.

Not really doing much of anything- the holiday season is turning out worst than I thought! Any ideas for motivating ourselves to stay on target?

Desultorily yours..

Hey guys- I did it to myself, I was really really bad this week. I'm weighing in at 200.2. I almost have to laugh at it. I will do better. I will.

Tuesday weigh-in:

224.8 (-1.8)

Well, after 3 weeks of nothing -- I finally lost some weight.  I was on point all last week, working out and counting everything.  Now, can I keep it off?

nehajain,

As far as motivation goes, every time I get really frustrated and down lately; I think about my upcoming role as father.  When I started here, at 285, I was well on my way to diabetes and high blood pressure and who knows what.

I'm already "old" to be having my first at 43; I want to be around for a long time.  And why not be an example of eating healthy while I'm at it.  (Not sure how helpful the example is; my parents were fit (except for smoking) and I was a fat kid most of my youth.)

I'm still doing this for me.. eating better has given me more energy, self-confidence, etc.; but I definitely feel like every step forward is going to pay off later in life with more time watching my son grow.

Well a day late and a dollar short but Tuesday I weighed in at 197.2 - but this morning I was 196 even. I'm always shocked at when my body chooses to lose weight.

Sammalone - congrats on becoming a dad!!!

Nehajain - My only motivating thought tends to be next summer when I go to the beach again lol. Not having to walk to the edge of the water and throwing my towel back while I walk in....not making up excuses when I go to visit my parents for why we shouldn't go swimming on this scalding day :)

"Tuesday" weigh-in:

226.8 (+2.0)

Ouch.  I'm officially back on a plateau, I'd say.  Over a month with no weight lost.  I'm just trying to get through this week and I may take a break from my workouts.  It's a "rest" week next week -- which actually means it's all cardio and no weight-lifting.  I'm thinking of switching to 30 Day Shred for a week and eating at maintenance.

Feel in a rut, and the scale never moving (actually going up) is bothering me.  Maybe a slightly less difficult week and staying off the scale can re-energize me. (Work is bad right now, also.  Life is kinda kicking my butt.)

lilith3519,

Congrats on the loss! You are doing so well..I know exactly what you mean by being shocked at your body 'behaving'. :)

Thank you for the motivation- I forget it at times, but losing weight has actually made talking about weight okay for me. Instead of quietly smiling and not saying a word when people talk about weight loss, I can actually chip in, be honest about my struggle and not feel embarrassed. It has been quite a leap. Thank you for reminding me of that.

Sammalone,

You are so not alone. The holiday season, the scale not moving, work being bad..this is not quite the best time for weight loss, is it?

I did wonder, though, if part of your gain might be due to gaining muscle. Can you tell a difference in your measurements?

Thank you for the motivation- I was off CC for a couple of weeks, and now I'm back! Can't think of a better reason than fatherhood for committing to stay healthy. I just turned 30 this past week, and that made me sit down and recount my reasons for doing this.  My parents are both obese (and my mother is diabetic.) I like being physically active, and used to be so embarrassed when I'd get out of breath going up the stairs in the hospital with my much older colleagues. Now I don't get out of breath anymore. I had made the shift to the plus size section at clothing stores, now I'm back into regular sizes.

I used to almost touch 200lbs, and this morning I weighed 162.4. I can't let go at this stage- I have to move towards 150. Back to my 1300 calorie diet plan, eating at home and exercising.

How about a mini-challenge? We all do what we're doing and try to achieve a set goal (individualized by us) by New Years? It doesn't have to be weight loss- exercising, calorie-counting, not eating junk, whatever our biggest challenge is. Mine is going below 160.