I know, I know. I didn't even post Weight Loss Wednesday posts. There are a few reasons for this.
1) There has literally been nothing to report. I am holding steady at -16 pounds. Not gaining, not losing. Just hangin out. I think I might have lost 1/4 pound this week but that could have been because I peed right before I weighed myself. 1/2 pound or more is what gets recorded around here, people! None of that sappy Weight Watchers stuff like "YAY! You lost .00000000000001 pounds this week! Good for you! Keep up the good work, you're doing so well!". Ugh.
2) I have, quite literally, been running around like a chicken without her head. I'm loosing track of weeks. What day is it? Where am I? What is this?
So anyway, I'm back. So here's the deal. I'm kind of sick of this plateau. It's not surprising. I knew I would plateau a few times in my weight loss journey. But it's been 4 weeks and I'm over it! I have started drinking a TON of water which is supposed to help boost your metabolism as well as flush your system of toxins (that for some reason, Diet Coke is just unable to flush. Weird.).
I started (this week) to improve my gym attendance and activity. Two of the last three gym visits have included much more than just the elliptical. My friend K80 (you know the one...) sent me a 10 week workout program that increases the intensity, as well as gives a balanced work out each day. It's 5 days a week, so it is ambitious. But I think it's great! In an effort to really jump back in the saddle and get moving, I decided to try out this work out. Day one is a program that starts off with a 7 minute cardio warm up, then moves to push ups (on a stability ball but.. HA... no.), sit ups/ crunches on a stability ball, squats, and some arm machines. So... that went... ya know... OK...
Ugh.
I made it through the warm up, 20 push ups, 60 sit ups, and 30 squats. And I died. My leg muscles started cramping and I knew that to keep going would be a mistake. I stretched out and walked... verrrrrryyyy slllloooowwwwwllllyyyy home as my cool down. I couldn't walk right for 3 days. I was sort of shocked and appalled by how weak my legs are since I am constantly walking in this city. Whatever.
But I was not deterred. When I could finally pick my feet more than one inch up off the ground, I went in and did an elliptical work out. Just to get the muscles going again.
Then I went home for the weekend. So not much in the way of working out over the weekend. But that's OK! Last night, Tuesday, I went back to the gym. I got myself into the weight room. I did some shoulder and chest presses, some vertical rows, some leg press, and then did 30 minutes on the elliptical. What can I say? I like the elliptical! I thought I'd be more sore than I am, but apparently I have more upper body strength than I was aware. I will tell you that I worked my arms to exhaustion so... I'm glad I'm not sore!
So the plan is to keep up with the water and the gym. I will probably need to work my way up to be able to successfully complete the 10 week circuit but I'm working on it!
But that doesn't feel like enough. So I went ahead and did some research and checked out some websites. This one sounded most like me. Like, each bullet point I could pretty well relate to. But I found the article a bit frustrating. Since it basically said "Hey stupid, stop eat big plates of bad stuff and get your butt back in the gym".
Yes.
Thank you.
Helpful.
Moving on.
This article was much more informative about BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) and why you reach plateaus. Basically, you've lost weight which means your body is burning less, which means even if you are cutting out extra calories to lose that weight, you have reached an equilibrium within your body. You have to throw off that equilibrium to start losing weight again. Muscle building is definitely helpful (Yay! Point for Connie for doing the right thing!), so working out with light weights can help your body to burn more calories.
It also suggests upping your protein intake, but not to overdo it. No more than 20% of your daily calories should be from protein. If I look back at the last week, my protein has gone from 16% of my daily calories up to 24.59% of my daily calories. So I should start watching that I hover at 20% or below in coming weeks. Just to make sure those extra calories aren't turning into fats or something else they shouldn't.
Shaking it up is also known to help keep your body thrown off. Apparently the trick is to actually fool your body, which is tough. Because... ya know... your brain, inside your body, is trying to trick your body from the inside... it's like some crazy double agent sci-fi stuff that is way to complex and this is probably where black holes are created. So, I guess just don't think too much and try to keep changing up your schedule and work out and what you consume.
From there the articles seemed to get a little repetitive. Yes, thank you, I realize that I should decrease calorie consumption and portion size and I should get my ass to the gym regularly and lift light weights. On one hand, I'm tired of hearing it because YES I KNOW I SHOULD WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM WHY ARE YOU BADGERING ME ABOUT IT?!
On the other hand... "ooooh... you mean MORE of the less calories and smaller portion sizes and gym. oooooooooh..."
So since I eat breakfast at the office in the mornings and I know for a fact that I am eating more than 1 cup (or less) of cereal and I have no idea how to calculate the amount of milk I put on that cereal (I dunno? Enough to saturate it? How much do we think that is?) I am going to bring a measuring cup into the office to make sure I only have the serving size. I will keep up with my gym stuff. I will fight and claw my way off this plateau. You know, if this was a REAL plateau, getting off of it would be much easier. I'd just jump, you know? And then I'd be lower? That's a terrible metaphor. It should be more like "I'm experiencing a weight loss swinging net trap. I wanna get down, but this stupid thing won't let me!"
So there's that. We're just hanging out over here on -16 pounds. Which is awesome, but I was hoping to be 9 pounds lighter within 2 weeks. So I need to get this program up and running STAT. If I can get to -20 pounds I will be quite proud of myself.
Speaking of 2 weeks, that's when I am heading to Florida with the family! I have to go get new bathing suits because the 2 that I have that I LOVE LOVE LOVE... um... don't fit me anymore? So that's an exciting shopping expedition. Oooooh, I'm gonna head on over to Victoria's Secret now to see what their bathing suit options are. Could be exciting! And on SALE!
See you tomorrow (I SWEAR) when I share with you my (very very tardy) opinions on the Casey Anthony trial. :)
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