Last Updated on June 13, 2022 by Lori Geurin
Have you ever experienced a disappointing weight loss? Maybe you were on a weight loss plan and everything was going great. Then you hit a plateau and your weight loss stalled. Or maybe you’re trying to lose weight right now, but life is busy and stressful and you feel discouraged by your progress. Keep reading to learn how to overcome a weight loss plateau.
Welcome to my weight loss series following my journey to lose the quarantine 15 (17, actually) pounds I’ve gained since COVID-19 started. After feeling unwell the first week because I was detoxing some of the junk I’d let creep back into my eating plan, I was ready to bring some balance back into life. So this week the focus was on enjoying the simple things. Like fresh cucumbers from our garden, sunshiney days, and homemade apple crisp.
Because I felt so poorly last week kicking off the weight loss plan with keto, this week I decided to focus more on eating real food, and intermittent fasting. Though I didn’t sleep the best a couple of nights, I felt better overall.
That is until the holiday weekend hit and I started baking. Of course, the act of baking wasn’t the problem. It was eating the baked goods. Keep reading to find out about my disappointing weight loss. And how I’m dealing.
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Weight Loss Week 2 Results
Monday – Thursday Update
The beginning of the week seemed to fly because I was working from home on the blog and teaching online English classes each day. I love the long days of summer and wish they lasted throughout the year.
I’m thankful that David enjoys gardening because I don’t have a green thumb. In fact, my mom and dad gave me a cactus for Christmas because I’m infamously bad at growing plants.
Children I can manage, but plants? No.
I’ve found that having a garden encourages us to eat more fresh produce. And you can’t beat the flavor of homegrown veggies. If you have a garden you know what I mean.
Do you like apple crisp? If so, you may want to try this recipe…I made this yummy single-serving apple crisp from scratch. Then I whipped up some fresh cream to serve with it. It was such a treat!
At this point in the week I was feeling good and maintaining my weight loss from last week. It’s what happened in the next few days that led to my disappointing weigh-in.
Friday – Sunday
Friday I worked on the blog and taught ESL online.
Saturday we had the boys over for brunch and I made homemade sourdough pancakes and scrambled eggs. David fried some bacon to go with it. We all hung out for a while after brunch, which was fun.
Then later that day (the 4th) I baked chocolate chip cookies per the hubby’s request and watched Hamilton. Unfortunately, I ended up eating far too many cookies this weekend and regained much of the weight I’d lost up to this point.
My total weight loss for the week was -1.2 pounds. Yes, you read that right. I gained 1.2 pounds this week. The chocolate chip cookies and sourdough pancakes I baked this weekend definitely tipped the scale. My body simply does not like gluten and sugar.
That brings my total weight loss so far to 2.2 pounds (or 4.2, if you count the full 17 I’ve gained since COVID-19 started). From this point on, I’ll be recording my weight loss from the full 17 pounds.
Discouraged By Slow Weight Loss?
Feeling discouraged by these weight loss setbacks is only natural. I feel a little disappointed but am not going to let it get me down. This is only week 2 of this weight loss journey and I’m just getting warmed up!
Years ago I might have approached my disappointment differently. Back then, I remember talking to a close friend about it. We were laughing about how we would bake sweet treats for our families (this if before I knew how detrimental sugar was for your health) and end up eating more than we’d planned.
It was like once we’d “broken our diet” for the week it was a free-for-all. We believed that our entire week of healthy eating was a loss simply because we’d indulged in a few sweets. We always told ourselves we’d start fresh on Monday and recommit to our healthy eating plan.
But, for me, it was an endless cycle that never changed until I started having chronic health problems related to untreated Lyme and was forced to change my eating habits. By cutting out most sugar and gluten and intermittent fasting I was able to lose 35 pounds and maintain the weight loss for several years (until COVID).
Maybe you can relate to something I’ve said here because I’ve met so many people who can.
The most important aspect of weight loss isn’t about the weight itself, but about maintaining the lifestyle and restructuring your mindset to support the life you want to live.
So what can you do to move past a weight loss plateau?
How To Overcome A Weight Loss Plateau
I hope that if you’re facing similar disappointments you can shake it off and give yourself grace. Remember that each day is a new day. So even when disappointments come, hold your chin up and keep going!
This was a good reminder to me that you can’t let disappointments ruin your efforts to lose weight or accomplish any other goals you set for yourself.
Just because I didn’t lose weight this week doesn’t mean that I’m a failure or that I won’t meet my goals. It simply means that I didn’t lose weight this week.
See what I did there?
Remind yourself that this is a lifestyle, not a quick fix, so it’s going to take time. Be flexible and kind to yourself.
People who lose weight slowly tend to keep it off longer anyway.
Week 2 Overcoming A Weight Loss Plateau
Even though I felt some frustration with my weight loss efforts this week, I enjoyed embracing a simpler life. For the week ahead, I plan to refocus on:
- feeding my body real food
- avoiding junk food, especially sugar
- drinking lots of water
- intermittent fasting
- spending some time in the sun
- taking a few long walks
If you missed last week, you can see it here in Weight Loss Journey Confessions Week 1.
And here’s the Qarantine 15 Weight Loss YouTube video I made…
Check back on Monday, July 13 for the week 3 update. And for more healthy tips, please be sure to follow me on Pinterest. And if you enjoyed this, you’ll wanna check out How To Break Through Your Weight Loss Wall.
Are you trying to lose weight? What tips can you share for dealing with disappointing weight loss progress? Comment below!
