2018 was a’ight.
Happy 2019, everyone!
2018 started great for my weight loss before stalling out.
I started the year at 298 lbs and finished at 273 lbs, for a total of 25 lbs lost. This was way behind my original and 4-times adjusted goals (lol), but I’m still happy with the progress. This puts me at a total weight loss of 71 lbs since May 9, 2017.
As the graph shows, I actually first hit 273 lbs on May 14. I even hit a yearly low of 265 lbs on May 28, and hit that low again on my December 10 weigh-in.
I hit some other cool milestones in 2018, too.
Feelings
The title probably says it all, doesn’t it?
I tried a lot of things to try to “get the ball rolling” again after plateauing in the middle of the year: More strength training, less strength training, more calories, less calories, meal replacement shakes, and probably some other variations I’m forgetting about.
I’m obviously disappointed that those attempts over the last 6 months didn’t really work, but I knew from numerous previous experiences that a serious plateau would come. I’m fortunate that this plateau came after 70 lbs instead of the 40 and 60-lb plateaus I’ve hit before.
I do feel a bit frustrated at the lack of progress.
Moving On
I have a Jan 1, 2020 goal weight of 241 lbs.
I have a few other fitness goals for the year, too (some of these may look familiar from previous posts):
- Walk/run a 5K in under 40 minutes.
- Jog a mile in under 12 minutes, without stopping or walking.
- Do assisted pull-ups with less than 50 lbs of assistance.
- Do a 5x5 set of back squats with an empty barbell.
To achieve these goals, I’m going to have to take some different steps this year. Here are some I have in mind so far:
- Get help with my hamstring tightness (left) and weakness (right). This likely means physical therapy and a several-minutes daily stretching routine.
- Adopt a more aggressive but less calorie-restrictive diet based on whole foods.
- Adopt a 3 days/week strength, 2 days/week walking schedule.
- Talk to my doctor about referral to dietary and weight loss specialists.
Thank You
Thank you for reading and following my journey to get healthy.
