Sunday, November 04, 2007

Frustration = lack of motivation

Again I say: stupid scales.

It’s just a mediocre week for me. No huge loss to post about. No fireworks. No jumping up and down. A measley freakin’ 1/2 pound.

No doubt a direct product of the 2nd helping of chili and too many tortilla chips on Halloween and the too-many-to-count rum & diet cokes on Tuesday.

It’s been hard to be good this week with the holiday. I’ve gone ‘out’ 3 nights of the week. That’s completely NOT typical for me. Is this a sign of the holiday tragedies that are to come? Oh dear…

And I had SUCH a good start from my stellar weekend. *sigh*

And the thing is, I didn't even use all my flex points with the two aforementioned mishaps included.

The biggest bummer of it all is that for the entire month of October I have only lost 2.5 pounds.

That’s pathetic. This could be the first real plateau I've hit.

I think what worries me most is that at this rate I’m going to totally lose all motivation. I feel boredom starting to creep in.

But enough of my whining. Where do I go from here?

I’m doing great with my regular walking/jogging schedule. Especially considering last month, I walked 19 out of 31 days for a total of 143,000 steps or 63 miles. That averages 8,000 steps or 3.3 miles for each outing. I have logged so many miles in the past few months that I need new shoes! I’ve made a few visits to the gym for weight training and have thrown in some planks for good measure at home. Although I could definitely (and plan to) add more weights and strength training in November, this is awesome for me and what my body is use to.

I’ve been thinking about switching up the workout just to see what happens. I have The Firm setup I bought over a year ago and could barely use when I was 200+ pounds. I’m sure it will be much easier now. Just gotta figure out where in my cramped house I’m going to have room to set it up.

BUT… If it really is only 20% exercise and 80% diet…it MUST BE the diet, right?

I have gone back to tracking my points, flex included, like it’s a religion. I am consistent on my daily points (usually under by 1 or right on). I’ve never felt like one of those people who isn’t eating enough – it’s just impossible.

Lately, I have even been giving up the 1 and 2 point ‘treats’ I use to allow myself. I could probably stand to have a bit more calcium in my diet, but as for veggies and fruit intake, I’m always on track with my daily apple, carrots & celery, huge helping of spinach or greens for lunch and the same with dinner.

I rarely go beyond my allowed flex points during the week. Most of the time, I only use half of them.

I’m wondering if maybe I should try something different all together. As much as I hate the thought of anything far fetched from my normal way of eating, I’ve even been considering the South Beach thing. Or maybe I should just switch to the Core Plan for a while.

But before I give up on the points altogether, I am going to give one last honest effort next week. Record everything. Double the water intake. Go for the 12000 steps each time instead of stopping at 10000. Jog half of it.

Also, I've decided to switch my weigh in day to Wednesday instead of Friday. Hopefully this will curb my urges to splurge on the weekends knowing I only have 2 days to recover.

That's where I am. Those are my plans. Your suggestions and encouragement is welcome and appreciated!

2 comments:

Randi said...

Hey, even a small loss and slow losses are still going the right way so you better watch what you're saying or you'll jinx yourself. Losses do slow down as you've gotten smaller, you're body's used to all your tricks and wants to hold that fat even more. I think that a couple weeks of being strict with tracking and going Core-ish with your food (no 100 cal packs and whatever) on top of the exercising should remind your body of what's going on and who's the boss. Good luck!

Cory said...

1/2 lb is a good loss. It's much better than staying the same. And just think, you did have a net loss for the month, and that's movement in the right direction.
Like Randi said, a couple of strick tracking weeks should put you back on track. And the idea of changing up your exercsie routine with The Firm will be good for you too.