Week Nine: The physical barrier and the plateau

It's March 29th and I have not lost a pound in three weeks!  In fact, I gained a pound.  My first reaction made me think - WTF!  I am eating clean, I am working out, and I am turning down dinner dates and happy hours left and right.  It just seems so unfair and frankly I want to give up.  If I am going to work hard and not lose weight, then why not just have a cocktail or an ice cream cone.  To hell with it.

I was lucky to have found a new vision for my fitness and overall health a couple weeks back.  I had realized then that this was a life change and not just a three month challenge.  I was not going to starve myself or live on protein shakes for three months to lose weight, just to gain it all back.  And though I was super bummed that my work did not seem to be paying off by the numbers on the scale (the measure in which I would be rewarded or not), I did know that I could ROCK OUT AT THE GYM!

I am 185 lbs. of (mostly) rock solid muscle.  And any fat that has clutched onto my body is reason for me to keep working hard.  And I like working hard.  There is something so satisfying about working out and sweating, it is like melting butter in a sauce pan.   My jiggles melting away at each curl, jump, press, squat I perform.  And you can't judge me by my size.  A person who might look fitter than me likely is not.  They are probably not going to the gym six days a week and eating lean protein and vegetables as a religion.  So now the numbers I look at are the speed on my treadmill, the miles I have run, the weight on the machine, and my heart rate monitor.

 

I did inquire as to why I would possibly have such a hard time moving the needle.  I needed to know and I got answers.  Your body is a well-oiled machine.  It is smarter than any computer or man-made machine.  After a couple tries at an activity, your body has it down.  If you work out a new muscle or try a new activity, it puts a bit of stress on your body.  Let's use the TRX ropes as an example.  If you don't know, they are hanging ropes with handles to allow you to do exercises like push-ups, pull-up, and squats etc. lifting your own body weight.  When I first started, I felt as if doing 10 pull-ups was going to literally kill me.  I would sweat, be out of breath, and fatigue fast.  But now after some time, I can do TRX pull-ups all day.  My body had gotten to its fittest at that particular exercize and I was not stressing my muscles so thus not sweating away the pounds. Your body can only get so fit, so you have to continue to change up the exercise and stress a new part of your body.  The same idea goes with diet.  To get over this plateau we have implemented heavy weights, which are new for me, and changed-up my diet by adding juicing.

Skipping ahead 2 weeks, I lost 6 lbs. If you're going to the gym and hopping on the elliptical 5 days a week and can't ever seem to lose weight, now you know why.  Try something new.  And ladies, don't be intimidated by weights, you have far more variety and can work out individual parts of your body.  And you might just look as bad ass as this vintage weight lifter!

Week 9: 186 bs.   (but no sweat, I got this!)