Encouraging Trends

On June 4, I broke 255 for the first time.  It took me almost two weeks until I was able to break 250 on June 17.  On June 15, I weighed 253.2 and felt like I was in my first rut.  I was pretty confident that I had not hit the dreaded plateau and began a renewed and more focused effort, one I labeled P17X, to prove it was not.

Over the next 19 days, I lost 14.2 pounds and went from my low 250s struggle to 239!  Not only had I discounted any thoughts of a plateau, I actually had one of my best stretches to date.  Given that I am a little over five months in to this journey, I am even more ecstatic at that number.  To lose 14.2 pounds so easily after losing about 60 previously is an incredibly encouraging trend.  I am no longer a believer that one should expect the weight loss to decrease exponentially as you continue to lose.  Is it harder?  Sure.  I have had to increase the incline and mileage to continue to burn the same number of calories on the treadmill.  I have added exercises to increase my calories burned as my deficit from eating well becomes smaller with each lost pound.  And, I have even tried to be even better about what I eat.  I would love to have another 21 day stretch like the last 21.  But, anything remotely close would be much higher than the goals I set in March.

I have yet to have a bad stretch where I was not to blame.  I am not saying that there are not times when a person's body does not act positively to positive changes.  But, I think these exceptions are few and far between.  I think these excuses and the confusion behind them are extremely overrated and overused.  Those of you out there who are fighting the same battle and struggling, need to take a serious, and truthful, look at what you are doing.  Go back and think of EVERYTHING you ate.  That includes every handful, every bite, every nibble that enters your mouth.  Don't pretend you had 4 ounces of meat when you really had 6 to 8.  I just know that all of my ruts can be directly attributed to too many calories or too much fat.  There might be days where my body reacts adversely because of things like eating too much sodium.  But, that is only a day or two.  If your rut is lasting any longer, like mine was in early June, then there likely is a reason.  There are no fat gods plotting against you.  Your success is solely in your own hands.  Eat less, move more.

Today marked my 15th straight week in the gym!   The situps continue to get easier ever since that first night not that long ago when I whimpered through my entire set.  Yesterday, I walked on the treadmill for an hour, lifted weights, and then swam for 30 minutes... with a new high of 18 laps I might add.  As I was leaving the club my son and his other young friends asked me if I wanted to play some 3V3 since they only had five people.  After some deliberation, including a moment where my knee spoke to me and pleaded that I abstain, I decided to play.  Nothing outstanding.  But, I didn't embarass myself.  And, I found myself so incredibly content at having finally played a game of pickup basketball for the first time in many many years.  The best part was that my knee didn't bother me near as much as I had expected. 

Here's to being honest with yourself...