Plateaus and Patience

Plateau
1.
a land area having a relatively level surface considerably raised above adjoining land on at least one side, and often cut by deep canyons.
2.
a period or state of little or no growth or decline: to reach a plateau in one's career.
3.
Psychology . a period of little or no apparent progress in an individual's learning, marked by an inability to increase speed, reduce number of errors, etc., and indicated by a horizontal stretch in a learning curve or graph.
4.
a flat stand, as for a centerpiece, sometimes extending the full length of a table.
–verb (used without object)
5.
to reach a state or level of little or no growth or decline, esp. to stop increasing or progressing; remain at a stable level of achievement; level off: After a period of uninterrupted growth, sales began to plateau.
–verb (used with object)
6.
to cause to remain at a stable level, esp. to prevent from rising or progressing: Rising inflation plateaued sales income.

Yes for over a month now I have weighed 187 pounds. There are several ways to look at this. I am choosing to be positive here because lets face it when has negative ever got anybody anything besides heartache.
So here are some positive thoughts on plateaus.
*If you look at the picture at the top do you see that the right side is more of a angle but the left is an absolute drop off. Well I am thinking that I have walked up the right side and am now headed toward the left which means that soon the drop off will be coming. (meaning that hopefully I will drop pounds not drop off a cliff although.....)
*You will also notice in the picture that the plateau has a beginning and an end. I have been here for some time so hopefully the end will be soon.
*I have still lost 98.6 pounds.
*I could be so morbidly obese that I wouldn't be able to get out of bed this morning.
*I could be at the funeral home planning a loved ones funeral this morning.
*I could be at the Children's hospital with one of the children this morning.

I got nothing else, yes I am feeling a little down, disappointed, discouraged, and scared. I am scared that what I have been doing is not enough that it is really not a plateau at all and that I need to step it up a bit. I almost feel like I need to start Lifestyles program all over again. Pay my $30 bucks sign the paper saying I will commit to it for a year. And walk in there and have all the information given to me again.

I always try to go back to basics:
*When you look at your plate it should be 1/2 veggies, 1/3 protein, 1/3 starch.
*Stop eating 3 hours before you go to bed
*Exercise 30 min five days a week.
*Keep appointments for weigh weekly.
*Journal your food.
*Be totally Honest.

I haven't been the very best at the food part lately. I have been taking extra bites. I have become the garbage can again. Eating a little left over here and a little left over there. I guess maybe this has caught up to me. Once again I need to start over, ok I am wonderful and deserve accolades for losing 98 pounds but the truth is I am not finished I want to hit a certain goal, and so I need to make a decision to do that. That decision has to be made every time there is food of any kind in my hand. I have to say to myself do you want to eat that or do you want to reach your goal weight? Why are you eating that right now? What do you really want? For instance right now I really want Hot chocolate. Why? What will the hot chocolate do you for you right now how will it make you feel?
It would make me feel warm, comforted, relaxed, taken care of, mothered, hugged, like I have done something for myself, like I have done something worthy for myself. So if that is what you really want what can you give yourself instead?

This seems like the eternal question.
I have strategies.
*Dance to really loud music
*Read a book
*Snuggle with my kids
*Phone a friend


*Try on the size 14 bathing suit I bought myself, again.










I might have to employ all of these today at one time or another. But if that is what I need to do then that is what I will do.
I really didn't know it would be this hard. It is really hard.

While talking to Linda she said "There is only one way to get through a plateau, and it starts with a "P".... Patience"
YUCK is what I said.
But this morning I was reading through my journal and found this quote again.

...... patience was far more than simply waiting for something to happen—patience required actively working toward worthwhile goals and not getting discouraged when results didn’t appear instantly or without effort.

There is an important concept here: patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!
-Continue in Patience
DIETER F. UCHTDORF, Second Counselor in the First Presidency
April 2010 Conference

So in patience I plod forward, with out passive resignation, keeping fears in check, actively trying to improve my eating, working, hoping and definitely exercising not only faith but physically with my body. Reminding myself that they are called plateaus for a reason and that reason is that they don't last forever.

PS
Last night I attended a workshop for Lifestyles that Linda put on in Mountain View, and after she did an excellent job, Jesse and I spoke about Kettlebells. There was great interest and everybody was incredibly supportive. Every time we talk about Kettle bells everyone is so excited. I sure love them. Here are some great pictures.