Howdy!

[Syl]

Blah, I always feel awkward doing introductions.

 

Hi, my name is Emilie but I've grown rather fond of the name Syl ever since my days of being absorbed into the soul sucking abyss known as World of Warcraft (I'm currently a recovering addict of the game). I'm a married mother of two that loves to read, watch Doctor Who and crochet of all things.

 

So ever since January 1, 2012 (New Year's Day = most standard overused start date for weight loss ever haha), I've been on a weight loss journey. I stepped on the scale, saw 303 lbs and finally just said to myself, "That's enough. No more. Never again." And so it began...

 

I started eating healthier smaller more frequent snacks/meals (eat every 3 hours as opposed to morning, noon and night), drink water out the wazoo and exercising. My best friend and I started hitting up the gym practically every day and were mainly just treadmill users. About a month in she suggested that we do the C25K program and so we did. I of course, still being morbidly obese and way out of shape was just walking and walking faster for the "run" portions (think 3.0 and 3.5). I remember sweating like crazy going at those speeds though. It would completely figure that a month into that a mysterious knee injury would happen and that I would have to take it easy on the exercise until it felt better (I still to this day don't know what the hell happened as its not like I fell down or anything). So I rode the bike for the next two months because it had less impact on my knees but still allowed me to exercise.

 

She also suggested that we start lifting weights and so into the male dominated, sweat infused powerhouse of the weight room we ventured. Two females feeling incredibly awkward; one skinny fat and in all black, the other obese and in flamboyantly bright colors because she told herself it would make exercise more fun. Can you guess who I was? Haha

 

Around this time we were both getting ready for major international moves (we're married to the Army and it was PCS season and therefore time to return to the United States). But even after she moved, I still kept with it. I would go on what I liked to call "boredom walks", where I would put my son in his stroller and literally just walk circles around the perimeter of the parking lot while waiting for my daughter to get out of school. I'd do this for at least 30+ minutes 5 days a week on top of still going to the gym once my husband got home. One day, on one such walk, I had a complete and total stranger come up to me and tell me what an inspiration I am and how great I look with all of my weight loss (by this point I'd lost about 40 lbs). That was mind blowing as I'd never talked to this woman before in my life and wasn't even aware that I was being watched and could motivate people without knowing it.

 

So then we moved and visited with my husband's family for a month and I still kept with the exercising and lifting weights with the machines (because the hell if I was actually going to touch a free weigh *shudder*). Even once we finally got settled in our current home, I found the nearest fitness center and kept with it. I managed to run my first 5K last July in just under 45 minutes (I was still in the interval training portion of the C25K program and just listened to it as I completed the course). I was damn proud of my time too since I told myself before I started that I just wanted to try and finish in under 45 minutes and I did.

 

For the next couple of months, I started running a little longer and faster while on the treadmill and things were going great. Then October rolled around and I got a job...

 

I haven't had a job in four years at this point and so I was always so damn tired after getting off work that I didn't want to work out and therefore I didn't. The sad part is that my job is only a part time job and I was only working 4 hours a day back then. But it was just such a shock to my system to go from super lazy bones sitting on my butt all day long watching tv (when not at the gym) to actually having to stand on my feet for 4 hours straight. *Gasp* Woe is me, right? Haha I eventually got over that though and reminded myself that nothing about my body is going to change unless I make it change. So back to the fitness center I went and I got back into C25K...again.

 

Throughout that whole first year of my journey (which I now like to think of as a fitness journey instead of just a weight loss one because I want to be fit once I'm at my goal rather than just skinny fat), I lost 80 lbs, over 35 inches and 4 pants sizes.

 

Then at the beginning of the year, I decided to try something new. I was actually going to step out of my comfort zone and break away from the weight machines and go use the free weights instead. I bought a highly praised strength training book geared towards women and convinced myself that I could do this. It was only about a week or two later that I realized I would need an actual gym membership to accomplish this (which of course required stupid amounts of start up money) and so I waited. I finally got the membership in February and have been lifting ever since and I love it.

