There's something very fundamental and cathartic about white-knuckled determination - focusing the mind and bashing through barriers to hit goals. I love the challenge of discipline, and that's how I've managed to lose about 25 pounds or about 11.5kg over the past 6 months.
This weight-loss journey has been the slowest of the three diets I've ever embarked on. Not aided by a dietician or meal replacement shakes (they work), I've been doing primarily food choice and intake management. This means I eat normal balanced meal with carbohydrates, protein, fiber etc and reduce portion size, increase frequency of eating, adjust way of cooking, take in more water, and lighten salt and other sodium and sugar laced seasonings. It is far more sustainable as a lifestyle and tastebud change, and studies do show that weight loss is more about what we eat than what we burn working out. You may recall this article in The New York Times making the same point, but do note that the author is a professor of pediatrics...and that's not the field of weight loss or whatever that may be called.
However, I've been sitting on a weight plateau for several weeks now. My weight goes down, and it comes back, yo-yoing within a 3-pound range. Too many times I've peeked over the edge of this blasted status quo, only to be pulled back by a "bad meal" or irregular meals on a business trip.
Supportive friends and family members have been unanimously complimentary and contribute to a very celebratory feeling about what I've been able to accomplish so far. I pause to give myself credit, but never for long. I am working harder not to lose sight of my goal. I am still 10 pounds away.
I guess I am just facing my own heartbreak hill of the Boston Marathon. Or less dramatically, the inertia of small successes. I could well stop my journey here since the plateau suggests I can maintain this weight very easily with the current lifestyle that I lead. But I refuse to be a giver-upper. I want to plough on, reach my goal, and stay on that other plateau sustainably.
So no before-after photo yet. Pressing on!
This weight-loss journey has been the slowest of the three diets I've ever embarked on. Not aided by a dietician or meal replacement shakes (they work), I've been doing primarily food choice and intake management. This means I eat normal balanced meal with carbohydrates, protein, fiber etc and reduce portion size, increase frequency of eating, adjust way of cooking, take in more water, and lighten salt and other sodium and sugar laced seasonings. It is far more sustainable as a lifestyle and tastebud change, and studies do show that weight loss is more about what we eat than what we burn working out. You may recall this article in The New York Times making the same point, but do note that the author is a professor of pediatrics...and that's not the field of weight loss or whatever that may be called.
However, I've been sitting on a weight plateau for several weeks now. My weight goes down, and it comes back, yo-yoing within a 3-pound range. Too many times I've peeked over the edge of this blasted status quo, only to be pulled back by a "bad meal" or irregular meals on a business trip.
Supportive friends and family members have been unanimously complimentary and contribute to a very celebratory feeling about what I've been able to accomplish so far. I pause to give myself credit, but never for long. I am working harder not to lose sight of my goal. I am still 10 pounds away.
I guess I am just facing my own heartbreak hill of the Boston Marathon. Or less dramatically, the inertia of small successes. I could well stop my journey here since the plateau suggests I can maintain this weight very easily with the current lifestyle that I lead. But I refuse to be a giver-upper. I want to plough on, reach my goal, and stay on that other plateau sustainably.
So no before-after photo yet. Pressing on!
Keep up the good work Linda!! Sharing a personal story like this is never easy, and I think it's courageous and your determination is inspiring!! :) Cheering on from Buenos Aires!
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