Okay, this could be discouraging. I’ve been better on my diet this week and I got more exercise. Could I have exercised more? Yes. Could I have eaten less or eaten smarter? Yes. But I was better than recent weeks where I’ve lost more. Sigh.
My diet’s feeling a bit like my job search. I’m trying and doing many of the right things, but nothing’s happening. It’s all a bit depressing. But there’s no way I’m quitting either one. I can’t afford to quit either one.
One of the reasons I’m not quitting my diet is because of how good it’s been for my blood sugar levels. I like not having to take an insulin shot at every meal. Eating smarter means less sticking myself with a needle, so even when the scale is being stubborn, there’s a very immediate and gratifying reward to eating less refined carbs, more veggies, and more whole grains… not having to take shots.
Honestly, I’m thinking the plateau I thought I’d broken was just being approached. I’ve approached 257 before and stopped there, so I know I have a set-point around here that I have to break through. I thought I’d done that a couple of weeks ago, but that wasn’t the case. It’s frustrating to be good and lose a half a pound, but what’s the alternative? Giving up?
If I give up, I’m saying yes to increasing pain, decreasing mobility, and more trying to solve my problems through pills and shots instead of behavior modification. I’m not about to give in to that.
So I’ll just plug along. Anyway, the longer I do this, the more time I spend trying to have good behaviors and reinforcing them so they have a chance to become good habits. Still… half a pound in two weeks. Sigh.
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Hang in there! I’m at a plateau, too — down 1 pound in a month, and that’s without my traditional annual mini-egg binge! One thing I’ve discovered is that small gains from binges don’t show up on the scale until a week later, just when you thought you’d gotten away with it. Oh great, now I’m craving mini eggs….
The fact that you’re hanging onto the lost weight and finding the new eating style increasingly easier to stick to is a *huge* win. That’s probably the part that most people struggle with (the part that I’ve struggled with) and finding a middle ground is tough.
One thing you might want to try is adding some light free-weights to the mix of exercise. I didn’t appreciate how much muscle mass I’d lost over the years until I did a silly “muscle-man” bit with The Boy. I’ve never been buff but there was always something there. Suddenly I found that it had shrunk quite a bit so I’ve added some free-weights to the routine and I’m finding that it helps burn calories too.
Keep at it…
-Steve
Good luck! I’m always proud of people who go for goals because it’s what THEY want and it sounds like this will impact your health positively. It’s interesting reading how Diabetes factors into diet regularly and in the process of attempting weight loss.
30 lbs is amazing, period. I’ll be checking in to see how things are going. *plays “Gonna Fly Now” and builds a statue of “The Greg” at the top of the Philadelphia Museum of Art*
Actually, my favorite bit of music from the Rocky movies is “Going the Distance“.
I just now found out that Joe Esposito’s “You’re The Best” from “The Karate Kid” was meant for “Rocky III” or “Rocky IV”! I’m glad they decided not to use it so that it landed where it did!