Have you ever had one of those dreams where you're running as hard and as fast as you can but you don't seem to be getting anywhere? That's how I'm feeling this morning after this week's weight-in. In the past 3 weeks the scale has barely budged and it's getting frustrating.

What's even more frustrating is that my pants felt even looser on me than they have the past few weeks. I was feeling good about this coming weigh-in because I've been feeling good about how I'm looking. As much as everyone says "it's what you see in the mirror that counts", that number still represents all the work and sweat I've put in during the prior week. And to see it that number barely move after 3 weeks is maddening.

I can attribute some of this weeks non-progress to only getting two intervals in instead of my typical four. And I've been a little easy on the diet, but nothing crazy. We ate out at a Thai resturaunt on Saturday. While I picked a decent main meal (Pattaya Shrimp), the Thai egg rolls and white rice (only a little) weren't the best. Right after, we hit an ice cream joint where I got one scoop of frozen chocolate yogurt (low-fat) with hot fudge.

Beyond that, I've been pretty diligent in my diet. I might be relying too much on peanut butter (natural of course). There are days I've had PB&J for lunch with milk and then PB on bread with chocolate milk for my evening snack. This week, I'm going to buckle down on the diet to make sure I'm not sabotaging myself.

My workouts have been great. I've been trying to out-do each previous workout by adding weight or adding reps. I know I started out light, but I'm quickly learning that my capacity for lifting is a lot higher than I would have thought. Sure, it burns a bit, and the last few reps of the last superset are tough. But as long as I can get out at least 8 reps, 3 times, in good form, I know I'm finally using the right amount of weight.

I would have felt better about this weeks results if I had seen some changes in my measurements. Unfortunately, all those numbers stayed the same as well. In fact, using my body fat calculations, my actual BF weight and percentage went up this week. Talk about a huge let down!

I know, I know, those are very rough calculations that are not be very accurate. But I've been using those numbers to buoy my spirit when the scale hasn't been changing. This week, both have flat-lined which to me says I've reached a plateau (I hate that word, though I knew it would be coming).

For the recrod, here are my numbers from this week's measurements (previous week's results in parentheses);

• Weight - 191 pounds / 87.27 kg (192/87.27)
• Chest - 38.75" / 98.43 cm (38.5/97.79)
• Waist - 38" / 96.52 cm (38/96.52)
• Bicep - 12" / 30.48 cm (12/30.48)
• Thigh - 22.5" / 57.15 cm (22.75/57.79)
• Calf - 14.25" / 36.20 cm (14.25/36.20)
• Lean Body Mass - 143.38 pounds / 65.17 kg (144.46/65.66)
• Body Fat Weight - 47.62 pounds / 21.61 kg (47.54/21.61)
• Body Fat % - 24.93% (24.76)

So the numbers are pretty stable from last week too. My chest measurement has increased, that might be muscle building up there. Hmmmm, maybe I'm building that classic V-shape body after all?

Even so, I'm frustrated today. But I used that frustration to crank up the intensity in my morning workout. I bumped up the weight I was using (Workout A from Intermediate Level Workout) and decreased my rest time between sets/supersets.

I'm not going to be one who mopes around and says "Why me? I've been working hard!" I may feel sorry for myself for a little while, but then it's time to re-focus my efforts and make sure I'm doing everything I possibly can to reach my goals. This isn't the plan's fault. This isn't the food's fault. This is my fault. I need to understand that this happens, but I also have to understand that I can't let this stop me.

So, this is the end of my pity party and the start of a new week where I break through the 190 mini-goal I have set and finally get into the 180's.