Self-inflicted Plateau

Hi fellow VBG'ers... I am happy to announce that my self-inflicted plateau has been vanquished! Woo Hoo -- I have finally lost weight again after 10 agonizing weeks of not losing weight!! I had stopped exercising about 10 weeks ago. I am now just beginning my 4th week of regular exercise. Last week was the big pay off -- I lost 4.5 pounds! My goal for this week is to walk 7 miles during the week. I hope to see a loss of weight next week as well. I must say that I feel better mentally as well with the regular exercise. I was starting to feel pretty "blue" and did not connect the lack of exercise to that feeling. Anyway... let the good times roll!! Best Regards and Happy Holidays to you all!! Sharon Chute -121#'s

Sharon, I can understand! I have been on a plateau for months, all because I am not getting in enough excersize. Wow its a dangerous circle we put ourselves in, getting depressed, turning back to bad habits.. as of TODAY I am no longer allowing myself to do that! I have avoided this board because I have felt like a failure but I will be D*MNED after all I went through to get this surgery, that I will loose out on the greatest gift of all...GETTING THIS WEIGHT OFF!! Today is the day things are going to change! I am so happy for you that you are losing again...soon, I will be too!! God Bless!

Good Morning Susan, Thank you for responding. It is nice to hear from you. I had a realization during my 10 weeks "off the program" and it is that I basically didn't gain any weight and I wasn't really watching what I was eating. I don't feel like my eating was out of control... but I wasn't counting calories/carbs/protein. So this was a good thing. It tells me that continued weight loss depends on me. I started off slow with starting to exercise again. The first week I challenged myself to walk 2 miles total during the week and believe it or not... it was hard. The second week I challenged myself to walk 3.5 miles and it was hard. After completing 2 successful weeks I told myself I would walk 5 miles (Thanksgiving week... what was I thinking??) and again it was hard. I actually had to walk 2.78 miles on the last day of the week to get it done. But there was no way that I was going to fail myself. I have NEVER walked that much in one day!! I certainly amazed myself that day! I thought for sure I would not be able to move the next day... but I was fine and even walked a mile. My challenge to myself this week is to walk 7 miles. Today is day 3 of my week and I have walked 1 mile each day. I will probably walk more than a mile today since it is still so early here and I already have my first mile in. My goal for next week is to walk another 7 miles. After next week I will begin slowly addressing my eating. I will probably work a week at my breakfast choices and build up from there slowly. Recently I have been thinking that I don't need to necessarily "diet" for the rest of my life. But I do need to get down to "goal" and then I just need to maintain!! So what that means for me is I have to work HARD now to get to goal and then I can readjust my plan so that I maintain my weight. This is the first clear thought that I have had that I will not be heavy forever! I actually have thoughts like... hmmm I wonder what it would feel like to be strong and lean?? What would that be like?? And now I can actually see myself accomplishing that if I believe in myself and want it bad enough. I certainly "check-outed" the last 10 weeks. But now that little vacation is over and I am checking back in. I want this and I deserve this and I am willing to do the work to get it done. I have gone back to my individual therapist and we are working on getting me back on track with my weight loss and working on a long range plan for my house (which I hate and is a wreck). Basically I am trying to line my life up for some successes to roll on in. Best Regards to you... Happy Holidays! Believe in yourself Susan and you can do anything... Sharon -121.5# (today)