How do you do it?

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-25-2004
How do you do it?
5
Wed, 07-05-2006 - 8:58am

When your motivation starts flagging and the scale stops moving, how do you keep yourself going?

Right now, my scale has not really moved in about 2 weeks of me being strictly on program, generally eating 1500 calories per day and exercising EVERY day. It dropped from 242 after 10 days to 241.5, then Monday morning it was at 239.5 but jumped back up on Tuesday. Now it's still stuck at 241.5. Arrgh. I upped my calories yesterday to kind of keep my body guessing and surprisingly enough, I struggled to eat all the calories I was aiming for, but now what? I'm still sticking to my plan and aiming for exercise every day still, but I can see this getting really old really quickly. I took my measurements on Monday morning, and I do know that as of Monday I had lost about 1.5 inches in my waist in a week and a half, which is great, so where is the weight going? I can't possibly be building muscle that fast. My scale is getting close to dropping another % body fat, which is 1% gone in a week and a half, so where are those 2.5 lbs of fat if they aren't gone from the scale? I feel like I'm finally in the completely right mindset for all of this and following my plans faithfully, which I have NEVER done for this long before, and this is how I'm rewarded? Maybe I should go back to having one good restaurant meal per week like I did when I lost 40 lbs in 3 months. The other days of the week I stuck with 1000-1200 calories then had whatever I wanted in a restaurant for one meal, no matter the calories. It worked. Hmmm.

So, how do you do it?

Staci


 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-08-2006
Wed, 07-05-2006 - 1:51pm

Hi!


That is just great that you continue your healthy habits, that will help to lose weight sooner or later. Just stick to you low calorie + more exercise routine and the next thing you know you will lose 5 more pounds, 10, 20 .... till you get there.


When I look in the mirror and don't see the body I would like to have, I just think that whatever

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-06-2006
Thu, 07-06-2006 - 7:45am

How do I keep myself going? I consider the other option I have.. quitting, then slowly gaining back the weight. Then I decide that I don't really like that option. Even if I don't lose I still have a victory of what I already lost and will never put back on. And when I start losing again I am continuing and I don't have to start from square 1.


Staci, I know you lost weight faster than that before, but maybe your body doesn't work like that anymore. Remember that you just gave birth and maybe your hormone levels are not back to normal yet. Also everybody I know noticed that they gain weight after they wean, I'm not sure if you're bfing or not, but that's something to consider too.


I gained weight when I religiously

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-25-2004
Thu, 07-06-2006 - 9:51am

Thank you for your encouragement. I've just never had this experience before and it's so frustrating to me. The scale actually showed a full % drop in body fat, so I have gone from 242 and 42% body fat a couple weeks ago to 241.5 and 40% today, which is great, I think. I think I am going to revise my July goal to be to drop 8 pounds OR 3% body fat (from 41% to 38%), because 3% body fat is about 7.5 lbs of fat, so pretty much equal to, if not better than the 8 lbs. That means I have about 25 more days to lose 2% more body fat.

I am so proud of myself that I have done my exercising so regularly that I don't want to stop, even for just one day, but I kind of want to take a break to see if it helps. I also do a lot of walking, sometimes with big hills, sometimes with small hills pushing the stroller, and I use my exercise bike on maximum or near maximum resistance and I can really feel it in my legs. Plus, I've been doing the stair stepper or climbing flights of stairs at work, so my lower body muscles are really getting worked. I got a new work out DVD in the mail yesterday, so I may give myself a break from the other stuff and just try that tonight, I guess I will just have to wait and see.

I am still doing really well on my eating, although I have decided to try and get my upper limit of 1800 calories in for the rest of the week so I can make sure I am properly fueling my body. Next week I may switch it up and do some super low calorie days mixed with 1800 calorie days, just to keep my body guessing. Part of me wants to drop to 1000 calories a day like I've done in the past, but I know that's not really that healthy for me, and I know that once I do that, I'll just fall into the trap of going lower and lower until I'm down to 700-800 calories a day, and that's not nearly enough. I'm still religiously keeping my food journal and keeping track of my exercise, and I have decided that if I go for the rest of July and don't lose any weight, I may contact my GP about getting a physical, just to check everything, especially my thyroid. My maternal grandmother lived with a thyroid condition that left her sluggish and changed her from a size 2 to a 12 in a year before she was finally diagnosed. Not that I'm going to blame it on my thyroid, but like you said, my hormones may not be back to normal yet and I know that pregnancy can cause thyroid problems for some people. I'm really hoping that when I weigh in and do my measurement on Monday I will see a loss SOMEWHERE. If I can see the measurements going down even when the scale isn't, then it's an accomplishment. I mean, my the scale can only stay stuck at one place for so long when my body fat's still going down, right? Shoot, even if it doesn't, I would be more than happy to be at 240 and 25% body fat if that's how it has to be.

Thank you again for all the encouragement, and you are an inspiration because you have stuck it out so long when you saw long stalls, I've always admired that. I guess I will just have to try to be more like you :)!

Staci


 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2006
Thu, 07-06-2006 - 10:49am

Staci,

I definitely know how frustrating it can be, and it has taken me so long to post cuz I didn't know what to say to you, but you are so right about if you see measurements go down and body fat go down it is a HUGE accomplishmet. My scale that measured body fat broke and the one I have now doesn't measure it so...I am depending on the scale and measuring but like you if I can be trim at 200 something lbs I will be happy. I know from past experience it is possible. When I used to be a workout fiend I was almost 200 lbs but very lean. And until I got up to 220 or so (I got pg about here and quit working out) I kept muscle instead of fat so don't beat yourself up okay. You are doing so great, and the scale will move eventually!!

Mary,

Yes you gotta love your memory, geez i wish I had a good memory like that....LMAO

ANgela

 

Angela

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-25-2004
Thu, 07-06-2006 - 11:50am

Mary and Angela and everyone :):

Thank you all for your support and encouragement :)!

I was a bit down yesterday and am still a bit annoyed with the scale, but I'm finally seeing some of the positive in what I'm doing and I am going to stick with this.

I don't know what's happened, but I think it's become almost impossible for me to stop exercising! LOL! I woke up and really didn't feel like exercising and told myself I didn't have to because I felt tired all over and was just going to do a workout DVD tonight. Instead, I got bored and took a 2 mile walk! In some ways I want to give up the exercising just to see the numbers go down on the scale, but even more than that I love the way it makes me feel, and I love feeling how firm my thighs and leg muscles are getting. For the first time EVER I think my butt is actually starting to look nice and shapely, so I can't stop now!

Oh yeah, the 40% body fat is the lowest I've EVER seen my body fat % go since I got this scale over 2 years ago (except when I was preggo and 290) even when I weighed 10 lbs less last year, so I'm proud of that. My ultimate goal is to get down to 180 lbs and 30% body fat, or the equivalent, which would be like 200 lbs and 27% body fat. I know being 200 would put me at still being overweight if not obese, but the last time I was at 200, I was a juniors size 11/13 and probably had more than 27% body fat, so I'd be very happy there, I think.

Thank you all for your support and encouragement :)!

Staci


 


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