Thanks guys!
Matilda, I'm not so into the curves deal -- for some reason I've just never really bought into that, which is why I'd like to lose more. I may finally have to accept my hourglass shape, though.
myopicmike, thanks! Hope your weight loss journey goes well!
When I first rediscovered 3FC and came here back in May, it was looking at a lot of the Goal and Mini-goal stories and pics that got me fired up -- I wanted the same success other people were having, and it feels really good to taste that same success. You can do it, too! I think the hardest thing for me was being patient and not giving up, but I'm glad I didn't give up.
Gemini, that's so cool about your mom! Which part of the country is she from? We live near Innsbruck. There's a lot of fried and fatty food for sure (which my mother-in-law serves up every Tuesday when we go over for dinner. I just what I want and have learned to leave the rest. She knows that I eat differently now, and I don't think it offends her.) Sometimes I cook that stuff, too, though... I was just considering Hendl in Rahmsoße (Chicken in Cream Sauce), but decided on something a little healthier (roasting the chicken instead of frying it and drenching it in butter and heavy cream!
)
I consider myself just as Austrian as American so we have some fatty foods on both sides of the ocean... And with the holiday season.... all the cakes, cookies, breads, gingerbread, etc. etc. Ahhhhh! Fortunately I still managed to do OK. I didn't have a big loss, but had some loss and have maintained lately. Next week I'm hoping to get on the ball with losing this next 5-15!
As far as plateaus, aside from getting super frustrated
, I would first take a look at my eating. I would check myself, and see if maybe my eating needed some cleaning up. If so, I would make those tweaks and see what happened (making sure I wasn't snacking too much in the evening, or eating too much processed stuff, taking in too much sodium, etc.) I would also increase the amount of water I was drinking. Sometimes that would clear things up in a couple of days.
If I was still having problems, I'd look at my exercise. Had I been slacking off, maybe going down to 3-4 days instead of 5-6? If so, I would get back on the ball with that. Then I'd look at the quality of it. Was I getting at least 30-45 minutes? Or was I phoning it in, maybe doing 20 and calling it a day?
If I came to the conclusion that I was more or less doing the right amounts, I would switch things up. Had I been mostly running? Time to throw exercise on the Wii and more pushups and crunches here at home, and some time on the bike. Had I been pushing myself enough when I was running? No? OK, well then, more sprints in my running, then.
Basically it's just a thing of not falling into ruts with exercise, not letting myself get too lazy with exercise, and double-checking where I was at with my food intake. Sometimes when I would just get on autopilot it was easy to let my intake creep up and my exercise creep down without really noticing it. That's why coming to 3FC has been so good for me, because it reminds me to stay vigilant!
Either way, though, your weight loss is nothing to sneeze at! I remember how amazing it felt to lose the 30! Honestly at first, I was nervous that I couldn't do it, but I'm so excited that it did happen. I'm sure you can move on from your plateau. I've noticed that the longer the plateau, the better my body reponds when I shock it into getting going losing again -- that's the up side of plateaus!
lora m - thanks! I hardly ever made anything at scratch at all before I got married... it's great to have someone to cook for that I *want* to cook healthy, tasty things for... whatever motivates, I guess!
I love that you totally obliterated your goal weight.... I hope that I can do the same thing, in time!