Well, well, well….. I might just have one foot dangling off the edge of my 4 week plateau. So, hold off on heading to Home Depot, I may not need that ladder after all (https://thediabeticdish.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/this-isnt-the-spinach-your-mom-made-you/). The Great Oracle of Weight (the scale) granted a 1.6 lb loss this morning bringing the grand total to -49.4. Yipee-Kie-Aye!! I will consider myself firmly off the vast flatness also know as maintenance when (notice, I did not say IF) I log another loss next week; therefore, losing 2 weeks in a row and hopefully crossing the 50 lb mark!!
So, is a plateau a randomly occurring phenomena OR is it self inflicted? Does your body really just hit a wall, no matter what you do? Or has some change taken place that slows, or altogether stops, your progress? Mr. Man loves to relentlessly taunt me with Ockham’s razor – the principle that “when you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better.” How is that for some useless trivia? Hey….. it might just help if you are ever on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? or happen to end up in the Cash Cab in NYC! I do tend to make things more complicated/dramatic/chaotic than they really are, so Mr. Man feels this is a good theory for me to understand. Anyway, back to my point – what is the most simple answer to the cause of a plateau – (a) that the cause is any one of an infinite # of possibilities or (b) we are simply not burning more calories than we take in and we are eating more carbohydrates that our bodies can tolerate?
I have to go with (b). Not only because Mr. Ockham would say so, mostly because it is the only option I can evaluate and change. My wake up call came a week ago as I was sweating my “arse” off on my elliptical machine thinking about my plateau. Do you want to know the truth about me and exercise? We have a very one-sided relationship. I like exercise and I enjoy it as long as it is doing something for me. Sticking my finger multiple times a day falls in the same category – I don’t mind it much as long as I get the results I want. Counting points (Weight Watchers) and carbs, writing it all down and turning down the foods I want the most (think sweets) works the same way as well – I don’t mind any of it as long as I get what I want out of it. See what I mean about one-sided?
I do not care for sticking my fingers 3-5 times a day, exercising 5-6 days a week and journaling my points and carbs everyday only to have high blood glucose readings and maintain the same weight. I just do not like doing those things that much. So, I have 2 choices – stop my fruitless efforts altogether or make the changes that will cause my efforts to bare fruit. Seeing as I am painfully aware of the guaranteed complications that will arise from not managing my blood glucose (of which losing weight is a critical component) and that 80% of these complications are preventable…. making changes is my only option. My plan was to stick to my points (no matter what Mr. Man was eating), stick with the exercise and stick with the routine finger pricks. Results – 1.6 lb loss this week and my fasting blood glucose readings were the only ones that were high. Mr. Ockham is right, the simpler theory was the one that made the most since for the plateau question. I needed to tighten the gears to get my machine running smoothly again.
Here’s the Wal-Mart surprise – stuffed chicken breasts. Do you have a Wal-Mart nearby? If you do, get there as fast as you can. Find the Sam’s Choice stuffed chicken breasts (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10451529) and brace yourself to fall in love (even Mr. Man fell in love). The jalapeno & cheese stuffed chicken breasts and the mushroom and swiss stuffed chicken breasts are downright sinful and they have 5 points/7 carbs a piece. Trust me, you will want to sing from the mountaintops upon your first bite…. pair this delectable main dish with some mashed cauliflower (https://thediabeticdish.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/lets-do-the-mash-the-cauliflower-mash/) and you have an excellent start to finding the edge of your own plateau or just continuing on down the road of progress. By the way, your blood sugar will love you for it!!
Are you a top your own plateau (weight loss and/or blood glucose)? Have you just moved past your plateau? Please share your stories with me……. I want to hear!
Go to Wal-Mart! Oh, and please let me know what you think!!
The Dishing Diabetic
The Diabetic Dish 