Mastering the Plateau!

It's been a few weeks now that I haven't lost or gained much. I'm hovering right around 250 pounds. I've been as low as 248 and as high as 252. I'm still struggling with late night eating as well as some poor food choices and while "Frogging" is an idea that I think will work; it seems to be proving a little uncomfortable.

I'm feeling good about the fact that I have been able to hold my weight and I'm equally pleased by the changes in my dietary choices. The uncomfortable part is the discipline it takes to "maintain" my weight, not gaining or losing, but staying at one weight level on purpose. 

In the past, I've always called this time a "plateau".

In the preceding link to the Mayo Clinic’s article entitled, "Getting Past a Weight-Loss Plateau, they describe the phenomenon of plateauing as, "A weight-loss plateau occurs when you no longer lose weight despite continuing with your exercise and healthy-eating habits."

For me, plateauing is something I'm trying to master now instead of fighting. I want to make lasting changes and I believe that controlling a healthy maintenance weight for a few weeks at a time will help me. Instead of rushing the weight loss process and failing again, I want to make changes for a lifetime.

So, for me, jumping from one weight loss goal to the next and hovering there for a while will increase my chances of success. I've never been able to just stay in one place with regards to my weight for any substantial amount of time. 

Learning the discipline of maintaining my weight has been an interesting ride for me so far. I'm becoming more aware of the difference between the number of calories it takes to lose weight verses maintaining it. 

I found this easy to use and helpful calculator that shows weight loss as well as weight maintenance recommended daily caloric intakes. It doesn't require you to sign up and it compares with several other calculators I found on line. 

So, whatever your weight loss choices may be I hope that you are successful in your goals. This isn't an easy journey, but it is one worth taking.