Weight Loss Plateau

If you've been on a weight loss journey for a while, you've likely encountered a weight loss plateau. You reached a point where you're doing the same thing that you've been so successful with, but now it's no longer working. Honestly, it sucks. If not careful, you can easily go back to old ways because you might end up thinking "this isn't even working, so why keep going?" Uh, you need to keep going because it was and is still working! If you're not gaining weight and you're not experiencing other negative health symptoms, it's still working.

In a past post, I wrote about the different diets I've tried and how they worked for me with weight loss. What I didn't go in depth with was how I dealt with plateaus. Frankly, I didn't really deal with them. When I hit them, I often just stopped the diet plan I was on and wound up gaining all the weight, plus some, back. So, as I continue on this carnivore/keto journey, I think about plateaus and how I should actually handle it so that I don't go back to negative habits.

I think about plateaus and how I should actually handle it so that I don't go back to negative habits.

Things are different this time. And I don't believe they are different just because it's a different diet, though, that could be a factor. I believe this time is different because I am not simply focused on weight loss. This time, I focus on healing and I'm tracking symptoms. My 'why' is not focused on looks. I'm focused on feeling my best all the time, not just a few days out of the month. This focus means that even if I'm not losing weight, I know that the way I'm eating is beneficial for me and is still helping me heal. While in some ways losing weight is a simple idea, for those of us with hormone issues, it can be a bit more complicated. I am learning to manage my PCOS and it's known that women with PCOS can struggle to lose weight more than others. Women in general tend to struggle to lose weight more than men, and women tend to deal with hormonal issues more than men too. No, correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation, but it seems that there's some kind of connection. My point here being, sometimes the age "old calories in versus calories out" doesn't always work for some of us.

As I write this, I am dealing with a plateau. I've been within a 5lb range for the past 3 months after loosing 30lbs. There's a wonderful difference I can feel in the way I move after losing the weight and I don't get as winded easily just going up a couple flights of stairs. I prefer the way I look like this and I don't get so grossed out looking in the mirror at myself. I've probably written it somewhere else, but as a reminder, I'm 5'2" and I'm currently 163lbs. Which means, I'm still clinically considered obese and from other standpoints, I'm still not at optimal health. Though many of my blood lab numbers will show good or okay, there is still room for improvement and optimization, especially in the realm of insulin. Even based on the way I feel, I want to lose more weight to keep improving my health.

There's so much more to health than just losing and maintaining weight.

Because I am focusing on healing in more ways than simply losing weight, I'm finding it easier to stay on track with staying in ketosis and following the Carnivore Cure elimination diet. I am slowly incorporating foods back into my diet and seeing what affects me negatively and what doesn't by tracking my physical and mental symptoms. Yes, there are some foods I'm completely avoiding in general and plan to avoid for the rest of my life, such as seed oils, but there's still plenty of healthy and delicious foods I want to try again and see what kind of symptoms might occur because of them. Remaining in ketosis and eliminating so many negative foods has not only aided in weight loss, it has also improved my PCOS symptoms and my mental health. There's so much more to health than just losing and maintaining weight. In some ways, these other aspects of health are more important than the weight loss. Either way, clean eating is worth it even if it means I sometimes wind up in a weight loss plateau. Having consistently better mental health and less severe PCOS symptoms is worth continuing to eat clean even if it means my weight is a little higher than I'd like it to be (though, I have full faith that will be sorted out in time).

Remember, time passes no matter what. How you choose to spend your time is something you do have control over, so make it count. Don't let a plateau ruin all the amazing progress you've made. Take stock of how far you've come and focus on all the healing and amazing hurdles you've overcome to get to where you are now. Every little win, both on and off the scale, is worth celebrating and remembering. You'll figure it out and make progress in the weight loss area of healing again, even if it takes a bit longer than you think it should. You are worthy of healing.

You are worthy of healing.