I hit 45 pounds a while back, and stopped. I know why I am not losing… 3 reasons. One is that i seem to stop losing at 45. It happened when i was on weight watchers. My first goal was 50 pounds, but I sat at 45 pounds for a month, even though i did exactly what I was supposed to be doing. I didn’t lose again will I dropped down below what i was supposed to be eating, and then loss was painfully slow.
Second, I am staying vegan but i am, unfortunately, becoming good at vegan junk food. Junk food is junk food. Almond butter is a failing. Almond butter is good for me, but, even though almond oil is good, oil is oil. I eat too many almond butter sandwiches.
Third, I am getting good at cooking vegan. That means there are few meals when i cannot think of anything to eat which means I am not eating raw as much. When I first started this I could not think of anything but raw veggies most of the time. Now I usually have cooked leftover in the frig and always have a can of vegan chili in the cabinet. Several times I have decided to get back to having cut veggies always available and having them for lunch every day, but then there will be that one serving of leftovers in the frig and I will opt for that. Today I had my tortilla soup… vegan with lots of beans for protein and so much better with quite a few baked tortilla chips. The raw veggies are right there on the shelf, all cut up and ready to go. I ate the soup and what was left of the chips.
Another problem, i suppose, is focus. I am working on getting the sewing room back together, and that is my focus, usually to the exclusion of everything else. That means I do not plan meals as well which means we eat out more and I tend to grab “something quick” when I am hungry. (An almond butter sandwich is quick and satisfying.) It also means I have not been going to the Y. You would think the work I am doing would offset the “Y” calorie burn, but maybe not.
It’s frustrating… but I am still convinced that I am going to get back to losing. And the vegan part is still good for me and easy to do. And the 45 pound loss still feels good.
An interesting note on the effect of the vegan diet on my body: My fingernails show it. I wish I could say they are stronger, but they aren’t. Right now they are so beaten up that they are very very short. But, a while back I noticed that the base of my nails was very white compared to the rest of my nail. I assumed it was the age of the nail and that they had always been that way. But very very gradually the white base seemed larger. For a long time I thought it was my imagination, that I just misremembered where the line was.
It wasn’t till it dawned on me that diet might have something to do with it that i watched the yellow growing more to the tip as the white band expanded, thinking I knew why. My nails are pretty much white now. Last time I looked, the yellow started just where they separate from the finger (which made it look like I never cleaned my nails). By now the yellow may be gone… I can’t tell unless I have brighter light than I have here.
Obviously my nails have always been a kind-of dirty yellow but with nothing to compare them with, I never knew the difference. Whiter nails are prettier.
I believe that would be the plateau period. In which nothing much seems to be happening and many get ddiscouraged. There’s a sign for an exercise place around here that says “Stronger than the Plateau.” I believe that applies to you.
I think the difference in working the sewing room and working the Y is that at the Y there is more constant/consistent motion. If you’re anything like me when cleaning a space, there is plenty of “hummm … where to move this piece to…” standing time.
🙂 Yes, plenty of standing time when cleaning… actually, for me, plenty of sitting time.
Happy to report that i have lost 2 pounds. I know that isn’t much but I have maintained it for a couple of days so I think it is real. I hope it marks the end of the “plateau.”
I made it to the Y 1 day 2 weeks ago, but have always been too busy “right now” to get back. I need to. Another good thing about exercise at the Y is that I move different muscles or move them in a different way. I have some stiffness I know from experience I would work out at the Y.
On a positive note, I have noticed that I can walk a little further and stand a little longer. It is not enough of an improvement that anyone else would notice, but I have been watching myself for a few days since I noticed, and I believe it is definitely true. I don’t know if it is because of the weight loss or muscle strength because, by necessity, I have been on my feet more… with sit-down time as needed, but then right back up.
Small gains…….