Mr. Munch is flitting around the house trying to tempt me with dried apricots and a small piece of dark chocolate. I thwarted him somewhat, by including those two things as key ingredients for the kids' "surprise sandwiches." Peanut butter, strawberry jam and today's surprise ingredients. I might have hinted to them that the next time might feature M&M's.
I'm wearing a shirt that hasn't fit for almost a year. Not only was it too snug at tummy and bust, but the short sleeves were way too tight. Not anymore. It fits well and I feel good in it. I keep snatching glimpses of it in the mirror to remind myself that I don't really want to snack mindlessly. I want to keep on losing and toning and being able to wear cute stuff from the closet.
My Splenda campaign is going swimmingly. I've set a goal to limit my added Splenda intake to two packets/day. This morning, I'm proud to report, I had my shredded mini-wheats sweetened with . . . peaches!! SCORE! They were great, as is. I've got a few more weeks of peach season to learn to enjoy the taste before I face naked shredded wheat sans Splenda. Think I can do it? I do.My WI is tomorrow and I have, in the past, managed to sabotage my good week with senseless, day-before-WI high-salt snacks. Get out of my face, Mr. Munch! I don't care that there's a package of indivual chip bags in the garage. I'm not gonna play your games today.
I'm not entirely confident that I will actually lose anything tomorrow. I sure want to and my weekly loss usually only shows on the scale on the very last day--all at once. Even if I'm not going to lose, I don't want to add to any possible gain by blowing it today. I feel that I've been following my plan closely enough to have earned a loss. Exercised 45+ minutes for 6 of 7 days; OP every single meal of the week; eating more slowly at dinners; cutting down Splenda; keeping portions under control. I'll for sure do my "last chance" Wednesday morning run before I go to my WI. I run every single Wed morning (no kiddo's) so if I didn't I would through things off.
At my WW meeting a couple of weeks ago the leader was talking about plateaus. She didn't say, but strongly implied that a plateau is indicative of some lapse in adherence to the program. I'm not sure I agree. I've had weeks where I was positively angelic, but registered no change at all. I do think that in the process of weight loss, there are going to be periods when your weight stabilizes for a few weeks before it starts going down again. Maybe the checking for discrepancies process that my leader suggested is a positive thing in any case, in that it's always useful to spot check things in any venture and you might just find something you can do better.
What do you think? Do you think that plateaus are a natural part of weight loss, or should they be seen as clues that one needs to mind the p's and q's of the Plan more closely.
Be sure to check in tomorrow evening to learn . . . the rest of the story!
Congrats on the shirt! I do not agree with her. Sometimes, that might be true. But I think that often we do everything right and the scale just stays stuck. Which is why I love the idea (thanks Cammy) that we should focus on what we can control rather than the number. But boy it can be frustrating! And sometimes a plateau does require a change in behavior to break through. Maybe our bodies adjust too.
ReplyDeleteHooray for better-fitting shirts! And weren't you smart to use it as a motivator? (I kind of knew that about you already.)
ReplyDeleteNo offense or disrespect intended, but I totally disagree with the implication that plateaus indicate a lapse or shortfall, as if we're doing something wrong. Sure, it's possible that we are off-track knowingly or unknowingly, and an extended plateau is a good opportunity to examine what we're doing and make adjustments as necessary. But it's also possible that our bodies are simply adjusting to our downward spiral.
Oooh, I just saw my name in Karen's post. Isn't she a sweetheart?
I'm with Karen & Cammy - I totally disagree with the instructor. Plateaus are a natural way for your body to rest. I also think your body is saying, "hey, if you'll leave me alone, I can be comfortable at this weight." But by sticking with your plan or if the plateau becomes unbearable, changing something to rev things up, the losing starts again. I'm plateaued (is that a word??) right now at 157, but I knew it was coming. I did the exact same thing last time. Isn't gonna happen again cause I'm waving goodbye to 157 for the last time!
ReplyDeleteI'm also at a plateau and have been for all of July. I'm going to change some things up for August. Just can't figure out what might make a difference.
ReplyDeleteBut I think plateaus are a normal part of the weight loss process. Since we all seem to have them now and then.
Not sure what I believe.... I think for the MOST part when the scale gets stuck it means A) nothing-could be hormonal fluctuations. It will even itself out in a few days. B) water retention, what are you eatting or aren't eatting? C) getting too used to your routine. Aka just going thru the motions. If you do everything the same each and every day, you find easier ways to get it accomplished. Body gets efficient at it and doesn't need to put much effort into it.
ReplyDeleteI think it is EASIER to say to yourself Plateau...but is that really doing ourselves any favors?
Don't know if yo are interested in giving stevia another try or not... but in case you are, here is my experience with it, after using it almost 15 years:
ReplyDeleteThe two most common reasons people don't like it are:
1) they buy a brand that just does NOT taste good, so they are doomed from the start. I buy NOW Brand pure white stevia extract powder. Very nice.
2) new users almost ALWAYS use too much. Hence, the aftertaste, or a bitter taste.
The solution: try a different brand and use less. We can't expect it to be as sweet as sugar. But if you would like to still enjoy a nice MILD sweet taste, it works great.
Tip for cereal:
Put your cereal in bowl. Pour your milk in separate little cup; add a TINY pinch of the stevia, and mix a little to blend in (I don't measure any more, but for 1/2 cup of milk, I'm guessing maybe 1/32nd of a teaspoon; you can always add more).
Then pour the sweetened milk with the dissolved stevia on, and it should taste mildly sweet, evenly distributed.
I love ice tea made with stevia; for 2 qts I use about 1/4 teaspoon.
I'm trying to use less splenda too... I still use too much daVinci syrups sweetened with splenda. :-O
Hope that helps,
Loretta
=^..^=
Hey! I want to see you in your pretty new BondiBand! lol ;-)
ReplyDeleteRe: plateaus... I never really hit a true plateau. Maybe one or two weeks I didn't lose weight, but it wasn't very often. But I did find that once I hit a certain number of pounds lost, weight loss slowed down significantly, especially the last 30 lbs.