A couple of weeks ago I was ecstatic that I saw 168lbs on the scale. That meant that I was now down 30lbs and that my hard work over the past 6 months was finally paying of. I was confident that I would make my original goal of 164 lbs and my vanity goal of 158lbs. I was confident that I would be proceeding into the new year at goal with the focus to maintain.

I started pushing myself even harder at the gym, eating more carefully - with my goal in my mind. I weighed in the following week...up 4lbs...WTH!!!! Looked back at my food journal and realised that even though my options were healthy - they were filled with sodium (beware of Subway's Turkey Breast & Ham).

Last week in a determined effort to flush out the sodium, I upped my water intake to 12 glasses per day and upped my workout. I weighed yesterday morning - only down 2lbs. Which means I now weigh 170lbs.

I was about to get frustrated this morning and throw in the towel and then I reminded myself ....this is not a sprint, its a marathon, a lifetime journey....and I am not going to let 2lbs set me back. I am going to eat more cleanly, exercise even more and focus on my health - hopefully the scale will respond soon.

What is more important to me now is how many days I remain "on plan" and string together good days. I know the scale will do what the scale will do and it sometimes doesn't match with what *I* do. I only have control of my actions, not the number on the scale.

wtg for sticking to it!

I can definitely 'empathize' with ya! You are right...we're in this for the long haul, so great to hear your sticking with it!

I think it gets harder for many people (myself included) the closer we get to goal, but that if we stick to our program during these tough times, THIS is what separates the success stories from the fails.

All the best!

***Oh yeah...one important thing I forgot to mention...SODIUM is a KILLER on weigh-in day! My sodium instake is about 1500-2000 mgs/day. Never user seasonings with sodium included...always measure out your sodium when cooking. You can retain up to 10 lbs of water weight with a diet too high in sodium..monitor this like you do fat, carbs, etc. and you'll start seeing a BIG difference***

It also helps to like where you are. That's hard some days! But there are days I look in the mirror and truly think, yeah, I've done something right. Those days keep me going too!

how do you monitor sodium? I find i'm having trouble doing this..I think i don't eat foods high in sodium but how do i know?