Well, I’ve decided to try something different.  After months and months of hard work, dedication, and frustration, I am ready to take a different track on my weight loss journey.  I’ve come to terms with the fact that my body does not want to budge from it’s current weight and that I need to make a change from what I’m doing. 

That being said, I am going on a diet.  Yep, an actual diet to get this weight off.  I’m already living my lifestyle change.  I already eat healthy, exercise, and am living a much healthier lifestyle than I ever have before… I’ve been doing really good with it.  My food portions are good, my caloric intake is right on target, and I do cardio four days a week and am training for my two 5k runs this summer.  Doesn’t it seem like the weight should be coming off? 

So yes, back to this diet.  I found a diet that I am going to try because I think it has some good potential without doing anything too crazy.  It’s called the Upday Downday Diet.  Very simply put, you alternate between low calorie days and higher calorie days.  Apparently the jumping back and forth between the days helps kick the metabolism into gear.  Sounds easy enough, right?

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Am I in the middle of a HUGE lesson in patience?  That’s what this feels like.  I feel like for some reason, I am stuck at 156 pounds and come hell or high water, that number in it’s 10 variations (156.0, 156.1, 156.2, etc.) are plaguing me to no end. 

So yeah.  Today is my weigh-in day and rather than wait until Tuesday to weigh-in, curiosity got me and weighed I in yesterday.  To my major dismay, I went from 156.0 last week to 156.8 this week.  Wow.  W-O-W.  W-O-W!!!

Pardon the tone of this post, please.  I am feeling very frustrated and angry at this point.  I’ve been stuck at 156 for what is now the beginning of three months.  And that is despite my going from running 3 minutes straight to 36 minutes straight.  And despite that I have added working out my arms with 5 lb. weights and started yoga for abs.  And that is especially despite my absolute healthiest week of eating, ever, in my entire life… this past week. 

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I was thinking, there are really two sides to this whole getting healthy thing.  There’s the mental side and the physical side.  Let’s call them Brain and Body.  And they rarely seem to agree.

For instance, Brain really isn’t too keen on running.  Brain would rather be reading, sitting at Starbucks sipping a white chocolate mocha, watching Top Chef, or something like that.  Brain thinks running is pretty draining because it takes a lot of mental work to stay focused enough to keep going. 

Body, on the other hand, absolutely LOVES running.  Body loves running so much that it practically begs Brain to take it running.  Body loves the feeling of pushing itself to the limits and seeing just how far it can run.  Body loves sweating, moving, and any kind of activity because it makes Body feel like it’s alive!

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So I promised you an update two weeks ago about my plateau, formerly known as “not a plateau“.  I had discussed changing my eating habits even further by cutting out some of the sweet cheats I’d still been eating and by adding more healthy calories to my diet.  I did those things, and to a large extent, they did not make a difference.  I was surprised because I really thought for sure that those changes would help solve the problem, and they didn’t.  They did, however, help me to realize some things about my frame of mind during this plateau.

I’ve realized, through prayer and talking to friends, that I am relying way too much on the number on the scale.  And I don’t think it’s healthy.  And aren’t I trying to just be healthy?  Well I can’t let my weight loss become an obsession and go and screw up my mental health, right?!  So this has all brought me to the conclusion that I need to cut my time on the scale down to once a week for a weekly weigh-in and that’s it.

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Okay, time to be brave, folks!  I was inspired by Betsy from Girl Gone Healthy’s brave posting of her “before photos“.  I think it’s high time that I put mine up as well.  Why?

Accountability.  So you know why this weight loss mission is so important to me.  Facing me fears. 

And most of all, simply admitting that that was me at 198 pounds, my heaviest.  I’ve since lost 42 pounds and am well on my way to my goal.  But it’s always good to remember where I came from and why I’m here doing this. 

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I’ve added another layer of accountability to my weight loss efforts.  I have decided to join the Healthy You Challenge (HYC).  HYC is a group of bloggers who are dedicated to blogging about their weight loss efforts and who support and are supported by other members.  I only joined this morning and I am already finding that support here on my blog.  How cool is that!? 

The HYC is described by it’s founder as the following:

The challenge is a support system to work on building a better you. No matter what your goals from losing weight, exercise or staying at goal, we all need the support of people who are going through the same things or have been there. It’s not about obsessing over a number on the scale; it’s not about exercising until you drop; it’s about challenging yourself and pushing yourself to stay focused on your goals as well as getting and giving support.

The idea of building a community with other people who are facing the same challenges, setbacks, and successes is a powerful thing.  The support and accountability gained from honestly “putting yourself out there” is amazing!  I’m very excited to a part of this group and I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone.

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. 

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Each week I allow myself one splurge.  I call it my “treat”.  My diet has always included a treat because I feel it is very important to still act like a human being while on a diet.  Seriously, I think that sometimes people cut out so much so fast and they lose it all so quickly that they forget that it’s not just a diet that we are on, but that it’s a lifestyle change.  I’m not knocking their strategies for losing weight but this is how I have to look at my own journey.  I found this article that helps explain this theory and why it’s important not to cut everything out completely.  It also provides tips on successful splurging.

I’m not just in this to lose weight so I can wear the clothes I like and look cute.  Don’t get me wrong, that is a huge reward, but it’s not my motivation.  My goal is to be a healthy person and make my older years a little easier than they might have otherwise been.  I don’t want to learn how to cut out all my favorite foods only to never have them again; I want to learn moderation.  My other goal is to teach my daughter how to live a healthy lifestyle through mine and my husband’s actions, not just our words.  I want her to grow up eating healthy foods and being active, and our hope is that with a solid foundation, she would continue that on her own. 

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The other day I was running on the treadmill and having a particularly difficult time keeping up with my routine.  Some days I feel like I can run forever, but there are other days (particularly those back-to-back cardio days) where I feel as though I am running in quicksand.  Do you know what I mean?  It’s those days where you have to fight the entire time you are working out and each minute can feel like an eternity.  Those are the days where it feels like giving up might just be the best way to go, right? 

Well, I was in the middle of one of THOSE days when it occurred to me.  This is what tough love is all about.  Think about it.  What are the things we tell our kids when we are practicing tough love (or perhaps you remember your own parents telling you)?  Here are some I could think of:

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The website I have chosen as the Useful Website of the Week is one that I have found to be incredibly informative and, well, useful!  The website for iVillage’s Healthy Living Program is what I am referring to.  This program is the most comprehensive online weight loss program I have found and the part that surprised me the most is that it’s FREE. 

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