I’m in a bit of a slowdown for weight loss, lately. That’s how my body is; I’ll lose for a bit, and then stay at one weight.

I used to find this incredibly frustrating. Who doesn’t like consistency, especially if you’re looking forward to reaching that end goal of having all your weight off?

These days, though, it doesn’t bother me as much. (Just a little, at times, but my brain is still adapting to a new lifestyle.) I’ve found that my body keeps changing even when there’s little sign of progress on the scales. There are a lot of reasons my body may decide not to give up weight, and I can’t possibly know every single thing — only that I should keep pressing forward, and eventually, I’ll be back in losing mode.

About halfway up the steps!

I had a great reminder of this just a few days ago. One of my dearest life-long friends and I both aspire to be writers, and we participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month); it’s a month-long effort to write a 50,000 word novel. It’s held annually in November, so last November and this one, we had a write-in at a cabin in a nearby state park. It’s the absolute perfect setting for writing; quiet, secluded, on the water. Peaceful.

For me, though, it also holds quite the challenge: a long course of stairs that lead from parking down to the fishing cabins on the waterfront. Thankfully, they are half-steps, but there’s somewhere around eighty of them, and for someone with mobility issues, it’s quite the challenge. It’s also great incentive not to pack much, since all of it must be carried down by hand.

The first time I met my friend, there, was in August of last year, shortly after my daughter’s wedding. I’d lost 62 pounds. I had a heck of a time getting down those steps — and back up. It required several stops along the way to sit and rest. Worst of all, one of my knees locked up during my stay, which makes it sore afterward. It was quite a challenge for me, and my friend helped me carry my things; without her help, I wouldn’t have made it.

The second time was last November, a few months after the first trip. By that time, I’d lost 88 pounds, or thereabouts. Another 20+ pounds off made things a little easier, but I still needed lots of help. I walked with a cane. I was very careful of the antique bricks used for paving near the cabin, because they aren’t perfectly smooth and it would have been easy to hook a toe (or a cane tip) on the edge of an uneven brick, so I didn’t venture far from the cabin.

And this last time? I was 129 pounds down — and while I’m not exactly running up those long steps to the Rocky theme music, they’re not the ungodly challenge they were on the previous two trips. I made the trek down and up three times when I arrived, and carried all of my own gear; when leaving, I did it twice, and my friend carried something for me as a favor. (She’s awesome that way.)

It occurred to me on the way up, carrying a cooler, gear, laptop, and more, that my weight while carrying all that gear was probably equal to my weight without the gear the last time I visited. There’s no quicker reminder of how far you’ve come, weight-wise, than carrying stuff that makes you feel heavy, again! I carried probably thirty pounds of stuff up those steps, on one trip, and it certainly made the challenge to the top a bit more difficult.

I can’t begin to imagine trying to carry 129 pounds of stuff up to the top with me. No, I couldn’t have made it at all — not even just going down the steps, let alone up!

I’ve always maintained that these small increments add up. This was a stellar reminder of just how much difference there really is, because small changes aren’t always noticeable on a day to day basis. But in a year? Oh, yes, definitely! Who knows? Maybe I’ll be playing that Rocky theme music the next time.