Friend of Julie: Manifesting Change

I wrote this post while I was in a plateau. I wrote as if I already dropped another size, to visualization out what I want to happen. As it turns out, most of what I projected did happen and I suspect the parts that didn't will manifest soon. I updated this piece this morning, to clarify what did [comments in parenthesis reflect the update of what really happened].

Here's how I jumped off the plateau wagon...

I followed program 100%. I remembered there are no gray areas. In fact, I remembered a lot of things. There is no such thing as "slightly off program." You're either on or you're off. It's that simple. If you not on, or in the river, as Julie calls it, you're either going to maintain your size or your clothes are going to get tighter. I guess I was maintaining [in this case this was not true; I just couldn't see where I'd lost weight]. Hey - wait - I've been calling this a plateau! Same difference - I was not losing weight.

I did my own "refresh" by following advice from others who have been successful on this program. Jennifer, Melissa, Meaghan, and others have posted on this blog and on the Facebook group great feedback.

To jump start things, I did three days of red meat and no veggies [reality: I had tomato sauce with peppers and onions and added corn to some of my food]. Jennifer has said this many times and today, as I write this affirmation, I made a list and then went shopping for my meals for the next three days.

I followed Melissa's advice about getting my ratio of veggies and meat back in line. I too was eating too many veggies. I wasn't keeping that balance, so bite for bite was the trick to get me back on track. I took a hard look at my fat intake too. I wrapped up the bacon I had in the refrigerator, and put it in the freezer; I stopped having bacon for a full week and I watched my fat intake closer. [Bacon isn't the problem, it's the total amount of fat intake that I was consuming; bacon plus butter plus plus half and half plus mayonnaise plus other fats combined in one day. All these are allowed on program, but we do need to watch our total fats.]

I renewed my commitment not to have cheese for the rest of November and this time I stuck to my promise. From there forward, I was able to use cheese only as a condiment. I don't bring cheese into the house unless I need it for a specific recipe. I'm happy to say cheese is no longer a problem food for me. [November isn't over yet, but when shopping last night I paused at the cheese counter before passing it by.]

Catherine shared she had several plateaus and that she came to accept plateaus by remembering Julie teaches us this is how our  body heals, recovers, and rests for the next change. Amy reminded us that our bodies need to reabsorb skin, veins, nerves, etc. Once I remembered this is part of the journey for some of us, I stopped being so hard on myself for being on a plateau; this weight loss will take as long as it takes.

I followed some of my own advice too. I put progressive photos of me together and posted them to this blog. I printed a hard copy and put it on my refrigerator to remember where I've been. I put it away when I had company, but pulled it back out when the left. {reality: I haven't printed the photo yet but I have plans to do so this week.] I have a copy of the 4 photos side by side on my iPhone and I looked at it every day on my way to the gym, to keep me motivated. I looked at it on days I didn't feel like getting to the gym too.[reality: I look at the photo on my iPhone or on the blog just about every day and I show the photo to my friends. When I said why I put the photos together like that, one friend said when I'm feeling like I haven't lost any weight to "just ask us!" It seems I'm the only one who can't see that I have continued to lose weight.]

I made plans a couple months ago to visit with a friend to go shopping. I hadn't been in the stores since early August and was wearing the last of the hand-me-downs that didn't fit in spring. I was so ready to have new clothes. Because I followed all the above advice, when I went to the stores (Marshalls, TJ Max, and thrift stores) [more on what stores I really went to in my next post.] I was elated (understatement) that I was able to wear size 14's! The jump start helped me drop weight instantly! I skipped right by size 16's completely! The last time I was in Marshall and TJ's - there were very few thing that fit me, even their X's weren't fitting. Not the case this time! [reality: I did skip right over the 14's in tops, but I'm still wearing 18 pants. Again, more on the real shopping in my next post.]

Woohoo! Plateau over! I'm in the river and going with the flow. I've stopped getting in my own way and I'm thankful for all the friends of Julie who helped me get back on track!

Reality: I wasn't really on a plateau! I was losing weight above the waist, but since I hadn't tried on smaller clothes since August, I didn't see this. While visiting one of my friends over the weekend, she suggested I take in a few inches on my top under the arms, that I alter my pants at the waist by adding darts and take in the seams along my upper thighs as my pants are too big in those areas. I only tried on 2 pairs of pants at the store, so perhaps I've moved into a 16 in jeans? I'll have to go try on jeans soon and see if this is true.