12 Weeks to Make My Body Mine Again! Week Five – Climb Every Plateau!

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By: Heather Gow, ellaslist explorer

Heather Gow bravely embarks on a very public journey tracking her ups and downs on her personalised running and nutrition program with Benefit Sports Nutrition and Run with Us Online. Read Heather’s Intro Article, her Week One Update,  Week Two Update,  Week Three Update and Week Four Update here.

The Terrifying Plateau

The plateau. A terrific concept if you’re mountain-climbing or trying to learn a new skill, but a word to strike fear into the heart of any self-respecting weight-loss program participant – especially one who has agreed to share her progress with the world via weekly updates! The measurement of kilograms and centimetres is, of course, tremendously important when weight loss is your goal – both as a quality control measure to make sure what you’re doing is working, and as a motivational tool to keep you on the right track – but what happens when you step on the scales week after week, in the expectation of seeing a number that reflects all of that sweaty, muscle-dragging exercise, all of that chocolate uneaten, all of that wine undrunk, all of those lovely carbs rejected and left alone to be enjoyed by someone else – and instead, see digits that are stubbornly, unrelentingly the same?

Mums Weightloss Success

Time For A Progress Report

Depression, that’s what. A kind of fatalistic, why-do-I-bother kind of surrender and an almost overwhelming temptation to abandon the field and embrace a life of eating family size blocks of Cadbury’s Black Forest for breakfast. After two weeks of moderate weight loss followed by three weeks of staring at a set of obdurate scales, that’s how I was feeling this week as I headed off to meet Charlene Cassie, nutritionist from BeneFIT Sports Nutrition, (partnered with Run With Us Online), for our progress check.

Benefit Sports Nutrition BMI amazing results

Positive & Realistic Support

Week 5 Progress HeatherAfter having known Char since the beginning of the program, I have been struck over and over again by her positivity and understanding. She is not the “tough love” sort and has been able to provide the perfect antidote to my (at times) unhelpful and self-flagellating internal dialogue. So it was this week – she responds to my complaints about finding the time and coping with disruptions not with dire warnings about my health and assertions that if it was important to me, I’d find the time – but with genuine acceptance and recognition that life with children can be chaotic and a passionate drive to help mothers who habitually put the care of others before themselves.

Amazing Results After 1 Month!

Char’s method of choice for measuring results is the skin fold test – a more accurate measure of body composition than the BMI, which is simply a measure of weight relative to height. Char had taken my initial measurements before the program began and, given my relatively minor weight loss in the weeks since, I was not looking forward to the follow up. Imagine my delight then, to find that I had managed to reduce my total body fat by 19% and lose 2kgs! I fairly skipped away from our meeting feeling revitalised and energised and ready to commit to the next half of the program.

Great Work Heather!

We are so impressed with Heather’s progress after just 4 weeks. All of us know how hard it is to focus on yourself while taking care of a young family. Well done Heather – you’re doing incredibly well!

READ HEATHER’S WEEK ONE UPDATE HERE

WEEK TWOTHE BEST LAID PLANS!

WEEK THREE – IT NEVER GETS EASY!

WEEK FOURUNEXPECTED EATING PLAN ISSUES

 
 

 
ABOUT HEATHERHeather Gow

Heather Gow is a mother of three and a step-mum of one. She’s on a break from her psychology career and is currently kid-wrangling full-time. She writes stories for children when hers are asleep. She blogs infrequently and tweets lefty political rants. She lives in the Eastern Suburbs and can generally be found somewhere on the endless loop between school, daycare, swimming lessons, gymnastics and Nippers.

 

 

 

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