So I had a bulging mailbag on Friday following my post about getting stuck on the same number, and as with all things diet-related there’s safety in numbers. It was a massive comfort to know it’s not just me, you know? Although I’ve got to say, some of the posse are blessed with far more patience than me. For two weeks now my number hasn’t moved, and I think that’s bad…one of our lot has just four pounds left to lose after shedding almost a hundred, and her number hasn’t budged for five weeks. Christ on a bike, I’d be a basket case if the needle hadn’t moved after five weeks.
Nobody mentions the patience needed in this game do they? Determination, yes…willpower, yes…motivation, yes that too. All those qualities get bandied about as the cornerstone of dieting success and when I’m in the sweet spot I have all of those in abundance. Patience, not so much so. Impatience is one of my things in fact. I honestly think it came free with my vagina in sort of a buy one get one free kind of deal…I’m just not very good at waiting. For anything.
And the thing is, it’s when impatience turns to frustration that my Asshole voice sits up and starts rattling his chains. I’m dangerously close to the edge, so I spent a chunk of time this weekend scouring the world wide web for as many perspectives on weight-loss plateaus as possible. I figured if I can at least understand why my needle isn’t moving, it might help.
According to her website, Jillian Michaels (who I’ve often observed from the comfort of my big fat leather recliner whooping ass on The Biggest Loser as I vaporised a family bag of cheese balls) reckons that a weight loss plateau will typically last for around three weeks. Which made me feel a bit better, I mean she’s da man, right? Professor of making fat folk fit strong and skinny. Except then she went on to say that in her experience, a plateau usually means that you’re not paying enough attention to what you’re doing.
Which pissed me off a bit, I’m not going to lie. It kind of feels like she’s saying I’m not trying hard enough, but I shit you not I am consumed with trying. I have never worked this hard in my entire life. Mainly down to the fact that Cuba and its mountain range is now less than four months away and I’ve still got the equivalent of two arses inside my pants.
I’ll give you yesterday morning as an example…I went for the double whammy again, circuit training followed by boxing. Three quarters of the way through the circuit training as I got to the second set of one of the kettle bell exercises that nearly wipes me out, I was so tempted to feign some kind of cardiac arrest to get out of doing it. My shoulder was hurting, my chest felt like it was going to explode and it took every bit of backbone I could summon to keep going. But I did keep going. I turn up and work hard every day…trust me, even if I wasn’t a fully-paid-up wuss I couldn’t work any harder than I am.
But I did take a long hard look at what I’m eating, just in case. And looking back over three weeks’ worth of food plans, although I’m following the principles that God of Pain outlined and I’m eating within points, I have to admit it’s a bit samey. I’m sticking to the same things, at roughly the same time of day. There’s a definite order, which is something I’ve worked really hard to achieve because it goes against my nature, but it seems that routine in what you eat is a no-no.
Loads of you told me about switching up my food budget for a couple days and then reducing my points back down – apparently it’s a thing, and Jillian Michaels offers the same advice. So I’m going to give that a whirl this week. I’m also going to drink more water…yeah, that old chestnut. I know I always say that, but in practice I seem to run out of steam after a day or two, and I find myself back in the place where I really only actually drink water whilst I’m in the fitness studio sweating my cahoonies off. Outside of that, I don’t touch it, even though I know I should.
So this week I’m going to drink like a camel, and fool my body with an eating plan that is less predictable. Whatever not takes, right? I refuse to be passive whilst the bitch in the bathroom decides whether she’ll grant me a lower number. I hold the power, not her and I’ve so got this 🙂
Diet for weight loss; exercise for maintenance–unless one has a date with a Cuban mountain range. It’s an unspoken truth that adding a fitness regime greatly slows or stops entirely the march down the scale, mostly because you’re building muscle, partly because you’re hungrier.
I’m eight pounds heavier than I was last year, but I wore a size ten Hugo Boss (read here, absolutely no stretch in the fabric whatsoever) dress last weekend that I’d given to my daughter because it didn’t fit me. So, how am I eight pounds heavier but a size smaller? (Answer: working out.)
This is a long way to say, have you thought of watching measurements instead of just the scale? Losing inches can be motivating…
Love the Blog! xoM
Hi Margaret, yes I’ve just recorded all my measurements and I’m going to check in once a month or so to see how it’s going! Thanks for the encouragement 🙂
I hear you Dee. After months of not being able to stick to a diet I finally found my sweet spot 6 weeks ago. The switch flipped and I’ve been a saint ever since. I have been out walking Mon-Fri at 5am for 45 mins. I’ve done between 10-15,000 steps a day and I’ve eaten 1200 calories a day. The first 2 weeks were good but since then it’s been -.6 or -.4 and this week I stayed the same! Now I am not working out as hard as you but for heavens sake I should see some kind of loss after all that dedication. I am 64 so I know it doesn’t come off as fast as it used to but boy it’s annoying.
Because the elusive switch has flipped I am not feeling discouraged, I just figure it will have to come off eventually, but it would be nice to see the scales give me some love soon. I often think of you when I’m out walking and I figure if Dee can bust her butt at the gym I can get through this walk. We are all in this together and I appreciate all the ladies who comment, I learn from them too. So let’s do this!!!
Congratulations Jo on clawing your way back into that sweet sweet spot! I LOVE that we all think of each other as we just keep on pushing forward…we’re doing it, we’re really on the way to Skinny Town!
Our bodies are set up to live through feast followed by famine followed by feast again, as well as eating more in spring and summer to get ready for leaner times in winter. When our ancestors sometimes had massive famines to live through, as well as winters without modern conveniences of shipping food in, it worked well.
Now we have to figure out our own bodies and set the pattern, or rather set the randomness of feasts and famines, for ourselves, and it’s a pain in the tuckus because eating mostly the same day after day is easier when we work as we do.
Knowledge is power, though, and now that you know this, you’ve got it, it’s just a matter of implementation.
yes, that’s the easy bit NOT!! 🙂
No one in the media talks publicly about the hard work of losing weight. A lot of the whole process is no fun and not glamorous at all.
All I can say is don’t change too many things at once or you won’t know which thing you changed is producing the result you want.
I bet you will have a big celebration when the scale finally starts moving down again and it will move down again you just have to be patient. I know we all hate that word.
It probably won’t make you feel any better but I saw yesterday where in my own life I have been up a few pounds more than I like in maintence for a month now so it is time to get serious about addressing this before it gets worse. Little gains are easier to reverse than bigger ones.
Here’s to all of us having a better week than last week.
Amen to that Susan, have a great week 🙂
It is my belief that exercise has very little effect on weight. It tones you up, makes you stronger and fitter, helps you sleep, helps control blood sugar levels etc etc. Very necessary for your Cuba trek. But I don’t think it reduces weight on the scales much. Which is annoying. At least 80% is dependant on food intake.
You might be right Natalie, I don’t think I’d be pushing quite so hard if I didn’t have a mountain to climb!