Tag: muscle weight

Have I finally hit my plateau?

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Exercise, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

I have been very lucky that I have been consistent with my weight loss with Noom from January 5th until now.  In the beginning, I was losing anywhere from 3 to 4 pounds per week, but gradually slowing down to 2 or 3 pounds per week, then down to 1 1/2 to 2 pounds per week.  Of course lately it seems to be 1 to 1 1/2 pounds or less per week, but at least there was weight loss.  This week however, I don’t think there will be any weight loss at all.

Last week I was 196.6lbs and just a few days ago I was asked to weigh in and I weighed in at 196.4lbs.  Today I weighed 197lbs and I only have 2 more days before my next weigh in day, so I don’t think I’m going to make it to 194 or 195.  194.4 is my estimated weight, but I just don’t see that happening.  I mean, stranger things have happened and who knows, I might be 195, but I doubt it.  No, I think that after so many months I have finally just hit my plateau.

A plateau isn’t uncommon for people who are trying to lose weight.  What causes that?  Is it stress?  I haven’t been under too much stress.  Is it that my body has already lost 66lbs so it’s just harder to lose more weight because there isn’t a lot of fat left to lose?  Or maybe perhaps it is because I have been going for 2 or 3 mile walks a few times per week that might possibly be making me gain muscle weight.  That could actually be it.

In the past when I have hit my plateau, after so many weeks of not losing weight I start to think if I’m not losing weight, I might as well eat this food and that food because obviously the healthy foods aren’t helping me.  I might as well go back to eating the old crap that got me fat in the first place, and I end up gradually going back to my old eating habits.  Well, that just isn’t going to work for me this time because I am serious about losing this weight this time.  This time it WILL be different, I will continue eating healthy, even if that means that I will be 197 or somewhere in that vicinity for 2 months before the weight starts to come off again.  I will not let the plateau rule my life because I really want to succeed in my goals.

To be honest, I probably won’t plateau for too long, that is if I have even hit a plateau.  I still have 2 days and like I said before, stranger things have happened.  Who knows, I might end up being 195 by weigh in day, so I’m not going to start having a negative attitude about plateaus because I am not even sure that’s what will happen.

Of course negative thinking like this is a factor in halting the weight loss process.  I could be sabotaging myself by having a negative attitude.  Stress thinking and acting negatively can release a chemical in the brain called Cortisol which is actually what will put me in a plateau, so I need to stay positive because having a happy go lucky positive attitude will help me more than being a negative Nancy.

So let’s just see what happens in 2 days and I will go from there.

R&R

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Today I decided not to go bike riding because I wanted to give my legs a chance to rest since I’ve been going such a long distance.  Tomorrow I will be going out again.  I’m just not sure if it’s worth riding 17 miles a day while I’m still in this stage of still getting used to riding a bike at all.  I mean it’s only been a month and even though I’ve seen 8lbs of weight loss so far I’m not seeing very much weight loss even with 17 and 18 mile days.  It’s nice to go a long distance to really step it up and everything but I just don’t see the results.

Now I realize that by me saying that I’m saying that I’m giving up on going such a long distance and I don’t want to say that but at the same time I think I can just do the 11 miles and get away with it for now.  I want to burn calories but not at the expense of causing myself pain and possible injury to my muscles.  I’m probably going to notice no weight loss at all this week and that’s possibly because I’m building too much muscle in my legs causing me to gain muscle weight so I don’t see the fat weight disappearing.

The first month was only 8lbs and normally I would be upset by that because 7lbs isn’t a lot to lose in a month, that’s 2lbs a week but at this point I’m just happy to not be in the 240’s anymore.  Being in the mid 230’s makes me feel that if I can get there then I can get to 220’s and so on but it takes time, a lot of time.  I need to stop worrying about the scale and stop thinking about it too much.

Tonight I decided that since I was weighing myself as 238 which is more than last weeks weigh in by 1 calorie that I would start eating salads for dinner, just to give me smaller calories for that meal of the day.  Breakfast I’ve been eating toast and a yoplait, lunch a peanut butter and jam sandwich or a ham sandwich.  Actually I’ve been eating 2 sandwiches but I’m going to limit myself to just 1 from now on and as soon as I get more yoplait’s on friday I’m going to limit my breakfast to just a yoplait.  I love coffee but I’m going to try to limit that too.  Darrin bought me this whole big thing of creamer so it’s going to be difficult to not be able to enjoy it.  I’m thinking for now coffee every other day.  I have been drinking a lot of water though so that helps big time.  Not the sparkling bottled water with flavor that Darrin has been buying from Albertson’s but just plain filtered water.

Well, I’m blogging this just before bed, I’ve taken my ambien already so I’m gonna go do the litter box then get in the shower and go to bed.