Right now it seems as though my path to weight loss has a big, fat, red brick wall sitting across it.  I’m working really hard in my workouts (harder than ever, in fact) and eating the minimum amount of calories that I should be, and yet, the numbers are not moving.  This keeps happening and I’m not sure why, but I have a couple of theories. 

First of all, I don’t think it’s related to a weight loss plateau.  I haven’t lost enough to really constitute a plateau, in my opinion.  12 pounds since January 2nd.  Yeah, it’s been slooow going.

My first theory is that I am not eating the right foods.  My hope was that I could get away with still eating a lot of what I like (sweet stuff!) but just less of it and mixed with some healthy food.  Let’s be honest here.  I didn’t get to the weight I was at because I loved healthy food.  I don’t.  I like veggies and salads quite a bit but I’m not much of a fruit person and I don’t like to cook. 

So, with all that being said, I think I have some things I need to cut out of my diet and some things I should add in.  Bye french vanilla coffee creamer that I love.  Bye mini cinnamon streusel rice cakes that I eat every night for dessert.  And goodbye Special K strawberry waffles, even though you are low calorie, that doesn’t mean your carbs are good for me.  Hello more fruit and nuts.  Hello healthy granola bars.  Hello what else?

That brings me to my second theory, which is that I’m actually not eating enough.  There are days where I don’t think I am eating enough calories to sustain the 500-calories that I burn 4 days a week on the treadmill.  My body is not getting the fuel it needs and is going into shut down mode because it thinks it might be without food for awhile (which means it stops burning calories).  This issue is discussed briefly in this article from the Biggest Loser, as well as this article on About.com.  The About.com article discusses the issue in terms of a thyroid diet but the problem is the same for any diet.  According to the instructions in the article, my target caloric intake should be 1,772 to lose around a pound a week safely.  Hmmm… it looks like that 1,200 calories I’ve been eating wasn’t enough after all!

Now let me get this straight, I have to eat more of the stuff I don’t like, and less of the stuff I do like!  Boy oh boy, it’s a good thing for everyone that I have a no whining rule otherwise you’d be hearing it! 

I need to motivate myself to take this next step.  How about a challenge!  I will give myself two weeks of making those two changes to my diet and at the end of those two weeks, if I STILL have not lost anything, I will go back to the drawing board and keep trying things. 

By the way, if you, my beloved readers out there, see any glaring reasons why I might be having this trouble, feel free to chime in with your own tips and ideas!  You would probably not only be helping me, but someone else who is reading this.  And another thing, let me know what kind of healthy snacks you eat!  I need mega help with that.

Okay, two weeks from today is Monday, April 28th.  I’ll make sure to keep you updated on the status of my challenge!! 

Weight loss… simple, but not easy.