Reality finally hit home for me today...

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rockylucas
rockylucas Posts: 343 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have finally accepted today that my endeavour towards 174 lbs is unhealthy. My weight is now in the 180's... my weight has been in the 180's for weeks... and I realize the reason why is I DONT NEED TO LOSE ANY MORE WEIGHT. My body will have the same slightly saggy parts at 175 at it does at 187... the reason I have plateaued is because my body is trying to say, "what the fu** are you still trying to LOSE for?"

I looked in my food diary the last few weeks, and in order to try to "beat the plateau", I lowered my calories from over 2000, down to 1950, to 1900... down to 1850... and was even considering starting a 1750-1800 calorie diet next week so I could REALLY push myself toward my "goal" 0f 174. The result has been me being more hungry, having less energy to keep up with workouts, etc.

My desire is not to have a body which spits out a magical number when it steps on the scale, my desire is to have a body which looks good naked, is well-toned muscle wise, and is strong. That is not going to happen by restricting myself... that is going to happen by pushing myself towards my fitness goals, increasing my workouts, adding pushups/situps/pullups and other bodyweight exercises, and actually FEEDING myself well on a daily basis.

So I am going to put away the scale... for good... I know that when I reset my calorie goal to maintenance... and slowly move towards eating THAT amount of calories each day, that I will gain weight, primarily due to how little I have been eating the last few weeks. The last thing I need is to freak out and go back to restriction because the scale is going up. And as I build muscle and become stronger, I will probably wind up weighing much more than I do now anyway, so I will need to learn how to better understand what my weight should be as that process occurs.

Those of you who know me best and understand my years of cycling eating disorders understand why that "174" meant so much to me. But for awhile now I have known it was destructive, and I am taking the necessary steps to make sure that I do not fall into the same patterns I have in the past. I am at a healthy weight. I do not need to lose weight. I need to eat to get stronger, I need to workout to get stronger. That is my new goal.

Rocky
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Replies

  • Avalonis
    Avalonis Posts: 1,540 Member
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    Absolutely. No amount of cutting calories will make you look good naked.

    Bulking muscle is the only thing that will do that.

    Good luck, you got this brother!
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
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    :)
  • moushtie
    moushtie Posts: 371 Member
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    Well done for recognising you are already healthy, and not getting hung up on the number on the scale! That's a big step, and one a lot of people don't recognise until they've gone past it twice, once going down and again coming back up!

    I wish you the best of luck in achieving your fitness goals, and getting the body you know you want :)
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    You're already a winner with that fantastic attitude.
    Well done!
  • bluefox9er
    bluefox9er Posts: 2,917 Member
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    you totally ''get this''...so many people crunch and obsess over the numbers. great positive attitude.
  • rockylucas
    rockylucas Posts: 343 Member
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    My maintenance without any exercise is 2,350 a day, I am gonna slowly move back up towards that number while starting to implement strength exercises into my daily regimen as well.
  • sc1572
    sc1572 Posts: 2,309 Member
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    Good for you and congrats on your loss!!! :)
  • GkMusic
    GkMusic Posts: 110 Member
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    The scale often corrupts my mind. I should put mine away as well!
  • loriannmartin
    loriannmartin Posts: 209 Member
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    you have done an amazing job.. so happy for you :-) :tongue:
  • GymRatRaceRunner
    GymRatRaceRunner Posts: 160 Member
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    Why are you trying to beat your plateau by dropping your calorie intake? Your body doesn't want to give up any more fat stores because it thinks there isn't enough food coming in. It thinks it's doing you a favor to save your life. Instead, INCREASE your calorie intake by a couple hundred. Let your body know that more food is coming and it will be willing to give up more. You basically have to trick your body to let go of it's fat stores. The extra calories you ingest will get burned off anyway during your workouts.

    I was stuck at 176ish for a while, I added 250 calories to my intake by going from trying to lose 1lb a week to losing only a 1/2 a lb per week. And after only 2 weeks of doing this, I'm now down to 173 and still dropping.

    The reason why I'm still trying to lose some weight is because I still have some nagging fat pockets in certain areas. Once I burn those up a little, then I'll pack weight back on in the form of lean muscle.
  • groomchick
    groomchick Posts: 610 Member
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    So good to let go.... Bravo!
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
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    I had the same realisation a few weeks ago. It was very liberating.
  • YogiGirlLucy
    YogiGirlLucy Posts: 290
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    Good for you, Rocky. I have a huge amount of respect for you, not only for your cognition but for sharing it with others. Men do not always have a loud enough voice with this topic, and for you to stand up and be that voice, and to come to terms with it and make the changes you need right here with us is totally commendable.

    I checked out your pics, and you look amazing. Perfect just the way you are. If you want to throw a little more muscle on, that would just be the cherry on top.

    Rooting for you....

    Lucy :)
  • wysmom2000
    wysmom2000 Posts: 101 Member
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    I had a similar revelation a couple days ago. Why am I so hung up on a number? I'm 2 lbs away from the "magic" number but what do those 2 lbs mean? It was an arbitrary number to start with. I'm eating healthier, exercising more and fitter than I've ever been. Plus I'm looking pretty dang good! You're attitude is what people will talk about, not your weight. Great post.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    You've lost 73lbs! That's so freaking good. Who cares about the last few pounds? I agree, put away the scale and start focusing on body composition!
  • amyloola
    amyloola Posts: 56 Member
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    Good for you, Rocky. I have a huge amount of respect for you, not only for your cognition but for sharing it with others. Men do not always have a loud enough voice with this topic, and for you to stand up and be that voice, and to come to terms with it and make the changes you need right here with us is totally commendable.

    I checked out your pics, and you look amazing. Perfect just the way you are. If you want to throw a little more muscle on, that would just be the cherry on top.

    Rooting for you....

    Lucy :)

    Totally agree with this :) i had a peek at your pics too, you look fabulous. You have an awesome attitude thats going to get you where you want to be .

    Your sexy,your cute and popular to boot lol
  • kimiel51
    kimiel51 Posts: 299 Member
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    You know how to be healthy now, and that's all that matters!!
  • CheetoBandoto
    CheetoBandoto Posts: 67
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    Good to see you're honest with yourself man. You got this! :D
  • much2gain
    much2gain Posts: 42
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    GO get em, Rocky! You look A-MAZ-ING and have a great attitude to boot! And who knows, maybe a few more calories and less stress about the number will bring you to your magic number. Ya never know. Just keep on walking forward.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    Good for you! I'm glad you got to that happy mental place. :smile:

    I've been going through a similar internal battle. I keep thinking, "Maybe I should lose a little more..." But I realize I'm not going to get much, if any smaller. I'd only get bony. And I don't want to be bony. :noway:

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