Reality

pla·teau

plaˈtō/

noun

          a state of little or no change following a period of activity or progress.

1. "Annie's weight loss has reached a plateau"
   

It's been almost 2 months since my last post.  

I'm not entirely sure why.  I don't have any real excuse other than "life just got busy".  I haven't stopped working out.  I haven't fallen off the healthy eating wagon. I just focused my energy on other things in my life for while and the blog went to the back burner. 

And, I hit the dreaded...PLATEAU.  (Read that in a loud, echoing voice)

I thought about writing an entire "pity party post" about how I found out in mid-June that my scale had been reading about 3lbs less than it should have for a few months so when I fixed it, I gained 3lbs. (Fake pounds feel like real pounds.) Then I got tired of the inconsistent weigh-ins and switched to my Retrofit Scale and gained 3lbs because of the difference in scales (more fake pounds)...and all of the traveling and holiday and birthday weight gain, getting sick, etc.  How I've been on a summer schedule which means earlier mornings and longer days every other week.  The house in chaos; I don't have the same energy and drive because I'm tired from work and life and the workouts that I have been doing and maybe I'm just a little burned out.  (breathe) I could go on and on and on about the excuses and the analyzing and supporting data for what's wrong with me and what I did wrong and how I've failed...but I won't, because I didn't.

The reality is, I've been gaining and losing the same 1-3lbs for almost 2 months.  My arms are stronger, my legs are stronger, my core is stronger.  I haven't lost any inches in the areas that I usually measure but things have shifted.

And for some reason, I'm extremely frustrated.  And I feel like a....FAILURE (Also read in loud, echoing voice)

Instead of turning around and seeing how far I've come, all I see is this long flat surface that I've been on for what seems like forever.  I guess what I haven't noticed is that I have made progress.  This is just a break.  My body is adjusting and waiting for me to give further instructions.  "Running, biking, push-ups, planks, bench hops, crunches, squats? Psshhh, I got that.  Gimme something else, Annie"

So what do I do?  I'm tired and I'm discouraged. And I don't want to give up.

I keep hearing my thoughts from a few months ago...

• What if I have to eat salads and workout 6 times a week in order to get to and sustain my goal weight?
• I need to be able to do something I can sustain or I'll fail because the above thought sounds like torture if it's a lifetime thing.
• Why is this so hard--am I doing this wrong?

I tried changing up my diet a little bit but with the summer hours and lack of time to even plan to make time to plan to make time to prep things, I failed at the diet change.  It stressed me out and I was so unprepared that I made desperate choices in desperate times and then rationalized it.  So I made a promise to myself that I'd make one or two diet changes at a time as to not completely derail myself.  

And I made a promise to myself to try to get a workout in, no matter what it was--even if it's a walk around the neighborhood and some body weight exercises on the living room floor after the kids to go bed.  

I will keep moving forward and have faith that this is not a plain, it is a plateau and it will eventually end if I keep moving.