Today, I hit 65 pounds of total weight loss since beginning in October of 2017. But for the past couple of weeks, I've been holding steady at 193-197 pounds. While 191 is a mere two pounds less than 193, I'm stoked about it!
But now, I feel like I've plateaued a bit. I believe this is for a couple of reasons:
First, I started having beers during the week again, and I've brought dessert back into my life. When I began my weight loss regiment, I wanted to hit an ideal weight and then start incorporating "normals" back into my diet, while still eating healthy and running at least 20 miles per week. Beer was something I cut out entirely on weekdays and I now know that doing this was a big contributor to my weight loss. I've now hit my "goal," so the beer and desserts are back (Yay!). I'm not going overboard with it, limiting my intake to two or so beers every other day. I'm loose with it, but I'm still monitoring and logging the calories and carbs I drink (the best I can).
Second, I've been steadily running around 23 miles per week. At this point, it isn't difficult for me to hit this goal, but I'm starting to feel like I need to run more and step up the cardio a bit.
While I'm happy with my weight loss thus far, I'd really like to be in the 180's, which means I need to effectively lose just seven to ten more pounds.
My weight spiked a few pounds last week when I was sick and couldn't exercise, and the outdoor runs I did after the sickness were slower and shorter than usual, which I expected. The "spike" was just normal weight fluctuation as far as I can tell, but it caused me to start the week at a higher weight than I would have preferred.
Now, to address this plateau...
My new goal is to run 30-35 miles per week while still drinking beer during the week and tweaking my diet to bring in even more calories. I feel that running more and eating more will lead to a slower, more gradual weight loss, and I won't have an exercise/calorie/nutrition imbalance. (But, I'm no expert...)
With my new work schedule, I'm getting more sleep during the week (two hours more per night, Monday through Friday), waking up early enough to run three miles before work while still allowing me to do a faster two mile sprint/run after work, totaling five miles per day. I plan to keep the weekend to 3-5 miles of running. I've been doing this for the last week or so and I love it. The runs after work are great and take about 17 minutes.
So, that's where I am. I'm hoping to crack the 180's in a week or so, and maybe maintain 185 in 3-5 weeks. I'm feeling great and running strong!