I swear, that scale has been parked at 171.6 all week. Now granted, it's below 172.2 which was the last weight I felt like I saw all the time, but it's aggravating. That said... it's also not unexpected, considering I dropped over 10 lbs. of scale weight in four weeks. There's always a little resistance after a big loss, and considering we're done with the first four weeks, I will be happy to see a pound down a week... although I'm kind of hoping to drop 5 lbs. per month now that the initial burst of water weight loss is gone.
My plan for this? Keep eating as I'm eating, and move more. "Moving more" includes cooking more, so perhaps not eating exactly as I'm eating at the moment, but still continuing to concentrate on lean protein, fruits, vegetables, and minimally processed starchy carbohydrates.
"Moving more" also includes continuing to walk during lunch. I walked both Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and plan to today as long as my knee doesn't give a repeat of Monday's performance. Usually it's my right knee that's bad, but Monday my left knee had some stupid stabbing pain in it that was rendering it difficult for me to even move around the office for a few hours, which covered lunch. Thankfully it worked itself out as the day wore on, but since I know my body likes to take potshots at my exercise efforts, I decided to let it rest the remainder of the day.
I am working to become a person who likes movement -- this goes against my genetic programming, because frankly my ancestors weren't out there chasing mammoths, they were back at the caves drawing on the walls -- and it's frustrating because the more I move, the more my body reminds me that I come from a sedentary people for a reason. Today it's my hips that are griping at me, especially my right hip. If I'm sedentary they're silent. When I start deliberately exercising on a daily basis, the burning in the joints starts up again. It's supposed to be the opposite, where refusing to move causes pain and movement over time increases endurance and stamina. Unfortunately, for me it's more like continuing to operate a machine where the gears are losing their teeth.
Nothing is bad enough for surgery; everything is bad enough that it literally impedes my ability to do what I need to do to live a healthy life. Oh well, I'm going to try anyway. I still have my bike, I have my hand weights, I don't necessarily have to bear weight by walking... I'll work this out. Somehow. I can at least lift with my upper body to help with bone density and to attempt to counteract the effects of bending over a keyboard most of the day, and I can also utilize my standing desk more often. I have options. I am choosing to focus more on what I can do rather than what I can't.
Also, today I'm going to start listing three new things I'm happy about each day. I'll guarantee you some of these things will be weird, but it can't be wrong to work to be happy about stuff! So today I'm happy that my ankles are smaller. I'm happy that my bike-pants style shapewear is feeling significantly less like a sausage casing that's about to burst, and I'm also happy that I'm consistently fitting into the bras I outgrew when I passed that 175 weight barrier.
Like I said, petty :P
A fourth thing I'm happy about, because it won't be new tomorrow, is that I actually cooked dinner last night! I know, I know, it's an adulting thing and shouldn't even be something to celebrate. I was raised to believe we don't get pats on the back for doing what's expected of us, but when normal activities have become as overwhelming as they had prior to me starting Lexapro, believe me, this is beyond worthy of celebration. I fixed a pesto Parmesan crusted tilapia fillet dish for the family, and everyone ate and enjoyed it. Okay, the 15-year-old nearly died when he took his second bite of tomato -- he is not a fan, but he does like to try foods to see if his tastes have changed -- but that only meant more tomatoes for me :) The 19-year-old inhaled his post-haste, then went back to his room to get back to gaming. And my husband and I appreciated the fact that we'd actually all gotten together to eat once again.
So yes, I'm definitely celebrating doing what's "expected" of me, because it's important. And because having members of your family appreciating even doing what you "should" do is huge.
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