Summary

The author is halfway through a 12-week calorie-counting challenge, consistently tracking but struggling with a lack of progress and the monotony of maintaining weight rather than losing it.

Abstract

The author is documenting their journey through a 12-week calorie-counting challenge, emphasizing the difficulty of consistently tracking calories over time. Despite achieving consistency, the author faces a plateau in weight loss, oscillating between the same few pounds. This has led to a sense of purposelessness in the tracking process, as the primary goal of weight loss is not being met. The author acknowledges the challenge of incorporating more protein into their diet and questions the usefulness of tracking for maintenance rather than loss. With a weekly weight loss rate indicative of maintenance, the author reflects on the struggle to find motivation and purpose in continuing the tracking process, especially during mentally tough times.

Opinions

The author feels that consistent calorie tracking has become tedious due to the lack of weight loss progress.
There is a sense of frustration and confusion about the purpose of tracking when it results in weight maintenance rather than loss.
The author recognizes their proficiency in maintaining weight but is unsure about the effectiveness of using exercise calories for weight loss.
The author believes that adding more protein to their diet could improve their situation but finds it challenging to do so, especially since protein shakes cause stomach discomfort.
Despite the struggle, the author values the consistency they have achieved in tracking and is determined to overcome the mental hurdle to find a new approach to their weight loss goal.

Calorie Counting Challenge — Week 5 Breakdown

It’s getting tedious.

In case you missed it, I’m doing a 12-week calorie-counting challenge. You can find everything about it here.

I think this is the most consistent I’ve ever been with counting calories in a long time.

I feel good about that.

But, I’m having a problem.

The Problem

You can see the problem in this chart.

I’m bouncing up and down between a couple of pounds.

I’m not making any progress.

My #1 goal was to track consistently. And I’m hitting that. But because I’m not progressing, it’s become tedious work to track. There’s no purpose to it.

And that’s the mental hurdle I’ll need to overcome during week 6.

Week 5’s Stats

Weigh-in day was on Friday. Here are the stats from the beginning of the challenge until now.

Start weight 9/25/23: 140.8 Week 1: 137.8 Week 2: 139.1 Week 3: 139.9 Week 4: 137.7 Week 5: 137.7

I continuously bounce back and forth between 137-ish and 139-ish. As I mentioned in my last article, I’m awesome at maintaining my weight! And that’s not a bad thing.

But I don’t really need to track to maintain. I’ve done that without tracking.

So I really start to wonder what the hell I’m doing.

As you can see, I’m technically under calories for the week due to exercise calories. Those calories aren’t reliable, and many people don’t use them. I use them if I need them, but it definitely means I maintain more than I lose.

I know life would be so much better if I added more protein. It’s just hard to do! (And every single protein shake I’ve tried hurts my stomach.)

My streak is looking nice!

You can see my weekly rate is .1lb weight loss. That’s maintenance.

Final Thoughts

I am really struggling. On the one hand, consistency was my goal, and I’m doing well with that.

On the other hand, I’m tracking with no purpose. Until I decide to change what I’m doing, I’m just adding work to my day for no reason.

Now I’m at the beginning of week six, and having a mentally tough couple of days. That makes tracking really difficult.

We’ll see how it goes…