Turn that negative into a positive!

I have mentioned in the past that I tend to be a scale-aholic, which is why I have only been weighing in every three weeks. Since I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday I had to get on the scale, and it read 191. If you remember my last weigh in was almost 2 weeks ago and my weight was at 190.4 lbs. So of course I went into defensive mode and started making excuses. Its a different scale, I just ate lunch, I have all my clothes and shoes on, and so on and so on. So this morning Brandon and I went to the weight room at our gym and did some strength training. I saw the scale on the far wall so I decided to check my weight again, and prove that the doctor's scale was off. I stepped up and almost cried when I saw 190. In almost 2 weeks I have lost next to nothing. I again immediately started making excuses. As soon as we got home I had Brandon get the scale out (since he hides it from me) so I could see if maybe my scale has been off this whole time. Again, my heart sank when I saw 190. Ladies and gentlemen, I have officially hit my first plateau! I got really upset at first. I have worked out and stayed under my calorie goal every SINGLE day since my last weigh in, and I felt like it was all wasted. I was in a really defeated mood until Brandon knocked some sense into me. I love him for that! He told me that I knew that this was going to happen eventually. I have been doing the same routine for 12 weeks now, and my body has gotten used to it. He told me that it is time to change up my workouts and keep my body guessing. I also need to make a few slight adjustments to my diet, nothing major but there is room for improvement there. It took me a couple of hours to process everything, but I decided that Brandon was right. This is the point where I can get discouraged and quit, or I can use it as fuel and step it up a notch. I have decided to go with the latter. So, today when I was at the gym for the second time I skipped the elliptical and opted for the treadmill instead. I need to push myself to the point of uncomfortably with my workouts, because if they don't challenge me then I won't see results. So instead of just walking at a brisk pace, I walked a quarter mile and ran a quarter mile, walked a quarter mile and ran a quarter mile. I did this up until the last 10 minutes of my workout because my hips were giving me some trouble (nothing a good stretch couldn't take care of.) So, I ended up running 20 minutes and walking 40 minutes. I am quite pleased with that considering how little running off the elliptical I have been doing. I have even decided to register for The Color Run in October. Even if I have to walk some (which I am not planning on doing) I am going to run that race. Hitting this plateau has given me a new determination, and it is just what I needed as I am about to hit the halfway mark of reaching my goal.

Thanks for reading,
Sarah