9 Months to Tri

So, I took some time to compare last month’s stats to today’s stats, and while I’m far from discouraged, I started wondering what it all means.

First of all, let’s take a look at the comparison:

Well, as you can imagine, my first reaction was disbelief. A whole month had gone by, and I had very little improvement to show for it on paper. On the other hand, I can visibly see a difference in my belt, in the way my clothing fits, and in the mirror. It just doesn’t seem to jive. I’m not even talking about the whole weight thing. I’ve seen it fluctuate several pounds in the course of a day, so that doesn’t bother me too much. But how do my push-ups drop back to my second month numbers? And how come my body fat dropped 12% the second month, but not at all the third month?

My second reaction was to start looking for reasons. Now, to be fair, except for the last week, this entire month has been little more than trying to maintain what I had done the first 2 months. After my sister-in-law went missing Thanksgiving week (I was on vacation that week) I then spent the next 2 weeks working hard to locate her. While I worked hard to continue my newly found good-eating habits, I really didn’t hit the gym more than 2 or 3 times, and I was so tired that when I did, it was always low impact. As for the push-ups, Mike seems to think that spending time on the heavy bag last Friday might have done in my shoulders, and considering that I felt the need to take ibuprofen last night to keep the pain down, he may be right. Maybe I should have taken some pain killers a half hour before weigh-in. I might have pushed thru.

I sent out an email to the team, asking what they thought of the stats? I wondered if I’d hit a plateau, and if so, how can we address it moving into the next month? Now, its Christmas eve, so it might be a few days before I get answers from Mike and Jamie, but Brett immediately wrote back:

“Don’t get discouraged Chris, it may look like a plateau on paper but you’re making great strides in strength and visible weight loss!

~b”

Even so, I can probably look at what I’m eating a little closer, and my sleep schedule is still not where it should be. Also, there might be a bit of an attitude problem. I hear Mike talking about how he did this or that the other day, and how good he felt doing it. I just think, “God, that sounds horrible.” While I like playing, I still don’t think of “working out” as fun. Its work to me. Otherwise, wouldn’t it be called “playing out”? Which is odd, since I can swim laps for an hour, and I think THAT is fun. And I can hike in the woods for hours, or go trail riding on my mountain bike, and I think THAT is fun. But I just can’t think spending 5 minutes on the stair master and 5 minutes on the heavy bag, and doing 5 sets of that is fun. At least, not yet.

Follow Up:

A few days later, Jamie sent me this email:

Hi Chris,

Times like these can be discouraging, especially when you feel like you are busting your butt at the gym.  My question for you is:  do you feel like you should be losing weight with what you have been eating the past month?  That is, are there times when you feel like you may have slipped a little or were not engaged in your usual nutrition routine?   If you feel like there is nothing better more that you could have done, then I wouldn’t suggest changing anything yet.  If next month we still see no changes, then I would suggest refininig your intake a little (we would discuss at a meeting together).  If, on the other hand, you can look back and say that there were times that you were feeling a little too comfortable, then your next step would be to get back to your normal routine.  Take a look at your food journals and see if you agree with my comments.

Rember that just as in work and other aspects of our life, a little pressure is a good thing.  It helps us stay on track and meet our goals more efficiently. So don’t fret over this month and go with your instincts regarding the meal plan.  Let’s plan on meeting sometime in January if your schedule allows.

Best,
Jamie

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