Plat-eau No!

I’m gonna say it.  Plateaus effing suck.  Not only do they make you question every decision you’ve ever made but they put you in a bad mood.  I hit a plateau recently and my scale didn’t budge for over 2 weeks.  I weigh myself every Thursday and take my measurements.  Thursday #1 I was down weight and sitting pretty at 225.8 lbs.  Thursday #2 I was UP weight and frustrated at 227.2 lbs.  I normally skip the gym on Thursday mornings as a day off but this week I had skipped Wednesday for a work thing and couldn’t afford another skip.  Therefore, I attributed this uppage to my pre-workout apple and 2 bottles of water.  Not a ginormous concern, yet.  Thursday #3 I was back down to 225.8 lbs.  SCREW YOU SCALE.  You’ve obviously bumped your battery and are reporting wrong.  Had I been perfect on my diet?  Nope.  Had I upped my workouts from 3 to 4 days per week?  Yes.  Was I sleeping enough?  Nope.  I think I was exhausted, y’all.  My normal gym partner was on vacation so I started waking up 30 minutes earlier to get in more cardio at the gym.  I was working out HARD the last two weeks and not getting anywhere near 8 hours of sleep per night.  This plateau really had me in a funk.  I wasn’t in a good mood, I was distracted at work and I overall was just feeling like a loser.  Every bite of food had me thinking about how I’ve been stagnant for 2 weeks.  This really sucks.  This is where the old Sarah would have a cheeseburger and fries for lunch because why not?  The weight isn’t coming off anyway!  This is where the old Sarah would eat her sadness and frustration in the form of a cupcake or cookie, whatever could make its way into her mouth fast enough.  Well, that bitch is gone.

My new motivational board!

By Friday after Thursday #3, it was time to reevaluate and I was determined to murder this plateau.  My goal date is set for 18 weeks from this point and I still have 26.8 lbs. to lose.  I need to cut the crap (well, it’s more like a tortilla chip here, a crouton there) and focus.  I figured out that I needed to lose an average of 1.6 lbs. per week in order to meet my next 2 goals (75 lbs. by bridesmaid’s dress #2 of the year and 92 lbs. by my 28^th birthday).  My average per week thus far was 2.2 lbs. but that includes the quick losses I had at the beginning.  I’ve talked about this goal so much that failure is not an option.  I want to weigh under 200 lbs. by my birthday.  I will weigh under 200 lbs. by my birthday.  I went home after work and made myself a motivational board with post-it notes of “you can do its!” and photos of the old me.  My favorite is probably the one that says, “Do it for the, ‘Holy shit you got HOT.’”  I also made a new chart that shows where I need to be week to week in regards to the 1.6 lbs. lost per week.  Over the weekend, I slept late, did housework to cleanse my soul and only went out to eat once.  On Monday morning, I woke up down 1.8 lbs.  Ahhhhh.  Take that, plateau! 

Plateaus will come and go throughout any journey.  It’s how you respond to them that’s important.  You can’t let them derail you or allow them to affect you negatively.  Do not call Dominos if your scale hasn’t budged.  Keep working and really dig in to what the issue could be.  Are you picking at foods you shouldn’t be?  Are you skimping on your cardio?  Are you overworking yourself into exhaustion?  It could be a combination of a lot of factors but it’s important to recognize them and make a change.