I was excited when I hit the 20lb weight loss mark about 1.5 months ago. Yes, it was that long ago! I haven’t gained any weight and I haven’t lost any weight either. In the beginning, I wasn’t too frustrated with the standstill in weight loss. I figure, I’m doing what I need to do. I’m exercising, I’m eating right… the weight will continue to come off.
But I was looking over my Garmin stats a few days ago and was shocked at the following:
Data since June 9, 2008 (just a week before my 20lb weight loss)
Total Miles Run: 84.67
Total Time Spent Running/Walking: 18 hrs 50 mins
Total Calories Burned: 9851 (!!!)
So, with just exercising alone, I’ve burned enough calories to lose almost 3 whole lbs. And that’s just by exercising. That doesn’t include me regularly cutting between 250-500 calories a day from my diet.
That kind of got me frustrated and impatient. I’m not running ONLY to lose weight. I do have other goals, too. But with all this hard training and discipline with what I’m eating, I’m a bit flabbergasted as so why I’m still at the same weight I was when I started this second stage of training back in June.
I started poking around the internet and found some interesting articles on how to break a plateau. I’m really intent on losing another 10-15lbs by the time my half marathon comes around (which I think is reasonable).
Anyway, I’ve condensed the five top things I’ve found that are suppose to help you break through the plateau.
1. Zig-zag your caloric intake – cool tool here
2. Strength Training – something I’ve been totally neglecting =/
3. Change up your exercise routine – will be increasing intensity this coming August and will be throwing in two days of cross training
4. Change your macro-nutrient intake – switch up your carbs and proteins – keep your body guessing
5. Change meal frequency
I’ll be thinking about these things over the weekend and will hopefully have something implemented by next week. Wish me luck!
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July 27th, 2008 at 8:05 am
congrats Sheryl! you’ve accomplished so much! so dude, don’t obsess over weight. you can’t forget that you are getting stronger and gaining muscle — which means you might not lose pounds the way you want. just keep doing what you’re doing! :)
July 27th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
You have absolutely NOTHING to be ashamed of and EVERYTHING to be proud of! I bet less thant 20 percent of people your age are even exercising at ALL!
One more thing, watch your sodium intake. Don’t want to retain to much water.
July 27th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Thanks for slapping some sense into me, Theresa! =) I know I shouldn’t be so obsessed with the numbers. It’s just so hard to forget sometimes!
Thanks for the encouraging words, Andy! I’ll remember to keep a watch out on my sodium.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
[...] all that obsessing I did last week about hitting a plateau, the lbs started to magically come off these past two weeks. What a weird [...]