I think I ‘hit the wall’… and I’ve proceeded to pound my head against it for 3 weeks. No weight loss in three weeks!!! Eeeeeek. What am I doing wrong? I’m hitting the gym 4-5 times/week, kicking up or changing my workout every day so my body doesn’t get used to it, calorie counting, drinking only water & tea. I’ve plateaued and need to make some changes if I want to lose these last few pounds. Two pounds. Two measly pounds are the vain on my existence right now…. and they just won’t go away! Well, three if you count the pound I gained back this week…
Workouts: 5 workouts this week should feel like an accomplishment, but really I feel like a slacker for missing two days in a row. I almost didn’t go Wednesday because Vinay got stuck in traffic on his way home so Erin and I didn’t get to the gym until 7:30PM! I so just wanted to throw in the towel and sit on the couch, but we didn’t! We sweat it out and tried a new routine. Plus, we hit the gym last night in anticipation of Super Storm ‘Nemo’ cancelling our Zumba class tonight.
- Friday (1/25): 60 min Zumba!
- Saturday: 60 min 1.5mi run (16:54 PR), walking, abs, stretching
- Sunday: 45 min. at the gym: spin bike 30 min, row machine, abs, stretching
- Monday: rest.
- Tuesday: rest.
- Wednesday: 75min. HIIT 20min, weight machines, squats w/bar, stretching
- Thursday: 45min. HIIT 25min, weight machines, stretching
I logged into my account for the gym and it shows me all my visits since I signed up. 36 visits in 14 weeks. That’s it?! That’s an average of only 2 1/2 visits a week. Yikes. I thought it would be way more that that. I mean, I have kicked it up a notch lately, compared when I first went, but man that seems just lame and like I’m really not trying. But I am! Maybe it’s the weekends away and holiday vacation in VT that makes the difference? Plus the week Avery was sick recently… no gym that week.
My Goal: Break 130lbs by February 22nd.
Week 13 Weigh-in: 132.4 …. ugh! I gained a pound since last week. How does that make sense? I feel like one of those Biggest Loser contestants that gets on the giant scale and after a week of beatings from Jillian Michaels, I GAIN weight! How is that possible?!? So discouraging.
Weight Lost: 5lbs with only 2 weeks to go, my confidence in reaching my goal is at an all time low. It’s like I lost the past 5 weeks, because I’m back to my weight at week 9. I know I’ve done a few ups and downs over the weeks, but this is the first serious plateau.
BMI: 24.6
Calorie Counting: I was thrilled to jump back on the calorie counting train two weeks ago. Now it’s really hitting me. I CRAVE chips and crackers and rice… all the stuff I should’nt (and don’t!) have. I’ve swapped carbs at night for greens, and when I do need to indulge, it’s only a little bit, and within my calories for the day. But man, is this getting hard!!! Some days I just want to hide my phone and not log anything… but then I know it’ll all be for nothing. But darn it, it’s so hard to eat well!!!! I don’t starve myself, but I make much healthier choices. I did slack off this past weekend, and didn’t log my cals. But I made good food choices and did the math in my head and I know I was still under.
Next Week Goals:
I’m struggling on how to lose these last few pounds. I thought I was doing everything I could…..What does anyone do when they need answers? Google it! I found a few suggestions on WebMD, from Dr.Oz, & Prevention. These are the 6 tips I started implementing Thursday, and will continue to see if it’ll bring me off my plateau…
- Get FITT & HIIT. (frequency, intensity, type, and time) & HIIT (high intensity interval training). Instead of doing endurance runs or bike rides, I’m going to do intervals, which can burn up to 66% more calories! Plus, extending my working by just 10 minutes will burn an extra 100 calories.
- Find hidden fat calories. Since I’m already logging my food, I can look back at what I’ve been eating and I can shave 100 cals/day by cutting something high in fat cals. Maybe cheese snacks after work? I should have an apple instead.
- Measure it. Time to take out the measuring cups and check in on my portions sizes. I’m sure what I ‘think’ a cup of cheerios is…its probably more like 1 1/2 cups. I’ll take an extra minute every meal to do this.
- Never eat carbs at night or past 3 p.m. for that matter. I cut carbs one week and lost like 3 pounds that week. I gotta get back into that. Instead of a bed or rice or pasta under my meat for dinner, it’ll be lettuce!
- Supplement. Replace a meal with a complete protein shake; this is also one of the best ways to boost your metabolism by 25% as well as improve your health! I got a low carb, high protein shake this week and I’ll start substituting breakfast every morning with it!
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Lift Weights. This can burn 30% more calories and increases the metabolism. I haven’t done weights in over a week… I gotta do that more!
How do you kick those pesky last couple pounds? Do you hit the gym more? Do you eat less? Help!
RatnamResidence 
I think you look great! And you’re making an effort to eat healthy and working out so that’s what’s important. So as far as 2 lbs goes, the number doesn’t matter as long as you’re on the right track so don’t beat yourself up about it.
Though, I never did buy into the whole low carbs hoopha. If so, all of China would be obese 😉 We eat rice almost every night for dinner. We’re on a high carbs, lots of veg, moderate meat, and low dairy diet. The only exercise I do is running after Caleb and I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight within a year. Though these past few weeks, lots more meat and cheese did make it into my house and into my belly. Long story…haha. I’ve gained 3 lbs.
haha. i’ve been more-so into to the rice with every meal since I married an indian. our rice cooker lives on my counter top… never gets put away! And three pounds isn’t bad… my weight flutuates up to 3lbs a day, so no worries 🙂
Hang in there! I think you look great and try to not get too caught up in the number game. Muscle weights more than fat, etc can really cause you to not know where you stand. Focus on how you feel and how those clothes fit. 🙂
Thanks. I’m starting to think I’ll never reach the number goal, but I’m gonna keep hitting the gym cuz it’s a great stress relief and I’m feeling pretty darn good.
Weight plateaus SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! I just went through one myself about a month ago. The best advice that I can give is to just stick with it. It looks like you’re maintaining a healthy routine, and sometimes the body just takes a while to start burning fat again. About the only thing that experts can agree on about weight plateaus is that they occur without provocation, and they will eventually give way to weight loss if you keep with the healthy routine. It’s super frustrating, especially when you’re so close to your goal, but I promise there is a light at the end of the tunnel! 🙂
thanks for the encouragement 🙂
You look great! Don’t be too hard on yourself! Walking for 30min-1hr every day helps me… It’s like good for the body without me even really trying. 🙂
you’re right, even a little exercise is better than nothing. On days I feel warn out from a screaming teething toddler and a full day at work, the last thing I wanna do is drag my butt to the gym, but I do, because when my workout is done, man do I feel good!