Starting as a child I was indoctrinated to the “clean plate club” and it has never left me.  I think I may have broken the chain with my children since they tend to bring home half their meal when they go to restaurants.  I am learning portion control and it is not easy figuring out that my stomach does not need to be “full” when I leave the table as long as I had a well-balanced meal.  I imagine this is why weight loss plans such as Nutri-system do well since you don’t even have to think about what you eat and how much.

 

My best solution at this time… eat more vegetables until I am full.  A half hour after I eat, my stomach doesn’t remember if it is full on bread or vegetables.  Eventually I need to learn potion control, but as I said, old habits are hard to break.

 

Kenneth Kukral

 

 

As everyone knows, the first group of pounds to lose is the easiest.  Then you eventually hit the dreaded “plateau”.  I am so ready to dive off that plateau and need to find a way to make it happen.  As I tend to do, I did a little research on how to get off the plateau and start taking off the pounds.  Here is what I found out:

 

-          Try calorie cycling (also known as intermittent fasting).  If you have been limiting your calories to say 1,600 a day, you would alternate doing 2,000 calories one day and 1,200 the next.  This “fools” your brain from believing you are in a “starvation” mode where your body adjusts and protects you from the lower calorie intake.

-          Mix up your workouts.  If you do the same routine over and over your body adjusts and the muscles learn to do the same activity using less energy.  By mixing it up it breaks your body out of this mode and uses up more calories.

-          Slow down your weight loss expectation.  Don’t expect significant amounts of weight to come off quickly.  Kind of like the tortoise and the hare story.  This will also help in your transition when you hit your goal weight.

-          Add in some strength training.  The more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolic rate, and the more calories you burn, even at rest.  Your body will become more of a calorie burning machine.

-          Fill up on water-rich, fiber-filled foods like vegetables, fruits, beans, hot cereals, potatoes, corn, yams, whole-wheat pasta, and brown rice. Foods with a lot of water usually provide a lot of stomach-filling volume, but not a lot of calories.

-          Cut out calorie-containing beverages like soft drinks, alcohol, milk shakes, and even fruit and vegetable juices.  Being one of those people who needs to feel full when I eat a meal, drinking my calories will not help me achieve that goal.

-          Stress reduction is one tip that may actually reduce the often hyped “belly fat”. So if your pants aren’t any looser despite your best efforts with diet and exercise, reduce the stress in your life. Meditate, play with your dog, take a walk in nature, or just stop watching the damned news every night. Unplugging from our modern always-connected lifestyle and enjoying the simple things may be one of the best things you can do to break your fat loss plateau.

 

So now it is just incorporating these suggestions into my daily life.  I did find out that what I previously blogged about was true.  When you get more sleep it does suppress your hunger.  You have more energy and are less likely to “slip up” and eat calories you shouldn’t.

 

Kenneth Kukral

Plateau Breaker

 

As I lose weight I am having the luxury of being able to “go shopping” in my closet.  Slacks & shirts I “grew out of” are starting to fit again.  It is almost like getting a new wardrobe.  A couple months ago I was just about ready to move the clothes that don’t fit anymore to another storage closet in the house.  Now I can anticipate what else I will be able to wear when I lose another 20 pounds.  It is little successes like these that increase my motivation to continue to lose weight.  Nothing was more stressful than wearing something that was tight, hoping to not pop a button and nothing is more pleasurable than fitting into something that was previously tight.  Self-esteem is improving (not that it was low or anything) and my future looks brighter.

 

Kenneth Kukral