The weekly weigh in, week 22

it had to happen sometime. I've hit the inevitable plateau. Part of making a diet work for me means that following a diet plan to a T doesn't mean I've been good, and eating whatever, whenever and however I want doesn't mean I've been bad. Those feel like character judgements to me, and part of getting healthy means getting away from linking my character to my appearance or a performance that isn't absolutely perfect. However, I know by now what works when it comes to weight loss, and I chose this last week to do what works. I kept within my available points. I drank my water. I did little things like take the first available parking place rather than circle around and wait for one close to the door. If the body's logic were as simple as a diet program, I should have have lost more weight then the .2 pounds I did lose.

.2, point two, Point Two Pounds. Geez, Louise. That's 3.2 ounces. (Maybe I should have taken off the chunky turquoise and silver earrings and shot for a full quarter pound.) No, I'm not happy, but I'm not all that upset either. Plateaus are inevitable, and honestly, I should have already had one by now. A 46.4 pound weight loss is fairly significant, and I've lost at the rate of just over two pounds a week. That's a good healthy rate of loss, and I need to keep that bigger picture in mind, instead of just losing 10.2 pounds over the last 11 weeks.

What it takes to get off a weight loss plateau is a little extra effort. I need to exercise more. That's been a very irregular thing for me, but now that I've got more energy, exercise is starting to sound appealing again. I know that I need to cut back on the Diet Coke, but that will feel like a real sacrifice. It was hard enough to switch from the real thing to the we'll-just-pretend-this actually-tastes-good version, and I'm not sure I'm up to that now. The key thing for me now is not to let the plateau feel permanent when it doesn't have to be.

And as a reminder to myself, here are some things that my weight loss has brought me that just feel exciting. I'm back to walking at a quick pace now. My feet and knees don't ache with every step after just minutes. The womanchild had to ask me to slow down the other day. That hasn't happened in years. I feel more graceful. To be accurate, that should be less clumsy, but I'm going to be very positive now. I no longer have to shop in stores that just cater to fat ladies. I'm still pushing the limits of sizes available in department stores, but I can shop where normal people do again. I have a neck, instead of just chins, and wonder of wonders, I'd forgotten that I have high cheekbones. The biggest change, I may be able to quit taking high blood pressure medicine. I'm flirting with the normal range again. I've definitely got reasons to work on this more diligently and keep up my success.

This week's loss: .2 pounds. Total loss: 46.4 pounds. Average weight loss per week: 2.1 pounds.

diet, weight loss, Weight Watchers