Frustration in Progress Plateaus

Venting Time

I've been on this new wellness journey for exactly a month today. Though I've been thrilled with my initial progress, I have completely stalled out this past week, and it is driving me cocoa puffs! I don't understand what has shifted in my body, if it's due to my current medical issues, some kind of internal imbalance, if my body needs a different nutrition structure, or if I'm simply overworking myself. But for some reason I am suddenly tired all the time, workouts that were easy last week aren't even getting finished, my body is more sore than usual, and I'm taking more rest days than I have been. I can't explain it and it is killing my ambitions and motivation. I wish there was a button I could press that resets the human body to original factory settings, but that would mean this is a simulation and I'm not about to let The Source win (Matrix reference).

What am I Doing to Fix it?

• I'm connecting with a trainer and nutritionist next week to explore the physical side of this stall out.

• My doctor has assured me that my medical issues, though they exist and are related, are likely not causing this plateau.

• My therapist tells me it's possibly due to stress, that it can cause your body to stall-out if you're carrying too much of it.

  
  

My therapist knows about my blog now and recommended this little venting session, that it may help deflate whatever stress I'm carrying. After this I'm popping over to the beach for a nice sunset walk to hopefully continue this mental cooldown with the rhythmic tides. But we'll see how that goes because I have the patience of a small child and ADHD akin to a pinball.

My diet has been heavily monitored this whole time, taking in between 1400-1600 calories per day while maintaining a cholesterol, net carb, and sodium ceiling along with a protein floor. I'm drinking 6-10 16oz water bottles daily. Working out 3-4 times a week for 1.5- 2 hours each time. In the last 3.5 weeks I have lost 15 lbs. gained back 4 lbs. and lost 3 lbs. (14 lbs. net weight loss).

I'm still very overweight for my build, my doctors having told me that a good weight for my height/bone structure would be 225 lbs. So, stalling out around 280 lbs. is mortifying to me, causing me to question how hard it will be to lose weight as I get smaller if I'm already having difficulties early on. It's scary and stressful putting in all this work to change my life and not seeing continuous progress...

The Stats

• 1500 avg calories per day

• Under 150mg cholesterol, 150g of net carbs, 2,000mg sodium.

• Minimum of 100g protein

• Between 96oz - 160oz of water

• Gym 3-4 days per week (1-1.5 hours of weightlifting, 20-30 minutes of cardio)

Something to Remember

"Plateaus are a normal part of the weight loss journey. It’s important to listen to your body and make adjustments as needed. Stay patient and persistent and remember that overall health is the ultimate goal," says my doctor, personal trainer friend, therapist, basically everyone in healthcare that I know. It's so frustrating to hear that same boiler plate about MY health journey.

I'm going to keep working, I'm going to keep improving, and I'm not going to stop trying to be the best version of myself every single day. So, my encouragement to you, just keep trying to be better. As long as you're putting in the conscious effort to be your best self in whatever subject you're working on, you ARE winning.

Keep checking-in on my wellness journey, your keeping tabs on my progress is helping my motivation and I appreciate you so much for it.