Theory of the Plateau

If you look at my weight history from the last blog, from June 20, 2009 to November 20, 2009 I went from 295lbs to 251lbs.  Yesterday I weighed in at 250.6, granted that is usually at the high end these days so I would say I hover around 248.

My point is that is one pretty long plateau.    Is this my weight forever?  Maybe… but lets take a look.

In early December of 2009, for those of you that have been following along, I got a pretty bad case of gout.  It lasted not for days or even weeks, but 3 long months.  I’ve tried several things to try and get active, but the only way to keep my weight down was through nutrition.

For the most part I kept it up.  In spring time I finally started getting back to form.   Still the same weight though.  I look back and this is when I started more weight workouts.  This is where I hit the weights hard.  I took in whey to keep up my muscles.  So although I was not losing weight, I was getting skinny.  Weird huh.  I accept that as a good thing.

But here is the bigger reason… my body is just used to the strenuous workout.  Four miles is not a big deal anymore.  So I may be eating the same 2000 calories, but my body is lighter, and a mile used to burn 250 calories, now it burns 200 calories.  If you look at the past few months, the weight loss has been happening, albeit a slower pace.

My goals have changed too, I want to curl and bench more, the weight is in the back of my mind, but here is the real measure for me… as long as I can fit my 38 jeans comfortably, I am OK.  I will shoot for 36, maybe even 34, but in order to do that, I need to reduce my fat consumption… I eat OK and workout enough… yeah I can push more run more, but in my lifestyle, that is not sustainable, I cannot put aside 20 hours of working out a week.

Here is what I already do

• Sun 1 hour
• Mon 1.5 hours
• Tue 2.5 hours
• Wed 1 hour
• Thu 0.5 hour
• Fri 2.5 hour
• Sat 1.5 hour

That is 10.5 hours (hope my math is right).  That is a lot, and to be honest that is a conservative estimate and does not include preparation, travel, and cleanup time.

At least the good news is like I said, I am not really on a plateau… its now a gradual decline.

Ran a 5k today. I am pretty sure I would have been under 35 if I was not blocked by a student driver, my mp3 player didn’t fail and a lady and her dog did not take the entire sidewalk almost tripping me.

Time:  35:12

My weight is OK… part of the reason why I posted on this subject.

Weight: 248.6