Weight Loss Discoveries

I haven’t blogged about my weight loss efforts for a while because I’ve been yo-yo-ing for weeks now. At first I was stuck between 252 and 250. Every once in a while I’d see 249 and grow hopeful. Then it started staying at 248 to 251. I was excited whenever the scale dipped under 250 and depressed whenever it crept back over.

This pattern continued for a bit with me reminding myself each morning that my weight can fluctuate naturally a couple of pounds every day. Why can’t it just keep fluctuating downward, I wondered. I examined my eating habits and being honest with myself I discovered a couple of things.

The first is that I tend to be really good all week long, when I’m busy and have deadlines. When the weekend arrives, the picture changes. I might still have things to do but there is more freedom and latitude in the weekend. I equate weekends with relaxing, spending time with family and indulging. Yep, each weekend, I would consciously or not sabotage my efforts by eating foods I shouldn’t or too much of foods I should. I would forego any form of exercise in favor of relaxing.

Last weekend, I fought this urge. I followed my diet for the most part and I exercised on Saturday and Sunday. I did lighter workouts but the key, for me, was getting it done. For a change, I didn’t groan when I stepped on the scale Monday morning. My weight tiptoed up a couple of tenths but I could live with that. This morning came the reward. I stepped on scale, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, a yawn escaping from my mouth and peered down at the digital display. It glowed a happy little “246” back at me.

I have been teetering between 247 and 249 this last week so I know 246 won’t last. It was just the first peek. That was the second discovery I made. Against all modern advice, I weigh myself every day. This is how I hold myself accountable. History has taught me that when I avoid the scale, it is because I have allowed myself to decide to eat poorly. Avoiding the scale avoids accountability.

Whenever the numbers crept up, I was angry with myself and tried to find some action on my part that caused the increase, however slight. I wasn’t listening to myself when I reminded me that my weight can fluctuate daily. As I looked back at the log I keep, I began to see the pattern. Yes, my weight does go up and down throughout a given week. It is not yo-yo-ing in the sense that I’ve taken off a significant amount of weight and then put it back on. It is just the normal give-take of my body and overall, it has been on steady downward decent since I began this journey in January.

I am down 9.6 lbs in 12.5 weeks. That may not seem like a lot but I am pleased with it. I earned every tenth of it and I’m proud of that. I’d sure as hell rather be down 9.6 than up 9.6 or even still be where I was. Progress sometimes comes in small measure and I’m learning that its okay with me, so long as it comes at all.

Fess-Up Friday - Not So Bad

My confession is that I don’t have that much to confess and I find that totally awesome. Sure I nibbled here and there, had an extra portion once or twice. Life did what it always does and swung wildly out of control. My car broke down, leaving me unable to do my outside job one day and dependant on a friend for transportation the next day. The upheaval caused me to have to switch gears and work on writing instead. While I enjoy writing, I had spent hours prepping a crock pot dinner, making lunches for my family and putting together paperwork for my outside job. I had to completely change tracks in order to be productive Tuesday, something that usually stresses me and causes me to reach for food for comfort. I managed to avoid this habit!

Wednesday, I was out with friends all day and the tress of not knowing what was wrong with my car, how much it would cost to fix and how much work I would have to do to make up that amount was killing me. Still, I didn’t get the hot pretzel I was craving or the French fries with my steak for dinner. I made it through the day well under my calorie and carb targets. However, because I was out so much, I didn’t exercise.

We had snow Wednesday afternoon and evening. By the time my daughter got off work, she felt unsafe to drive to my house and pick up her daughter. So when I awoke Thursday morning, I had an adorable little surprise still sleeping at my house. Thursday was to have been my replacement work day. Again, I had made the necessary preparations which this time included driving my husband to work so I could have his truck, a truck that rattles and thunders and makes me nervous to drive. I sound like such a psychotic but you’d have to drive this truck to understand ;).

My son stayed with the baby so I could do my job. She was still there when I got home and stayed the whole night again. I got no writing down, when I really felt compelled to write. I had learned my car was ready and would cost $487. The third day of stress and I hadn’t exercised for the last 2. The good news is I really hadn’t eaten badly.

Somehow, in spite of the stress, I made it through. And I lost a little weight! Today, I weighed in at 246.5, a 2.2 loss from Monday and a total loss of 7 lbs since January 3^rd. I lost in the last 5 days than I have in single week since starting this year.

Earlier in the week, a friend asked a group of us what we were going to do to ramp things up in February and my answer was to try to pay more attention to my carb intake, to lower it. That’s what I’ve done. I’m not actually counting carbs or shooting for a particular target number. I’m just trying to make low-carb food choices. And for me, that seems to have helped.