Pages

On a Journey to Wellness

Come with me on my journey to losing weight, getting healthy and going out to meet the world head-on!

Friday, January 22, 2010

I'm at a Plateau

I did something I shouldn't this week. I weighed myself about 4 times this week instead of the once or twice. The changes in weight were drastic (in my opinion) and although I know that weight fluctuates and that it's not smart to weight yourself after you drank a bottle of water and etc, I admit that it was a stupid thing to do because now I feel like shit.

I'm not losing weight.

I didn't want to admit this. I kept telling myself that I really am losing weight. That I'm gaining muscle that's why. That I drank a lot of water beforehand. That I'm using the wrong scale. I should take off my shoes( and belt, and shirt and.. lol). But the fact is; I'm not losing weight.

It's been almost a month now and nothing. Oh there have been improvements. I have more energy. I'm enjoying my classes (I was able to take Zumba again this week and there was a different instructor this time which I preferred. I was able to go swimming and last longer when jogging.)

I was also able to take a Weight Management class at Kaiser. A different class. This one was very similar to the last one I took (since it was hosted by the same nurse as the Preventing Diabetes class) but there were more people this time and this one was more focused to my situation. I even won a stress ball shaped like a lime for answering a question correctly. LOL.

I have been trying out food journaling and making changes in my food (the whole, change to whole breads and pastas instead of white, non-fat milk instead of whole, no trans-fat in you margarine) and I plan to continue that and actually work on calorie counting.
But I'm not doing something right. Maybe I need to be stricter in my dietary habits. Maybe I need to re-work my work out schedule. Maybe I need to get more (or less) sleep. etc etc.

It's not like I was expecting a drastic change. Or a quick fix. .... but I was hoping for a bit more sign of results by now.

Maybe I need to actually find my measuring tape and start paying more attention to that than a scale. There are plenty of things I could be doing to help myself out of this slump I'm in.

let's go from this:


to this shall we?:



And to tell you the truth I think Margee's right and it's about time I really told my family. I have already told them I'm interested in eating healthier. I couldn't hide the Kaiser classes from them and it would explain why I'm eating more fish (I'm not a big fan of fish but I'm getting in to it. lol) It would save me a lot of grief and I could stop worrying about them noticing something and then worry about them asking me about it. Though there's plenty of things going on in this household to make it easy for me to slide on by.

It might also be the weather but I've found myself being lazy in going to the gym. I still haven't missed a day but I haven't woken up early for classes. Instead I've waited until after work and then I only do 30-45 minutes instead of an hour. This is not good. Not good.

This isn't a sign of me giving up. This isn't a post simply for me to whine (though I admit that's what I'm doing right now. But don't people need to let it out sometimes? lol) I just need to log this down and then keep going. Admit this is not going to be easy and keep climbing. I'm using different things to edge me on and inspire me. Besides your lovely comments and suggestions, my classes and my trusty cheap-o mp3 player, I'm also reading other blogs like this lovely and inspiring one or this one.

I have to keep my head together. I will win this!

love
-w0rld

3 comments:

justjacqueline said...

Elina! You can do it! I think the fact that you feel more energetic is a HUGE improvement! As far as weight loss goes, you really just have to eat less calories..............It's soo soo hard. I'm trying to cut out all snack foods...like the chocolate croissant and the animal cookies I had yesterday. Obviously, I'm not doing so well... :( Good Luck. And I really like reading your blog. Even when you're in a slump, you're so awesomely upbeat about it!!

Unknown said...

I agree with the comment above mine, YOU CAN DO IT!! Try not to stress about it excessively either though, I know it's hard not to, I've been there, but truth is that the stress is what could be causing you to retain weight. Stress releases cortisol which in turn causes you to retain weight, especially around your waist. Definitely continue with the changes you've made --> white to brown (wheat & whole grains all the way), and non-fat products, especially foods with no trans fat (i love butter so this was a hard one, but then i found "I can't believe it's not butter!" with no hydroginated oils!! (That's one of the things that causes trans fat) So now I don't really feel that guilty about having some butter on my toast :) Also, I'm not sure what your diet consists of right now, in terms of meals per day, but toss out the old having 3 big meals per day thing, it's totally bogus and it actually slows down your metabolism! We should be eating all the time, about every 2-3 hours max (in smaller portions of course); a small salad here, an apple/orange/banana there, some delicious soup, etc. That's the key to get your metabolism reving and burning those calories. Remember that food is supposed to give you energy, not leave you tired (that's a sign of over-eating), so the fact that you feel energetic is GREAT!! When working out we also don't start using fat as an energy source until about 30 mins into our work out (assuming it's aerobic), up until that point it's all glycogen (broken down sugars) we're using. So bottom line, eat more often in smaller portions, exercise at least 45 minutes aerobically, lift weights about 2 days a week, and drink tons of water!! Replacing most of your beverages with water works great! I try to have water with most of my meals, it has zero calories. Why drink my calories when I can eat them? :)

Good luck! <3

Margee said...

I wish losing weight was easier. I wish there was a way to just follow the program and KNOW you're going to get results. I hate how fickle the body is. But the body does eventually respond. It took me six months to lose my first three pounds. But 50 pounds later, I'm so glad I stuck with it. Even if it has been almost 2 years and I had hoped to be at my goal weight by now. It comes slowly, but it does come if you keep at it.