Day 314 Record Keeping
Day 283 Fixed Meditation
Day 229 Bodyweight Exercise (3 walk down bridges, 3 dragon twists)
Day 156 Writing (editing)
Day 329 Eating = 71
Day 86 Work = 52
Great sleep, great wakeup.

Plateau Busting Fat Loss
I’ve recently got back into the swing of my eating habit. It went from being in shambles to getting into high habit gear in record time.

But, I just had a conversation about how I feel about it - I feel like I’ve been stuck in a rut in fat loss for a long time. And I think it’s easily correctible.

But let me back up. In my first three months I had fantastic progress, losing 5 belt holes in size. That’s natural, and it slowed down. Lately my belt has been hovering between hole 6 and 7. I know I’ve been losing slowly - the pants I bought late in November are now getting loose.

So I know that I am shrinking, just not so much around my waist. And perhaps it’s not a big deal, but I do want to really get a bit strict. I’ve been letting a few things go here and there.

In Texas, making wise decisions with the Tex Mex I crave so much of the year is difficult. Here in New Mexico they like beer and it’s easier to just have one casually with dinner. Also I find myself snacking on cheese a lot.

In my first three months in Brazil, I didn’t really eat cheese, and I really only drank red wine. I find that beer tends to make me feel bloated. So I’m going to try to cut out cheese and beer. I’m going to switch to red wine again, and I’m going to buy some additional snacks - olives and pickles, along with some deli meats to see if it makes a difference.

It’s funny because at my parent’s house I feel very awkward bringing beer back to the house, but wine is more than fine. Here, for some reason I feel the opposite is the case. It’s probably all in my head, but I believe that part of this project is getting to that Zen place where I make choices that are right for me regardless of what I perceive is appropriate or not.

I don’t want anyone to change their plans for my dietary needs, but at the same time I need to figure out ways without feeling guilty about it. I think it’s a really important mental state to be in for this project to work as a whole.

I just bought a new pair of jeans that are a little tight in the mid-section, so I should notice changes if this works.

Lydia mentioned that one lady on Mark’s Daily Apple cuts out cheese, nuts, alcohol, and chocolate whenever she hits a plateau, and it works for her, so I think I might be on the right track here.

I’ve also started doing Tabatas - I know Mark Sisson advocates HIITS - especially sprinting twice a week to bust out of plateaus - so we’ll see how the Tabatas work out.