Starting Weight: 330 pounds
Weight Last Week: 295.2 pounds
This week’s weigh-in: 295.3 pounds
Confession: I really didn’t want to write this post today. When I started this journey and made the decision to make it a public one, though, I committed to myself and to you that I would always be honest and open about my successes and struggles with my weight.
I think there are lots of you out there going through similar issues with weight and emotional attachment to food and my desire is that you know you are not alone. It is still painful to admit to total strangers that for the third week in a row I have been stuck.
Confession: I can’t pretend that I don’t know why I am experiencing this plateau. Honestly? I haven’t been making time to workout and I haven’t been tracking my calories. Some people can eat intuitively and not have to track, but I am NOT one of those people. My sense of portion control is so warped after years of out-of-control portions that I know I can’t trust myself to eat properly unless I am really paying very close attention by tracking. And the exercise thing is purely a result of not making it a priority (I will be writing more about this tomorrow and hopefully you will come back and give me some good ideas for doing better at this!)
Confession: I had a really horrible day of eating on Super Bowl Sunday. First, it started with taking my kids out to Pizza Hut for lunch after church on Sunday (where they wanted to go-but yes, I do know I am the parent and have the ability to say no). Not only did we go to Pizza Hut, but we ordered the buffet. I did start out with a big plate of salad, but I also had my fair share-well probably more than my fair share considering my aforementioned issues with portion control-of pizza and breadsticks.
Then came the Super Bowl party I attended. Again, I started with a big plate of salad (which I brought with me to ensure I would have good choices-ha!) and I also had some fruit…and some dessert…and some chips and dip…and, well you get the picture. But honestly, it was ONE day and that is VERY abnormal for me. I normally have a very good diet. What you see on my menu plans every week-that’s what I eat and it is always very healthful foods.
Confession: I have been getting less than 6 hours of sleep every night and, with the exception of one or two days, I haven’t tracked my water intake. These two disciplines are SO important to effective weight-loss, yet I’ve been letting them slide the last couple of weeks.
So there you have it. That’s been my week so far. Not too promising, but I know what the issues are and can work to improve them from here. I am DONE being emotionally attached to the number on the scale. Instead of letting it depress me and beating myself up over it, I am actively and intentionally CHOOSING to let it push me, let it motivate me, and yeah, even a little bit let it get me angry and fired up so I can push through this plateau and break the chains this weight has on me.
I can guarantee you the scale will not defeat me.
I set a goal as part of the Shrink Yo’self 2012 challenge to lose 20 pounds in 9 weeks (January 1 to February 29). To accomplish that, I have to average 2.2 pounds lost for each week of the challenge. This week I gained .1 pounds bringing my weekly average to .92 pounds. Yikes! Time to step up my game! At this point, I’ll be lucky to get to half of my goal! Not sure what I was thinking when I set that goal.
The Chick Magnet (my husband, for those of you who are newer readers) weighed in at 214 today, which was a .6 pound gain over last week. I’m not hugely surprised that he showed a slight gain because he had such a huge loss last week (almost 4 pounds). He is on his fourth week of P90X and building some serious muscle, so I am sure that is a factor as well. He is pretty much in maintenance mode now, though I’m sure he’ll lose a few more pounds as he tones everything up and continues to build muscle.
That’s the truth.
I’m linking my post up over at The Sisterhood. Go check it out to get some more weight-loss and fitness inspiration!
How did your weigh-in go this week? Are sticking with your goals? Any confessions to make this week?
The Chick
Thanks for posting even though it was hard! And your endurance inspires me!!
Thanks Sandra!
I can TOTALLY RELATE. So much.
We still have several weeks left to make some huge progress for this challenge! Let’s do it!
Sorry you can relate, but always nice to know I’m not alone lol! Yes, let’s do this!
You don’t need to defend yourself; you are doing incredibly well. Think like a thin person: a thin person misses exercise sometimes; they sometimes don’t get enough sleep; and I don’t know ANYONE who doesn’t go overboard on Super Bowl Sunday. If you were already at your goal, you would just write this off as a bad week and get back on track. That’s what you need to do: think like you’re already at your goal, especially if you want it to be a long-term goal. Don’t get frustrated, you’re doing great!!
Dan-that’s a great way of looking at it. Never thought of it like that before. Sounds like a good idea for a blog post!
I agree with those above. It is what it is, chalk it up to a bad week and move on. You are so right in not letting the scale win. As much as I am a number watcher on the scale and want to see results, I also realize that it won’t happen overnight. I didn’t put the weight on overnight so it isn’t going to come off quickly. YOU are doing great. I can only imagine how difficult this post was for you and kudos to you for still posting. I would’ve probably found a way to hide from it! LOL Keep it up! You have been such an inspiration to me to get my journey going and it starts probably tomorrow. Bought a treadmill last night (needs put together), I bought my kindle fire to keep my occupied while I tread and I have other things for weight training and resistance training. Your post pushed me into action and doing what I needed to do to set my self up for no excuses for exercising as I have plenty of time, but I just didn’t have the equipment (giggles) – what an excuse huh? Anyway, like I’ve posted before, I look forward to your posts and am inspired by them. As I begin my journey, your posts will also be my encouragement to continue even during those times when I don’t feel like exercising. Keep up the great work!!
Amy, that’s awesome!!!! Congrats on the treadmill! Please keep me posted on how it is going for you (and don’t do what I did and lose the security key for the treadmill-$1000 treadmill totally inoperable right now). Sounds like you have all your ducks in a row and a great plan for success!
I too am having problems. I set a goal to lose 10 lbs in Jan.& Feb. (short term goal, long term 60 lbs this year) I gained 2 lbs this week yet I felt like I was within my caloric goal of 1370 each day. I need to forget about numbers and realize my jeans are not as tight.
You are a real inspiration to me. I enjoy reading your blog and appreciate your honesty. Helps me to know I am not alone.
Keep up the good work
You’re right Carolyn! It’s so important to focus on what positive changes ARE happening, especially when you don’t see movement on the scale. The scale is not the only indicator of progress.
You need to go look at the picture I posted on my blog today and steal it. For realz. You are so much more than a number on the scale.
http://www.livelaughrunbreathe.com/2012/02/shrink-yoself-in-2012-week-6.html
I know those weeks well! Hang in there, and stare off to the horizon and you will see yourself reaching your goal.
[...] in the spirit of yesterday’s confession time, I have one more I would like to [...]
How much do you plan ahead in terms of what you eat? When I was doing Weight Watchers I would sit down in the morning and plan out my entire day, give or take a few points so I had some wiggle room. Sticking to it, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter. Even now that I’ve decided to stop trying to lose weight I find I have a much better day if I’ve given some thought to what I’m going to eat. Simple things like having two or three breakfasts I rotate or a pot of soup in the fridge for my lunches helps tremendously. I’ve even gone as far as poritioning out things like almonds and storing them in small containers to prevent mindless nibbling.
After my first pregnancy I was completely out of touch with what my body needed both in terms of portion size and kinds of food. So I know where you’re coming from. Being meticulous about writing down what I ate helped me get back to a place where I was eating appropriate amounts of food. Of course, i have to be careful with that because then I rebel and spend three days eating donuts and microwave popcorn. Ha ha.
It’s a tricky business, this weight loss thing. I get frustrated with people who act like it’s merely a matter of discipline because it’s So. Much. More. You have a great attitude about it.
[...] Like I said last week, [...]
[...] And then I wrote this post. And I got a new motivation to step-up my exercise efforts, thanks to all of the helpful suggestions from you all. I decided I was going to try to do something about it. [...]