Faux Plateau? – Last 10lbs 28/42

It was my fourth weigh-in this morning and I appear to have lost a grand total of 2 pounds in 4 weeks. For the first time ever I want to call PLATEAU!

I always lose weight when I put my mind to it, so I have to ask myself, have I put my mind to it in a 1.5 pound per week kind of way?  Or have I been giving it more like a half pound’s worth of my time and attention?

I think a red herring is that I have been exercising more than ever.  Even when I’m not journalling, I’m still going out for a three to five mile run.  That’s a lot for this old bod.  The other distraction is that I’ve blown a day or two but haven’t gone on to ditch the whole week.  I’ve been very quick to get back into a healthy routine. With all this positive stuff going on, even if the eating hasn’t been perfect, it just feels like I should be losing weight.

So the big question is:  How many of the past 28 days have I actually worked as hard as I need to work to lose 1.5 pounds in seven days?

• Week 1 – 5/7  The other 2 days were spent working out of town.

• Week 2 – 5/7  The other 2 days were of the “lost weekend” variety.

• Week 3 – 7/7  Impressive.  I should to see if I lied anywhere!

• Week 4 – 4/7 – but I blogged about that and actually didn’t get out of control on the non-journal days.

And the exercise?

• Week 1 – 10 miles of running, 1 mile of walking

• Week 2 – 10 miles of running, 3 miles of walking

• Week 3 – 12 miles of running, 7 miles of walking

• Week 4 – 14 miles of running, 4 miles of walking

And the weight loss?

• Week 1 – down 1.8

• Week 2 -0  – an in zero just in case that wasn’t clear

• Week 3 – down .6 for what, by all accounts was a perfect week

• Week 4 – up .4 – ok – well I did say I wasn’t going to lose this week.

So what’s the verdict? Is the plateau real or faux?

Eating: I did well with the eating for 21 out of 28 days, seriously over-ate on three days and ate moderately on the other four days.

Moving: The amount of exercise is amazing for me – but I never actually reached my target of burning an extra 1638 calories per week through exercise.  Hmmm I guess as I get smaller and closer to what I want to weigh, I’m just going to have to move that much more.

I’m sorry to say that this is a FAUX PLATEAU and need to work even harder if I want to get this weight off in weeks rather than months.

I’m not discouraged.  But I am determined. Let’s see if I can manage 4 pounds in the next 4 weeks.