So I am still range bound fluctuating between 109kgs and 111kgs which means I’m still in my plateau.
This week, I really felt my body fighting against me, exercising became very difficult, I can feel my metabolism had slowed down as I am not feeling the thermogenesis happening as often.
As I had begun the research into this, prior and during the plateau, I was more aware of what was happening to my body. This had meant I lost too much weight and the body is starting to fight back by trying to restore the fat lost.
Wednesday of this week, I could feel my stomach was producing more ghrelin hormone as I felt full but however the brain was telling me I was hungry.
I actually ate so much that day, had my morning cereal, then a banana an hour later, then a sausage roll, then lunch then another banana then dinner, and it still did not make me feel full although I felt bloated.
Both Thursday and Friday, my body just felt like it wanted to just shut down. The hunger went away, but the metabolism, I felt, went down too. At one stage on Friday I had to get the nurse to measure my BP which was 132/62, to which I don’t know what that means as yet.
Prior to my plateau, my morning sets would consist of the following 3 sets:
- 10 reps of push-ups
- 10 seconds of elbow plank
- 30 seconds of cat and cow yoga pose
- 10 reps of squats
The after dinner session consisted of a routine that consisted of the following:
Begin with a set of 10 squats then 6 sets of the following:
- 5 rep of push-ups
- 10 second elbow plank
- 30 seconds cat and cow yoga pose
Then another 10 squats followed by 5 sets of the following:
- 20 reps of doing bridges without holding pose
- 5 rep of a slightly different variation of a reverse crunch
- 5 reps of normal crunch
And then end with another 10 squats.
This week, as I was feeling more exhausted, which could be a sign of a slowing metabolism, just trying to complete 1 set in the morning was almost impossible, and the evening ones was harder again.
Last night, I could not even complete one set of my normal routine, instead I just fell asleep on the floor.
However after an unconscious night’s rest, this morning I was able to complete my normal morning routine.
Cooked breakfast for my house mate and I and we both went out Westfield’s West Lake to do some Christmas shopping, which helped sneak in an hour of walking around and had a doner not yiros (an Adelaide joke) kebab for lunch.
If your following what I am doing, do not be discouraged and give up when you plateau. Look back and see how much you have already achieved and do you really want to give up all that investment into yourself? Feck that!
Remember this is a lifestyle change not a short term fix or a diet, starting slow is key and making slight adjustments that you can handle to ensure permanent change.
You can always reset and start again, just make the adjustments easier to maintain.
Just to recap of my journey so far
- Initially the journey started with 5 push ups in the morning then gradually became 6 sets while adding squats and planking
- Aim was to cut out as much sugar possible, life was tough but eventually after two weeks, I had managed to over come the sugar cravings
- Then was to replace the carbohydrates with greens
- Then getting the portions right and set meal times
- The circadian rhythm started to fix it self and more energy and happiness followed
- Then added an evening session of my workouts
- Snacking also became automatic but be really mindful of what your eating
Other inspirational stories
180kg HK man now 79kg https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3203407/after-100kg-weight-loss-through-juice-fasts-semi-ketogenic-and-now-full-keto-diet-father-four-no
Although he primarily used keto as his main lifestyle, I feel that I would not be able to consistently maintain that lifestyle personally.
My diet was made so that I could still enjoy weekends and designed it only for during the work days, as Friday’s and Saturday’s are days that you can let loose, however the only guidelines that are in place are
- Portion size
- and no after 10pm food/snacks
My work day diet consists of the following:
- 8am breakfast with cereal (atm it is sultana bran and milk)
- 10am is usually 1x banana
- 12pm is lunch (as a guideline, try not to eat root based vegetables, try not to have carbohydrates and try to avoid sugars)
- 2-4pm munch on nuts (unsalted cashew)
- 6pm dinner (leafy greens and add what ever to it with an approximate 200gram of protein)
- portion control becomes natural over time without you having to be concious about it
With this method, I believe I still get my 14 hours of fasting which activates autophagy and maybe a form of ketosis, the evening training session helps reduces the blood glucose levels.
This is all part of the metabolic flexibility with the green version of the Mediterranean food diet, so that your body can switch between fuel sources, kinda like e85 and 98ron, but instead with carbohydrates and fat.