Achievement Unlocked: Below 280 lbs!

Starting Weight (SW): 299 lbs
Week 1 Weight Loss (WL):  7 lbs
Week 2 Weight Loss (WL):  10.4 lbs 
Week 3 Weight Loss (WL):  +4 lbs 
Week 4 Weight Loss (WL):  7.6 lbs
Total Weight Loss (TWL): 21 lbs

One of my milestone goals, self-imposed, was to lose 20 lbs. If I could do that I was confident I could lose 20 more, but I exceeded that. Even if it’s just one pound…it’s one pound I never want back on my body.

In my last post, Human Nature, I talked about the challenges of having a dip or plateau in your weight loss. I ended it with:

“That just means, provided you’re making healthy choices, your body is adjusting to the new direction. In the immortal words of Douglas Adams… DON’T PANIC!”

I am here to tell you that not panicking…was exactly the right thing to do.  I saw myself last week falling into that same Fibonacci spiral pattern of “oh no’s” over 4lbs.

For you math geeks, the Fibonacci spiral is a design is based on the Fibonacci sequence are the numbers in the following integer sequence. By definition, the first two numbers in the Fibonacci sequence are 0 and 1, and each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two.

There’s several sequences in between the second one and the last, but you get the idea. Four Fraking Pounds caused me to lose sight that I had lost seventeen. Your mind will play tricks on you. Don’t let it.

How does this relate to weight loss?

The problems in your brain begins with this one thought and then another. Those two thoughts join up and create a bigger problem. That problem adds the one before it and goes on. If you allow it to…it will detail you from your goal and all the work you put in.
Here’s the example that I used in the last post.

“Maybe I should juice again.”
“Maybe if I only ate one time a day.”
“Maybe I was never meant to do this to begin with.”

So what did I do to have such a big turn around?

I didn’t give into the spiral of worry, fear, or self-defeat. I kept moving forward with my plan. Eating healthy with a paleo like diet, making sure I keep in my walks, and, while I’ve failed the 30 day ab/arm challenge, I am finding ways to increase my movement from simply taking laps around a hotel while walking around a convention to asking “What can I do to help” when I see people needing help moving things. There’s always a chance to increase your movement even if you can’t get to a gym. Trust me, I’m doing a convention every weekend through October and if I can do it you can.

I wanted to leave you with one last thing that will help you. I have also learned a very valuable lesson that you’ve been told from day one, but sounds cliché as hell. Breakfast is the most important part of your day. The days I eat breakfast my I saw some decrease in my numbers the next day, but, most importantly, my energy and metabolism kicked way up.

If I can do keep up with it…you can do this too!