Plateau Busting

I've been stuck in 173-175 land for almost a year. And my measurements haven't moved much, either. I recently posted about my determination to make my waist, etc. smaller. Here's my story since then:

• JuJu started school and I started walking with her to and/or from school.
  
• My friend from college started working for Beachbody, and I checked out some of the videos from the library and started doing a mini-workout/stretch first thing in the morning.
  
• I kept doing my regular workouts at the gym in the evenings.
• I increased my weights in Body Pump.
  
• I learned how to do squats right, so that my knees wouldn't hurt, so I started doing those regularly.
  
• I started doing the No Excuses Workout several days a week (while brushing my teeth).
• I dance while cleaning the kitchen, and focus on keeping my abs tight all day.
  
• I stopped eating so many treats, but declared that I wasn't "off" treats, I just wasn't making and eating many. Don't get me wrong, I still eat treats. just more occasionally.
  
• I focused more energy into eating 5 or 6 small meals a day. I found a couple of new-to-me, good choices, such as: edamame (soy beans): low in calories, high in fiber, high in protein. Tasty, and fun to eat. Pistachios: decent fiber, high in protein, and high in fat, so eat wisely, along with fruit or other carb, as a mid-morning or mid-afternoon meal. The fat has the bonus making you feel satiated. Can you feel a difference between full-fat and no-fat dressings? I can. I use full-fat sparingly. I mix some water or vinegar into a small amount of dressing before adding it to my salad.
  

I was slowly adding all of the things I listed above into my life, and my weight stayed the same for another month and a half. About a month into it, and about the same time as General conference, I decided to give up.

From General Conference I took away a desire to put more energy into the important things in my life.

I'd set a goal to achieve a certain "number" (170) and I was becoming obsessed with that goal, even though I was happy with where I was at, and felt comfortable in my skin. I decided that although I could achieve 170 and even lower, I was doing all that I was willing to sacrifice and to put energy into at this time in my life (exercise, eating well, etc.). I'm not willing to do any more. I have kids and a life to enjoy.

I don't want to be obsessed with my weight or size.

About two weeks later, I saw 171 on the scale. Two weeks later, and I'm seeing 169. And my body measurements are down, too.

I have two theories about why my numbers have finally changed: One, I finally got all (or most) of the puzzle pieces into place. Two, I stopped stressing and embraced my body (not perfectly yet, of course) and felt gratitude for the miracle and blessing that it is.