Discouragement! (0#)

Well, the number didn't change.  I'm very discouraged this morning.  I've been working my ass off every day.  I've watched what I eat and in what quantities I eat.  I'm doing all the right things all the time, and the weight has stopped coming off.  So. . .what do i do now?

Give up.

HAHAHAHA, kidding!  No seriously, I have a couple of tools in my box that i'm going to try out.  First off though, let me preface that with this being the holiday week none of this is going into play until Monday.  Don't expect anything besides a potential weight gain next week!  So, that being said, here's what i'm thinking.  First off, i'm going to tweak my diet some to reduce the calories.  Not a huge shift, but still important.  Obviously with very few carbs coming in, the calories I do consume matter a lot.  I just need to make sure they're being counted.  I can do this for a month, though I will say it here straight out - I HATE COUNTING ANYTHING.

Next, I can tweak my workout.  More time on the cardio stuff, shift up how I lift to work on training different muscles, etc.  I don't believe this will have a major impact in terms of weight loss, but it's a knob I can turn.  Increased strength, better metabolism, more stamina, better muscle size or definition. . .yeah, these are all side effects I guess I can cope with too.

Finally, I can reset my expectations.  A massive gap in my overall strategy was only measuring one thing - weight.  It was a good measure for a very long time because there was so much to lose.  Now there isn't, and it could just be that the weight loss is at a critical mass point - more effort than I am prepared to give is required to push it past this tipping point.  So maybe my goal has to change and I have to focus on something else sooner than I thought.  With only one month to go, I probably will just keep at my goal and see if I can eke out a few more pounds.  I have to keep this one on the table though so I can stay positive about this.

If this is as far as I get, I'm still going to call it a success.  There's a ton more I plan to do going into 2013, and finishing out this goal is definitely going to be one of them if I don't this year.  It just may not be the primary focus anymore.  More to come interwebs - stay tuned!