“The Journey to 300,” Part 8: The Dreaded “Phase II”
Editor’s Note: This is the eighth part in a multiple-part series written by Athena Perez, chronicling her year-long weight loss challenge, which she now calls “The Journey to 300.” Perez has documented her weight loss and fitness journey across social media and in her articles for Morning Chalk Up. You can read the other parts here, here, and here.
In the middle of March, when I made my coaching shift, I had reached a point where my nutrition and physical activity were pretty dialed in.
Despite running on very little sleep and too many gallons of coffee, I felt more confident in these two areas than I had in several years.
- However, I was taken aback when my progress started to slow down.
I call this “Phase II” of the journey. It wasn’t the first time I had experienced a slowdown, but this time, it almost came to a grinding halt.
Weeks would pass, and I saw only a pound or two drop.
I knew I needed to let my body do its thing, but I won’t lie — seeing such agonizingly slow progress on the scale was frustrating.
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I knew better!
I’m a huge proponent of non-scale victories and always tell others to “trust the process” and stay consistent, no matter what the body does.
- Yet, here I was, grumbling and kicking the scale across the hardwood floors of my living room after a week of hard work, all for a one-pound loss.
I even proudly declared on my Instagram feed that I would take the win, and I did.
Truthfully, though, it came with a lot of grumbling and a little anxiety.
Why wasn’t I seeing better numbers?
Around this same time, I began noticing unsettling changes in my training. My personal records for deadlifts and bench presses (for instance) were slipping out of reach.
- I know every day can’t be a “PR day,” but I wasn’t even coming close to my usual numbers.
Fatigue was creeping in, and it was relentless.
Initially, I tried to combat the sleepiness with quick, 20-minute power naps during lunch. But those short naps started stretching into an hour, then two hours, and one evening, I found myself taking a three-hour nap at 5:00 p.m.
What in the heck was happening to me?
I was exhausted, feeling the heat of an unusually hot Minnesota spring day, and it finally got the best of me one evening as I munched on a sugar-free homemade popsicle.
Tears welled up in my eyes as I worried that I was losing muscle mass.
- To make matters worse, I received a DM that read, “Don’t you wish you were back with your first coach?” Essentially, it suggested that the reason I wasn’t making progress was the change in coaching.
Normally, I handle such comments with grace but my frustration had reached a boiling point. I put my phone down and loudly declared, “YOU ASSHOLE!”
There I was, slobbering through my popsicle, feeling utterly defeated.
The following morning, as I was getting dressed and still feeling slightly defeated, I noticed my favorite T-shirt, one I had purchased in February, felt loose and sloppy.
My first instinct was to take the shirt off, wholeheartedly believing I had forgotten to wash it or perhaps it had slipped into the clean clothes basket by accident.
It hadn’t dawned on me for a second that it was a sign of good news to come.
Twenty-four hours later, a new InBody scan revealed I was not losing muscle mass; I was actually gaining muscle.
- The numbers, or at least the “trend,” were showing great results.
“What the hell,” I thought to myself.
I explained to my fuel coach, Caroline Lambray, what was happening.
She suggested it might be time to get an updated Basal Metabolic Rate test and that we should increase my daily calorie intake. (Editor’s note: Basal metabolic rate, or BMR, refers to the largest component of determining overall energy expenditure, in simple terms, how much energy you are expending each day in calories.)
- Though I typically never question my coaches, as I trust them implicitly, there was a brief moment when I thought to myself, “Woof, I hope this works.”
I increased the daily calories and was determined to stay the course no matter what.
Within three days, magic started happening.
The desire to take naps was subsiding. I could feel my energy coming back, and BINGO: the numbers started dropping again on the scale.
Two weeks later, I got the news that made that month and a half worth of frustration all worth it.
My BMR had increased.
I nearly cried again.
My body was trying to tell me it needed more fuel.
- “Hey Athena,” it said, “good things are happening over here; pay attention.”
If you are struggling as you read this, don’t give up.
Every smart choice you make is changing you in ways you can’t even imagine.
Featured image: @athenamariebt / Instagram