Oh Plateau

The scale has been yelling at me for the past few weeks and I have tried to ignore it. I need some serious help with a problem that has to be every dieters worst fear: weight loss plateau. You read that right, I am stuck, not so much at the same number but things are going very, very s l o w l y. Almost like a slow motion type of event or someone has decided to fast forward very slowly so it takes forever. This happened last September and it took a full month to get moving again.

I have using Pinterest as my guide to look and see what is going on and what I may need to change to get some relief and see the numbers continue to drop. Granted, I know I sound selfish but let's be honest, I am tired of my hair thinning out and losing so much in the shower. It directly relates to the shock I have put my body in with the weight loss. Once I hit goal weight and I am in maintenance, this problem should subside. So if I can just get there like ASAP maybe I will not be so annoyed with my hair problem.

I have 42 lbs to get to goal. That is it, that is like a tub of buttercream icing that we use in the bakery at Walmart or a 5 gallon bottle of water or the average human's leg!! So I have cross referenced and searched a number of articles to find the top 4 things to do if a person is struggling with a plateau.

1. EAT MORE CALORIES!!

It is important to check your calories every once in a while. Check to see how many calories your SHOULD be eating at the time as opposed to how few calories you are actually eating. Believe it or not 50 calories can impact your diet and your body wanting to hold on to the fat because it has put its self in starvation mode. I just looked up mine and I was eating about 1,887 calories and just added calories to make my number 1,935. We will see what happens in the coming week but the change up should be good.

2. CHANGE WHAT YOU EAT

Have you sat down recently and looked at what you put in your mouth on any given day? I did and it has been a lot of empty calories filled with lots of chocolate and sugary things to eat. You know why? It is attributed to the current stresses in my life so even though I have been able to get more fruits/veggies in, the chocolate is not the greatest addition to my diet. So it is time to step back and re-examine what you are eating and maybe mix it up with some interesting recipes. Or change the proportions of foods that you are eating.

3. CHANGE YOUR EXERCISE

I have been so busy with trying to get my 120 miles done that all I have been doing is running and walking. September is right around the corner and it is about time that I step it up and get back to the gym to take the classes I enjoyed doing before the summer hit. Also need to get back into weight lifting with body pump!

4. SLOW DOWN

Of course I have been told this many a time. What is the rush in losing the weight? Why not try just enjoying the time of losing weight and take a few days off the strict calorie regime to eat whatever you want and enjoy it. Go on maintenance for a few days and then jump back on the strict calorie regime.

But most importantly, be patient, it is just a phase and will soon end so that the weight will start dropping again. Maybe not as quickly but it will start dropping off.

☺Ashley☺

The Challenge

 I have come back from Cape May with a burning desire to continue to change myself. The scale has been plateauing for me which has had me beating up on myself. However I have been kicking butt with incorporating fruits and veggies within my diet each day. It has given me more energy than I had anticipated over the past week.

So a few things that I intend to change over the next year. I am first jumping into different books that help me with nutrition. I just purchased about 5 different books that focus on nutrition so that I can start tweaking what I have already done to my diet and make it a healthier one. I also bought Chris Powell's book about Carb Cycling after reading up on it through different articles and certainly looks like something I can do easily within my diet. I really am trying to change the last bit of my diet that I can so that it is as clean as possible.

I also have printed out some different exercises to do while working out to trouble shoot those problem areas. It may not be easy to get those problem areas but I know that will help boost my confidence while losing the last bit of weight.

I need to lose 7 lbs in order to hit my overweight mark. I am motivated to get there by the end of September.

While at Cape May, I also realized that being at the 2nd part of my journey I have some tough work to do..

My goal by Summer 2014

That is right, my goal is to lose the last 42 lbs by next summer. That means I have 43 weeks to get to where I want to be. That is 1 lb a week, sounds pretty doable to me. So this week I am going to start changing my exercise routine and really committing to getting back in the gym so I can hit my goal by the time summer rolls around. Maybe even hit my goal for my 2 year fitversary. 

Have you had any moments that you realized you need to change your lifestyle? What are some long term goals that you have?

☺Ashley☺

It Is All About Me

I have decided that it is time I dedicate a post to my shrine about.... you guessed it.. ME! Not to sound cocky or anything, but seriously, what is more motivating with your weight loss than seeing pictures of yourself from when you began to where you are now? I cannot think of anything more inspirational, especially since each weight loss journey is it's own and we all accomplish different things.

