From Discouraged… To Determined!

I’ve been feeling really discouraged lately. There are two things going on here. One, I’m bored with the low carb foods I’ve been eating for the last few weeks. And two, I’m not losing weight – or I should say the weight loss is very, very slow.

The boredom is totally my fault. I’ve been eating low carb fast food and take-out, or easy low carb snacks. I haven’t cooked at all. Cooking would definitely give me a lot more variety – and healthy variety at that. Noted. 😛

As for the stall, that one had me stumped. I’m drinking more water, working out almost every single day, and watching what I eat. It’s not the whole “muscle weighs more than fat” thing, and it’s not “inches vs pounds” – I’m just not losing weight. Period.

I had a hysterectomy in February. Honestly, I thought nothing of that. If anything I thought that would break my weight loss stall, and that once I recovered the weight would start coming off more easily.

Of course I never expected to be “down” for almost two straight months (most of that on bed rest) – thanks to complications – and it never occurred to me how that might affect my metabolism. I am now wondering how long it takes your “metabolism” to recover from something like that?

Out of sheer curiosity, I decided to look all this up on the interwebs earlier today. Like I said, I didn’t figure the hysterectomy an issue, because I only had a partial – I kept my ovaries. So I didn’t expect to have any hormone issues or whatever. Speaking of, I also stopped a hormone therapy prescription the day of the surgery, so I imagine that could take some time to work itself out too…

Anyway, here’s what I found:

Weight gain with a partial hysterectomy may be the result of restricted blood flow to the pelvic area after the removal of the uterus. Less blood translates into a drop in hormone production, which in turn affects the way your body burns fat and uses calories. –source

Interesting. Also a newsflash to me, is that it’s common to gain 20-25 pounds the first year after a hysterectomy – partial or full. 😯 Geez. That was actually encouraging. At least I am NOT gaining weight, and this may be a legitimate reason why I’m not losing weight like I should be.

I Refuse To Be A Statistic!

I’m turning 40 in less than two weeks, and I’m aiming to be “40 and Fabulous!”

I am NOT going to let my age be an excuse to ‘look like a typical 40-something American’ (please don’t throw tomatoes!!). Reading that most women gain 20-25 pounds after a hysterectomy just made me even more determined, because I *refuse* to be a statistic.

I am anything but typical! I am not going to throw in the towel and allow myself to believe that I don’t have a choice. Just because I’m hitting 40 and had a hysterectomy doesn’t mean I have to “look the part.” It would be a great excuse, mind you, and would get sympathetic nods of approval from society no doubt…

But that’s not me. In fact, I take it as a personal challenge.

From Discouraged… To Determined!

That did the trick. It was a simple mindset shift, which went something like “I just want to stick my head in a box of donuts” to “Ohhh, the challenge is ON!!!”

It made me realize that I’m actually doing great. I’m just a few short months out of recovery, my body is dealing with metabolism and hormone issues, and I am NOT gaining weight. I did put on a few pounds after my recovery, which seemed “mysterious” at the time, but I’m not gaining now – and that’s a plus.

Sometimes it pays to have a reality check, or have a good talk with yourself over these things. It’s so easy to get discouraged. I’ve seen people lose 40 pounds and look amazing, but be so down on themselves for seeing two pounds creep back up on the scale – or go a week without losing a pound.

We really do have to look at the big picture and stay encouraged.

It’s not just about the short term, or the number on the scales, it’s about our health as a whole. Every time we exercise, every time we eat healthy green vegetables, every time we skip the sweets and junk food or grab a bottled water instead of a diet soda – we’re doing something great for our body.

On that note, I’ve decided to make some major changes to my low carb diet. Stay tuned, because we’ll talk about it more in the next post. 😉

While I realize not everyone is in the same boat as me, and we all have our own unique history and health issues and ages and such, we are all victim to the occasional bout of discouragement.

Just look at me. Here I am drinking water daily (for the first time in my life), I’ve done a hard workout six days out of seven this past week, and I’m eating healthier than I ever have in my life. Yet I let the scales make me second guess all of those smart choices.

It doesn’t make any sense. But neither does eating donuts because you feel fat – yet people do that too. (<- said from experience, lol)

How do you deal with discouragement when it comes to the scales, or your own personal weight loss goals? Or perhaps when you get off track and go backwards? We’re all human – these things happen. I would love to hear how you get back on track, and get motivated again…