5-7 Pounds

Well it finally happened.  I’ve GAINED instead of losing.  I know I’ve been on a pretty amazing streak and I know it was bound to happen sooner or later but dammit, I’m pissed!  The last week or so, I’ve been making some pretty unhealthy food choices.  I justified this by staying within my daily calorie limit, even if it was food that was loaded in fat, sodium, carbs, etc.  It caught up to me.  I weighed myself tonight and was SHOCKED to see that I have gained somewhere between 5 and 7 pounds.  Shocked and pissed.

I’m trying to maintain a “live and learn” attitude about the whole thing but I’m so damned mad at myself.  I worked WAY too hard to lose this weight to gain it back over a few bad choices.  I did have one moment of clarity tonight at the gym when I sat back and realized even though I’ve gained a few pounds back, I’m STILL at a 50 pound weight loss.  And that’s nothing to be ashamed of.

I know what I need to do.  I know the choices I need to make.  And I also had a very harsh reality check.  This weight can, and will, come back with a vengeance if I slide.

The slide stops now.

Plateau Push

I finally – FINALLY – pushed over the plateau I had been sitting on since before Christmas.  I am giving the credit to switching up my workout a bit.  I got a new S.L.E.D. program at the gym that focuses more on free weights than machines and I’ve been doing the Couch25K program.  I can’t believe I’m actually running!  My legs ache but it’s not a bad ache.

Here’s a “Before” and “In Progress” picture.   The first picture was taken less than a year ago at my nephew’s baptism.  The after a week or so ago after a workout.

Sabotage?

So I was reading an article on www.anytimehealth.com this morning and it was a list of Do’s and Don’ts for Fitness and Weight Loss.  One of the things that jumped out at me was this:

Don’t forget to mix up your workouts. Doing the same exercise with the same resistance all the time will eventually lead to fitness and weight loss plateaus.

My mind has been blown.  I have been so proud of myself for being able to stick with elliptical and the steady increase of time I’ve been working on.  It never occurred to me that I should be combining this with other cardio.  I do the same program (cross country) and even use the same machine each night.

Lesson learned.

Measurements

Recently,  I have been struggling to get over a plateau. I went several weeks without any noticeable changes and I was getting SO frustrated! As most overweight people do, I dropped the first 10-15 pounds FAST then settled into a loss of 1-2 pounds per week.  Between the holidays and my metabolism seeking a balance, I hadn’t lost any weight for 3 weeks.  Fortunately, I finally pushed over the plateau and am again seeing my numbers change. I decided to go a quick comparison of some of my measurements.

November 4, 2012 

Weight – 265.4
Waist – 49.5
Hips – 51.5
Thigh – 26
Upper Arm – 14.5

January 12, 2013 

Weight – 232.0
Waist – 46.0
Hips – 47.5
Thigh – 24
Upper Arm – 13

My Totals! 

Weight Lost – 33.4 pounds
Waist Inches Lost – 3.5
Hips Inches Lost – 4
Thigh Inches Lost – 2
Upper Arm Inches Lost – 1.5

Of course I’m the most excited about the pounds total but the other numbers are pretty significant too. 3.5 and 4 inches might not seem like that much, but it equals 3 pants sizes dropped. My thigh didn’t change much, but my legs are so much stronger. I no longer ache when walking a flight of stairs and I can squat and bend in ways I haven’t been able to in years. My measly 1.5 inches seems pretty small but my upper arm looks more toned and I have less fat and more muscle. It’s also stronger. I find I can lift things I couldn’t before.

I was nervous to run the numbers after not seeing any change for almost a month. I was overwhelmingly surprised when I checked them today. So surprised, I measured my waist 3 times to be sure it was right.

First Blog

I’ve been kicking around the idea of starting a weight loss blog for quite a while now.   I hesitated for several reasons.  First and foremost, I thought who cares?  I’ve decided I care. If no one reads it but me, that’s ok.  I want a place I can talk about my issues, my successes, my failures, my gripes and so on.  Secondly, I wasn’t sure I would be successful.  Now that I’ve lost 50 pounds, I feel a little more secure in starting this blog.  Here’s to many posts!