A Gracefull Place

It happens to all of us.

We start off with some great results from T-Tapp, but then….things seem to slow way down or stop–and we still have a loonnnggg way to go!!!!

As a More-to-Lose, you can especially get discouraged when the inch loss falls off to practically nothing.   It hardly shows yet, and now it’s stopping!

What to do?

Well, first of all, remember that you may need to allow the body to regroup and rebalance.  Secondly, if your metabolism needs healing (and quite frankly, most of ours do!), you also may need to let the body regroup.  I’ve posted this before, but I’ll say it again–this page on Dr. Diana Schwarzbein’s website is worth a read–many times over!  It is about the healing phase and how sometimes things get a bit worse before they get better–but it’s all good if we stick with it!

But is it normal to seemingly slow way down on inch loss?

I guess I can’t say if it’s normal, but it does seem to be common!  Remember I’ve said before you don’t just lose lose lose lose and voila!  You’re at goal!

No, it’s a zig-zag type of pattern, actually.

Proof positive:

Here are my measurements from when I started.  Now, if you didn’t have as great of inch loss to start, let me remind you my son had been born nearly 4 months earlier and all I had lost from having him was 10 lbs.–which I gained back!!!  Not.one.inch.   Not.one.size.  Not.one.pound.

I’m going to post my weight, too, to show you yet again that–weight doesn’t really tell the story!

Week:

1–5 1/2″  175 lbs.

2–4 1/4″   170

3–1 3/4″  173

4–nada  172

5–gains cancelled losses  172

6–1/4″  171

7–1/4″   171

8–1″ (had gains that cancelled some losses)    171

My weight stayed the same for another EIGHT weeks before I finally saw 169!  And yes, it was a slooowww loss all the way along!

So 8 weeks, 13 inches.   Not a lot after those first few weeks.  After these initial 8 weeks, it was 7 weeks before I saw a 2 inch loss in one week again.  And that is pretty typical of my losses.  A few weeks here and there of 4 inch losses, but mostly 1-2 inch losses, with some weeks less than 1 and others–none or gains cancelled losses.

I already knew what I was doing before didn’t work.  I didn’t have time or money to join a class or a gym.  (Nor did I really want to!)   Running and jogging didn’t appeal, and I had been rebounding and jump roping all to no avail already!

What if I had given up in April when I had hardly seen any inch loss since the beginning of March?  Or even given up in March when after my initial inch loss things seemed to fall off?

I would still be a 22W, overweight and have exhausted adrenals!

I share these measurements to show that I do know what it’s like to have great success in the beginning, only to seem to fall off later.   I realize now that my body couldn’t have sustained 4-6 inches of loss every single week until they all came off!

I also want to point out that not all of those wonderful inches came off my torso area where I really wanted them to!   The inch loss there was much slower and now and then I might take an inch off the abs–very rarely though was it over 1/2 inch and many weeks it stayed the same.

Here is some wisdom from Dr. Schwarzbein which may help explain what is happening:

“When you overexercise, you raise adrenaline and cortisol levels. If adrenaline is higher than cortisol, you will use up fat, protein, and sugar biochemicals. If cortisol is higher than adrenaline, you may use up protein and sugar biochemicals, but store more fat around your midsection because cortisol causes a redistribution of fat from your arms and legs to your middle. Either way, you are destorying your metabolism. ”

                                                                                                                    (~The Transition, p. 386)

She is talking about overexercising, but think about it–most of us have extra belly fat and I would venture to say that most of who start as More-to-Lose also have gained weight due to stress.   (Less and Average-to-Lose can have this, too!)

So our arms and legs look great!  But….the belly just sits there!  ::bleh!::

Stress elevates cortisol which stores fat….in the belly area.  If you are overdoing it on exercise, or stressing your body by not eating enough of the protein and good fats you need to build muscle, or you’re not sleeping well (which affects hormones), then you may very well not see inch loss in the place you want to see it the most.

And let’s define “overexercising”.  For some, it’s working out at the gym 2 hours a day plus running plus the treadmill plus….well, you get the idea!    Those people are actually addicted to exercise just as I’m addicted to sugar!  Exercise releases endorphins or “feel good” hormones, and if they do less than their “routine”, they don’t get that “high”.  If you are in this category, please taper down as quickly as you can–but do taper–do not stop cold!

For others who are adrenal challenged, overexercising could be doing the Basic Workout Plus every day.   The first person I described would do okay on BWO+ daily (taking 1 day off), but the adrenal challenged person would crash.   She may need to try BWO+ every other day, maybe even just 2 days a week.

This is why you’ll often hear from T-Tappers:  “Listen to your body”!   It’s important to cultivate this as most of us have lost touch with that art.   I know it’s hard to figure out if you’re just wimping out on doing your workouts, procrastinating…or if you truly need to take a day off and rest.   

Don’t forget that doing just a few moves still keeps the lymph pumping and is beneficial.  Primary Back Stretch, T-Tapp Twist (at least the stretch) and Hoedowns are considered the Terrific Three.  Some days getting through part of PBS may be all you can handle!

Remember this is a journey–not a marathon!  Very few people really lose it fast and keep it off without damaging their metabolism.   Slow and steady win the race.

One of the ladies on the T-Tapp forums has a signature line quote that really hits it home:

“Focus on the process and the results will come.”

Another ladies’ signature line had this quote, which says the same thing in exercise lingo:

“Just take care of the workout, and the inches will take care of themselves.”

As much as we want to see results…let’s focus on the process–the workouts, the consistency–and the inches certainly will take care of themselves.

One inch at a time (or sometimes 1/4 inch at a time!).

Eventually they add up.

To 178 3/4  inches.

And 8 sizes.

And better health, stamina, energy and well-being.

A better life!

 

Keep on tappin’! 

Tags: more-to-lose, plateau, slow inch loss, T-Tapp

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 at 6:22 am and is filed under T Tapp. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.