My weight has been effectively stable since about August. At the peak of performing in Odd Couple and Dracula, the sweat-off had me down a pound or two. During the holidays, the gorging and travel had me up a pound or two. But I keep landing back at almost exactly 30 pounds off last year’s peak.
I feel really good at this weight – can’t be confused for athletic but I feel healthy, able to indulge in food occasionally and with an energy and flexibility I truly appreciate, remembering what it feels like when I was in worse shape. My thought this year has been that I will try to knock off another 6-8 pounds while adding a little muscle; but honestly, if all I do is maintain the shape I’m in, it’s going to be pretty good.
I’ve worried that without that “stop being so fat and ugly” whip at my back, I might not be able to make progress. After all, these pounds will be much more difficult to lose than the early ones, and so I’ll have to get my motivation from somewhere else. I find myself really enjoying physical activity in a way I can’t ever remember, except maybe as a kid at recess. I’m curious to see if that enjoyment can be channeled towards the gym habit.
I’m managing two visits a week right now rather than three, but has more to do with illness and a spell of back pain. I had to face that what I had been doing at the gym had obviously done all it could for me in terms of improving my state, so I’ve changed up the routine. I’m going after work instead of before – without having to worry about clocking in, I’m able to rest more between activities, and add more weight exercises. Before, the cardio/sweating took up 80% of my time there. The split’s closer to 60/40 now, and I think I’d like to make it dead even.
And I’ve left my beloved elliptical behind in favor of the stair climber. I burn a few less calories, but from the first time I felt the fatigue it put in my legs, and the core work that was happening, it felt like the right trade. I still haven’t managed to do it three times in a week – twice a week has those muscles complaining plenty, but I’m sticking with it.
This morning, after a few weeks’ worth of these changes, I had a breakthrough – my weight had dropped a couple of pounds below that equilibrium, to a number I hadn’t seen since the Dracula days. Any single-day result could be an outlier, but this feels like a promising sign that my body has responded to my new expectations for it and is starting to adjust. As I’ve said, it’s not far to my goal; but I did need a slight course change to be sure I’d get there.