The nightmare word of all words to those trying to drop unwanted pounds is “stall.” We all know what it means. Stalling means that no matter what you do your body has decided that it is going to hang on tight and not let go of the pounds you are trying to shed. The problem with stalling during a weight loss journey is that often a stall ends up begin the end of the battle.
Stalls cause me to become frustrated and feel hopeless. In the past a stall that lasted more than a week or two was the end for me. I would throw up my hands and quit defeated by the scale and my body. I would grieve in private about my failures and then go on with life. The problem with just going on with life is that all of the weight I lost eventually found its way back to me.
This time around I decided to look at stalls in a new light. Its not easy to do this but it is necessary. In the past 9 and a half months I have had two stalls. The first one happened at the 37 pound mark. Nothing I did allowed me to get below 220 lbs. I think for the most part this stall was more in my head than anything else. I had put up a wall saying I can’t get below 220 because I have not been that weight since before having Caleb. However, instead of giving up I pressed on and continued with the journey. It was hard, but I kept moving forward. I weighed daily, recorded my exercise, recorded food intake, and emailed my support people. I cried, I whined, and I even ate a few things I should not have while I flirted with defeat.
When I began to get discouraged I reread my journal. I made list of how much better I felt having lost 37 pounds. I remembered that I gave away all the clothing that no longer fit. I was determined not to go back up in size. I had lost almost 40 pounds, that was an achievement worth celebrating. I needed to quit focusing on a goal I thought I would not meet and continue what I was doing so that I could be healthy. It was during this stall that it truly became about my overall health and not about the numbers on the scale. After a long 4 weeks the scale and tape measure started to move again. I felt like I had won a hard fought battle.
When the second stall came, I was prepared and I will be prepared when future stalls come. I am determined that I will not throw away all I have accomplished. I will not lie to myself or tell myself that I am a failure. I will celebrate my accomplishments during the stalls and reflect on how far I have traveled through this journey. The focus will stay on where I am not where I want to be.
This post is “From the Basement” of Lloyd Home and was originally posted Oct. 26, 2011