Over the past year I have begun collecting stuff that I wanted to hang on my "motivation wall" but the problem I had with placing it in my bedroom was that I did not want it to be anywhere that would stand out for people to see, except for me. So I opened up the closet doors one morning to find an awesome spot to hang all of my motivation and inspiration. No one in my house knows it is there, except for all of you who read this blog. Some quick explanations of what I have up on my wall. 

• At the top is my side by side of the 60 lbs I had lost, the picture speaks volumes.
• The inspires document that answers four essential questions: a. What is my motivation? b. What are the roadblocks? c. How do I mark progress? d. What is my goal? I am constantly updating this list so that it is consistent with my goals. I have updated the questions throughout my journey every 3-4 months.
• Next to that is a picture and it says, "I am not losing weight, I am getting rid of it. I have no intentions of ever finding it again." A friend found this in a magazine and ripped it out for me.
• Below that is a picture of the scale when I first hit under 200 lbs.
• The blue sheet is a letter from my close friend Margaret who essentially was encouraging me to continue on my journey.
• The bottom two pictures are just side by side shots of where I was and places in my journey.

That is just one of the collages I have in my room though. Remember my blog post It's Not Over Till I Say So? Well, in response to an earlier conversation about people giving me the feedback of not needing to lose any weight, my friend Arlene gave me a suggestion. She told me to block out the emotions of people's responses and focus on the number. By this I need to focus on the BMI chart because I know that it ultimately tells me how healthy/unhealthy I am. I need to laser focus to getting into the healthy weight range. 

So, on the inside of my bedroom door are these two pictures. The top one is a nice picture about changing your mindset and getting your head into the game of weight loss. The bottom picture is the ever famous BMI chart. On the right side is a sticky note of my starting BMI and the date. To the right is a sticky note of my current BMI and it is sitting next to the Obese label since I am still currently sitting there. It will move up as my BMI decreases and I get into the overweight category. I like the fact that it is a daily reminder to me of where I have been and where I currently am. There is nothing better than seeing I have dropped over 10 BMI points in the last year. 

These two collages are what drives me every single day to make better choices than I have in the past regarding food. I have found that they inspire me to be better, to do better than I ever thought I could do. Nothing is impossible, you just have to open yourself up to the possibility of changing and finding ways to make that change happen.

☺Ashley☺

It's Not Over Till I Say So

I have discovered a new side to a road block that I have been experiencing. My road block is and always will be people but there is a new side that I have seen over the past few weeks. I think it goes along with the stages of weight loss. You get the people who start noticing a difference and they give you any number of compliments as follows...

That is the time you go and get that puffy chest from that boost of confidence and self esteem. You think, to yourself that "yes! I am doing something right and people are noticing how great I look. I have so much more weight to lose, I cannot wait to hear more compliments from people."

Time goes on and you continue to hear those compliments and you are less than 50 lbs to goal weight. A brick comes and knocks you right in the face. A cold hard brick that weighs a ton and bruises a bit of that self esteem that had been created and worked on by not only you but the people around you. This brick is the dreaded switch in comments. You go from hearing any of those to the....

"I think you have lost too much weight, you really need to stop for your own health."

I heard that this morning at church and all I wanted to go up and do was shake the person silly. How could you suggest something like that? First off, it is my body, I know what the healthy weight for me is especially following the BMI scale. Secondly, you just bruised my ego and I do not like you as much anymore. 

I realize that I am going to be receiving more comments like the one I got this morning. My issue is now, how do I deal with them mentally, in an appropriate manner and do I respond back to the person who just threw the brick? I need to begin strengthening my mind and not being so sensitive to the comments. In reality, people are going to comment whether I am 500 lbs or at my goal weight. We are an opinionated society and we have no idea when to give a compliment and then move on. I also realize that my weight loss makes people feel inferior. I decided to put the effort in to see results and people hate it because they want it to be easy. If life was easy then it wouldn't be worth living. I am working my butt off to change my eating lifestyle so that it benefits me the rest of my life. 

I currently sit on the BMI scale at a 31.1 which classifies me as class 1 obese. I want to get to a 24.2 on the BMI scale which requires me to lose another 40 lbs which I am going to do no matter what obstacles are set in my way. When people tell me that I should't lose any more weight, I have to remind myself that my weight loss journey is not over until I say so.