 

Now my current problem though, is that I seem to be stuck. I've been bouncing around with the same 5 lbs for the last 5 months and haven't really gone anywhere in inches either. I've still been tracking my calories and exercising but nothing seems to be working and so I'm just looking for some help, advice, suggestions, what have you. I know that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same results while expecting something different to happen (or something to that effect) but yet I still seem to have fallen into the trap. >_< So I ask you, fellow nerds (assuming you've made it to the bottom of this crazy long introduction), will you help me to stop being insane and to get all my numbers moving in the right direction again?

 

Now to see if I can figure out how to toss in a picture here...

Huzzah! It seems I did it right. I honestly feel a little forums challenged at sometimes but these ones seem really user friendly. So yeah, that's me through last year. Jan 2012, 303 lbs, May 2012 about 45 lbs down (and I honestly thought I looked good at that time but now I look back at it and just shudder) and Jan 2013 about 220 lbs give or take a few. From a size 24 to a 16.

 

And there you have it friends; me in a nutshell. A very large nutshell. Or perhaps more like the Tardis where it's bigger on the inside. Because I bet you had no idea that little itty bitty link was going to lead to something so long.

[Teros]

well first off, welcome.  Second off, congrats on how hard you worked.  third, you're looking great!  when someone plateaus it is for a few reasons.  Over my different weight loss journeys I've had plenty of stubborn plateaus. 

 

1) not challenging enough exercise.  If you can jog for 30 minutes, that's awesome.  but if you can do that every day in and out then your body tends to get acclimated to it.  So it could just be a simple matter of changing up your exercise routine or bumping the difficulty.

 

2) if you have gradually been boosting up your exercise and you're not changing anything, it could be that you didn't up your calories at the same time.  if you're working harder and faster, you need more fuel.  A lot of times this happens to ppl where they just aren't more hungry, yet are bumping up their workouts and not compensating with their food.

 

3) possibly letting foods slide.  if weight loss is going long term, it could be small little cheats adding up to keep you level.  an extra few candies here or there, an extra beer or two at a family gathering.  I'm not saying DON'T cheat- building cheats into your life makes sense since you're never going to be perfect- you can't go the rest of your life without ever touching pizza or cake or whatever your food vice.  but small amounts over a long period of time could be the culprit and you might not even notice it.

 

possibly tracking your exercise and making a food log/journal might be able to help you pinpoint the issue.

 

Also, it could just be your body is just getting used to being a certain weight.  I'm not sure what your ideal is, but your body might be more comfortable with a few extra pounds and those 'last few' will be extremely stubborn.

[Syl]

Yeah I'm fairly certain that it's more of a combination of the three rather than my body being comfortable being 60-70 pounds overweight still. Haha I actually happen to know for a fact that I haven't been completely honest with myself in my food logging bc om nom nom nom candy. I'm working on being better at that again. I've also been working with my calories to see if maybe a higher number (not huge) would help and I didn't really see much of any difference, just a continued bouncing on the scale. I know that I try my best to eat back my exercise calories (as I'm already eating at a deficit for weight loss) and usually wind up with a protein shake. Hell, sometimes I'll go workout just so I can have the damn shake because it tastes good. Haha

 

It's just all highly frustrating but the important thing is that I'm not going to give up and will keep at it until I figure out what works. Because you can't level up if you stop playing. 

[Stubbs]

Hi, just wanted to say WOW! Just from those pictures alone, you did an amazing job! Really well done!

I'm completely new here, so I can't really give any advice. You seem really motivated though, so I think you'll do just fine once you get past the plateu!

 

EDIT: Oh one thing, have you tried swimming? It's really good exercise for the entire body, and it might challenge some muscles you currently don't use as much. I'll be trying to do some swimming training myself.

[Syl]

I haven't actually thought of swimming yet but that's definitely something to look in to. Thanks for the suggestion.