New Beginnings

Well it has been way too long! In the past six weeks that I have not been writing I have reached my goal, gained a bunch back, lost it again, changed my goal to be more aggressive, given up entirely, and come back to the reevaluate stage again.

This week while in one of my sessions, a client of mine mentioned a theory she had recently heard that everyone has a "weight thermostat" in their bodies which kind of forces them to maintain a certain weight or body composition. That would explain why many of us plateau and struggle to get past certain milestones. 

I have heard this theory before in my own weight loss and fitness studies and it is my personal belief that, if the thermostat exists, it is PHYCHOLOGICAL rather than PHYSIOLOGICAL. Personally, I would feel much better about myself if I could simply say that my body is just set for 150 lbs and that is why I am stuck where I am but if I'm going to be really honest with you, 150 lbs happens to be the weight at which I begin to sabotage myself. I also see it with my other clients. I find that some people have a particular weight which, when they reach it, they simply stop progressing. As I have worked with these people and looked a bit deeper into my own progress, it boils down to a few mistakes we make when we reach our "set weight" and throw the breaks on our program. So here are the mistakes I have made in the past six weeks which I hope you can all learn from:

1) I got rid of my accountability - I thought to myself 'hey, I've made a lot of progress. I eat the same thing every day. No need to log.' I quit wearing my metabolic arm band because my activity was pretty static and I obviously stopped writing this blog and checking in with my workout buddy because I had 'made it'.

Here's the big problem with that mentality: I was only eating the same way every day because I was LOGGING it, I was only burning a ton of calories every day because I was MEASURING it and got competitive with myself to burn more and I was definitely going to be much more consistent when I had to tell people if I wasn't doing what I promised I would do.

Lesson learned: the time for more accountability is actually once you've already had some success and begin to feel complacent. It is much harder to motivate yourself if you are feeling entitled to a bit of a 'break'. Get your support group ready!

2) I decided to let loose and 'celebrate': there is nothing wrong with having a splurge every once in a while. My problem is, though, that I had my splurges AND stopped being held accountable at the same time. Essentially, I told myself that I didn't care anymore. I stopped my momentum dead in its tracks and had no mechanism to push the train back into motion

3) I decided it would be easier when ... : that's right everyone. Dispite my previous posts declaring that there isn't a magical day in the future where vacations, relatives, and social events don't exist and excuses no longer plague your thoughts - I succumbed. At first that magical day was called "NEXT MONDAY WHEN MY MOM IS NO LONGER HERE FOR A VISIT" the next week came around and I didn't miraculously have a burning desire to eat fruits and vegetables and lift weights for an hour a day. So I looked for another magical day which I called "NEXT MONDAY WHEN THE SUPER BOWL IS OVER AND I START MY NEXT CHALLENGE".  Can you guess what happened? The Super Bowl came and went, I had been not only eating junk but binging on it for over two weeks losing ground by the minute and I STILL hadn't magically transformed into a health nut!

4) I think my biggest mistake was getting rid of a clear and measurable goal: Perhaps subconsciously my mind decided that I would be too bored maintaining my goal so I on a subconscious level had to sabotage myself. My advice to anyone in my shoes is this: have a clear, measurable goal decided upon  BEFORE maintenance with a plan attached so you don't get there or get close and the aimlessly go back to what you were doing before. I've already lost 50 lbs. I don't want to gain it back just for the fun of having to lose it all again!

So I've realized the error of my ways and I am coming back to the fold. My new and measurable goal is  this:

I am going to log ALL of my food EVERY day until July 11th (the day I will compete in my first Olympic triathlon). 90% of the days between now and the triathlon will be under 2100 calories until I need to reevaluate my nutritional needs due to:

- getting below 135 lbs (I'll need to increase calorie intake to maintain)

- I may be weaning from nursing before the race (I exclusively pump which is EXHAUSTING but keeps me burning a TON of calories) 

- burning more than 3000 calories/ day with increased cardio training for the triathlon.

Each month that I complete with 100% food logging will yeild a prize (a PROCESS-based prize). And every time I hit a milestone in my weight loss, I will have a slightly bigger (or at least more desirable) prize (a RESULTS-based prize).

Currently, I'd just like to log everything that goes into my mouth between now and going to California for Spring Break in two-and-a-half weeks. My prize is a haircut because it has been WAY too long ... Excuse the pun in that, please....

See you next week with my post entitled : the Biggest Lie In Weight Loss!