Oh, the Agony!

You know, the thought occurs to me that I haven't discussed the latest results with my healthy living in quite some time. This is probably due in large part to my recent struggles with a pesky plateau which I just can't seem to get past. Of course, this plateau came at a time when I was very quickly closing in on the 100-pounds-lost mark. I even had visions of sitting down and proudly telling you that I had achieved the century mark. But, alas! It has yet to come. I've even come to within 2/10ths of a pound, but I'll be damned if I can break the mark.

If I am being perfectly honest with myself, the struggle is most-likely due to my lack of absolute strictness when it comes to the food choice department. I've continued to exercise on a daily basis, and have even added some different routines to my schedule. But with summer bar-b-ques, holidays, and other such engagements, I have found it tough to stay true to my original lifestyle changes. To be sure, I haven't gained anything, but I just haven't continued to lose as much as I was losing on a weekly basis.

I suffered yet another blow last night as I was working out in that I injured a calf muscle. As I was jogging, the muscle felt like it sort of ripped, and I hit the floor in pain. It was all I could do to stand up and walk around, and I certainly had no chance of continuing the workout. The muscle was fairly stiff this morning, but not quite as sore. I pushed myself, against my wife's advice, through a three-mile walk this afternoon. I couldn't go quite as hard, and I was limping quite a bit through most of it, but I made it. I feel like the walk at least loosened things up a bit, and I'm hoping to slowly work myself back into the game at full strength.

The agony of being so close to losing 100 pounds and seemingly not able to get there, combined now with the agony of the injury, has certainly left me with the temptation to take some time off and go a bit lax with the changes I originally set forth for myself. It would have been so much easier to just sit on the couch this afternoon instead of pushing myself through the walk. Deep down inside, I know that's the ridiculous path to choose. I feel so good about what I have accomplished thus far, and I know darn well I will achieve my goals as long as I keep at it. As I said to my wife today, "no pain, no gain!"