Stuck/Unstuck

Getting stuck and subsequently unstuck is a normal part of any health journey. Most times we feel like we are in the never ending cycles of ups and downs. How we respond to these times is the hard work. What we do to get unstuck matters. Do we dig in and go deeper, get reflective and try to figure it out? Or, do we give up and just give in to the same old mindsets?

I’ve noticed on this journey, especially this time around, that my body follows a typical pattern of losses and gains. I’ve not noticed this on past journeys because whenever I was stuck, or gained, I would give up and just return to old habits and behaviors. Why you ask, because it’s just easier to quit than do the reflective work required to figure it out.

These past few weeks, I’ve been stuck at a weight and just seem to go up a pound and down a pound endlessly. What that means is I loose the excitement of seeing the scale going down slowly over time. That is usually the give up point. The mind saying, guess this is all you’ll loose and this is the new weight. But, this time I’ve really tracked and been reflective to try to identify why I’m stuck. I’ve noticed that my body throughout this cycle has had these stuck points. The weight will go up and down a few pounds, but never down below the stuck point. I think I’ve figured out two possibilities as to why.

It seems my body gets stuck every few months or so for a few weeks. My daily routines and exercise are the same patterns, so it’s not that. I believe it’s actually these two things:

1. Body adjustment – I think my body catches up and perhaps needs a moment to reset to the new weight. I actually think this is a good thing, because I have not had any issues with loose or saggy skin. I think the body is readjusting to its new normal and perhaps needs a moment to adjust. I don’t have any science to back that up, but those are my thoughts.
2. Alcohol – I actually don’t drink anymore, but if I have a cocktail I notice my sleep patterns are very disrupted. I have long been a poor sleeper, but never thought much about the affect of alcohol on my weight loss, or sleep. Since I’m tracking the quality of my sleep now, I clearly see the impact of even just one class of wine, or one drink. My restorative sleep is the one most impacted by it. I believe this has been the main cause of my stuck periods. It seems every few months there is a period of life events that involve a cocktail.

In order to get unstuck, I really have to be conscious of these two possible causes. Awareness is the first step, followed by making changes to see the impact, if any. Body adjustment, I believe is just a healthy way of the body reacting to new weights and routines. I don’t have anything to do here except give myself time. Alcohol can easily be removed since I’m not too big of a drinker. For example, last night we went out to dinner. I didn’t order a cocktail and instead had sparkling water with lemon. My sleep tracker showed more normal sleep patterns last night and this morning the scale was up just a pound, likely due to the salt content found in most restaurant foods. I’m not too worried about that, but am excited to see what tomorrow will bring. Normally, eating out and drinking can cause at least a three day stagnation. I’ll be excited if I see myself back to base weight tomorrow.

I will continue to monitor this over the next month and see if the scale begins to move again. What have you done when you’ve been in these patterns of being stuck? Please drop me a message to share!