My Weight is Stuck! Smaller Waist-New Lifestyle dreaming

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 I am Stuck!

Stuck. My weight has been stuck at 180 for a week and a half now. It is really frustrating as I am consuming between 1100 and 1500 calories most days (I did have one day at about 2000). I am also experiencing some bathroom problems due to cutting back so much on carbs and fruits. I am trying to add food in that will counteract this (like lower carb foods with fiber and flax seed), but so far, they aren't working. Nothing is really wrong, aside from the occasional lower backache. Overall, I actually feel great. It feels good to feel satisfied on 1200 calories of food and not be stuffing my face all the time. It gives a peaceful feeling of control. Maybe I will cut out the cheese with lunch and add in a little more vegetables. It gets hard to stuff down a quart of raw veggies in 20 minutes, though (I am a teacher).

Physical Activity

I haven't really upped my physical activity either. Since I am now a single mom and my ex is not in a healthy enough state to keep the kids, anything I do I have to take the four-year-old and that is just a lot of effort. The older kids can stay home for 30 minutes or so, but not the young'un. This weekend is pretty chilly, too. It's hard to handle 50 degrees after experiencing 70-something! Excuses, I know. I am trying to add some stomach "vacuum" exercises to my day as shown here:

Link to Smaller waist video

Will the stomach vacuum exercise work? I don't know. Cosmo says it will:

Vacuuming Your Stomach is the Easiest Way to get Flat Abs

Frankly, I just took my measurements yesterday, and at 44-37-43.5, I am really looking to get that waist down to 35. Of course, I really want to go down all over (I was 32-27-33 in high school, so maybe I really just am a rectangle, but it can't hurt to try and whittle my middle a little (Oh! That was fun to type!). I don't expect to get down to those high school dimensions (I swear your ribs spread during pregnancy-and I have had six!), but I wouldn't mind at least being the 3x-2x-3x range.

Really, with things like this, I either forget or I do. I need to find a way to incorporate it into my schedule. But just like I used to do squats while waiting on my Keurig coffee, sometimes I just stop without realizing it (I am very much an in-my-head type of person).

It's a Lifestyle, really

One thing I am trying to remind myself is, that this isn't a "diet." This is my new lifestyle. If I want to be slim and light, I have to commit to making that worth more than stuffing my face with an ooey-gooey cinnamon roll. That doesn't mean treats are always out, but I am trying to limit my treats to Friday night. My son's birthday party will be next weekend, so I am going to enjoy a piece of birthday cake, but what isn't eaten will be out the door with guests or in the trash. I think the key to handling these "extra" days will be having a plan for the leftover unhealthy food. And now, I've got it! 

So why are you hear? Are you working on losing weight? Feel free to drop a comment with any advice or just share where you are in  your life's journey!

See you soon!