Obesity Discussion Forums

[heidrun]

Well people, my plateau days are over. When I weighed myself today at the time where I base my weight loss info on (fully dressed in the afternoon) then the number on the scale told me that I had lost 4 lbs. As usual I had a HUGE weight loss basically over night, because yesterday I was in my usual plateau weight (321.7 lbs) but today it was 317.7 lbs. The thing is that my weight has been basically the same since 18th June, so I haven’t lost weight for nearly one month.

It would be understandable not losing weight if I had been pigging out, but I wasn’t! I followed my food plan as I had done before (when I was losing weight) 99.9% of the time. I didn’t eat sugar or binge on junk-food, or do anything different. I guess plateaus are just part of the process of losing weight, but they sure are the biggest hurdle for maintaining the mentality necessary for the weight loss. When you don’t see any results despite doing everything right, then it is so easy to fall from the right path. You start to think what’s the point of continuing, when you aren’t losing any weight.

Luckily I kept focusing on my goal, so I didn’t cave for the voices telling me to quit. I said to myself that the weight loss was just the one of the benefits of eating very healthy. I feel great both physically and mentally thanks to a healthy food choice, and those things are just as important as the weight loss. So I continued to eat as I did, and made an effort to be even stricter with the food-choices, and finally after much waiting I have gotten over this plateau, and lost some weight. I think this plateau is just one of many to come, but at least I gotten the experience that they will end eventually if you keep on eating the healthy way, so there is no reason to quit. Just make minor adjustments in the nutrition and be patient.

I am trying to decide these days if I am going to become sick physically or not. The thing is that when I was 13 years old I got the virus disease called “herpes zoster�. For those that don’t know: This disease is caused by a virus type that also causes herpes and chicken pox. This virus lives in the body of everyone that has had chicken pox as a child and sometimes this virus flares up, often when you are experiencing stress or fatigue. The average symptoms are: fever, physical pain in the either side of the body, rashes and indisposition. When I got it the first time I got very sick. I didn’t get much fever, but I had pain in the skin of my whole right side, divided completely in the middle. The pain is similar as the pain people get when they have cold sores on the lips, or the pain people experience in severe cases of the flu. I was also very tired and felt the same as when you are about to sick by the flu. It took my 3 months to get over it, and I have had pain in the right side of my back, when I am tired or stressed ever since. Now I have gotten the symptoms back, my right side aches and I have gotten rashes. Don’t know if I will get properly sick, because I have a super-turbo-immune system. Haven’t even had cold for 3 years. Occasionally I get a throat about to be sore, but it never evolves into any sickness. I guess the only thing I have to start doing is to sleep properly, instead of 4-5 hours a night. Just hope I won’t get very sick by this very annoying “herpes zoster�.

[Obesity Discussion]

4-5 hours is definitely not enough sleep from an immunity perspective, but most importantly Heidrun, you are missing out on further potential weight loss by not getting more sleep. There are dozens and dozens of studies in our Obesity and it's Correlation to Sleep forum that back this up. Read a few and you will see why sleep is a key ingredient in the fight against obesity.

But, those pounds still keep dropping, and yes you will hit plateaus as you go, it's only natural. Do not get discouraged! Keep up the great work! :cool:

[heidrun]

You are totally right about that the lack of sleep is causing the plateau. In fact I have begun to lose weight WHEN I made sure to get enough sleep, and from now on I will continue to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep.

I think the problem of not getting enough sleep was not that I was going to bed late. The problem was that I woke up after 4-5 hours of sleep and was so wide awake that I couldnt sleep anymore. Its summer time in Iceland now, and because we are so near the north pole it is actually daylight 24 hours. I think this whole nation has a kind of seasonal manic-depression. In winter when there are max 3-5 hours of daylight (and if its raining or cloudy we dont get proper daylight, just a twilightzone that turns into night) then EVERYBODY sleeps a lot more then in other seasons. We kind of hybernate like bears, just cuddle up in the darkness and sleep. Then in summer when there is daylight all the time people get very active and dont sleep as much as in winter. I know even people that sleep only 1-3 hours a night the whole summer but dont feel tired. I always get kind of hyper in the summer, and one thing I always struggle with is getting enough sleep. Just imagine if you had to sleep when the sun is actually shining outside at midnight.

Now the days are getting shorter and we actually get at least twilight instead of sunshine at midnight. And yes I am going to sleep more, dont want to hit a plateau again soon.

[Obesity Discussion]

Have you considered an eye mask or something to keep the light out? Curtains over the windows? Sunglasses :cool: ? Can you wear yourself out physically before bedtime?

I bet if you can manage to get a solid 7-8 hours sleep a night that weight will come flying off even faster.

I couldn't imagine going through what you are going through with the sun being either totally on or totally off. That would completely screw up my biological clock.

[heidrun]

I have some MAJOR blinders for my windows, so it is very dark in the bedroom when I go to sleep. It is not a problem for me to go to sleep, the problem is sleeping long enough. But the same I have gotten the sleep thing under control (at least in the last days, and of course I lost weight right away).

I have always had 7-8 or more hours of sleep before, it is just now in june-july that I started sleeping less. The thing was I wasnt tired at all or sleepy when I slept so little. If I would have been then I would have wanted to sleep more.

[William Wallace]

I would go nuts if I had that much light!!!

Heidrun, you might want to go see a doctor just in case regarding your sides hurting....hopefully it's not a circulation problem.

There's some great tips that can help you get more sleep. Don't use your bedroom for anything else other than sleep. Try to set a pattern and go to bed at the same time. Do not eat within a few hours of bedtime. Do not exercise within a few hours before bedtime.

See if any of those ideas help you out a bit. Good luck catching your Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's!