Living by the Scale

I had a thought today as I readied myself for my meeting today. I've been at this for 6 mos. and have become more miserable the more I lose. I feel like the more I stick with this program the more I live by the scale. I'm having a hard time right now because I'm in a bit of bad pattern. I start off losing weight at the beginning of the month, say about a pound. The next week I gain about half a pound. After that I lose pound then gain or lose again. All this in the course of a month leads to roughly a weight loss of two pounds a month. Every weigh in is a trial because I start out thinking I can change the pattern and don't have to gain but I do.  The worst part is the response of highs and lows I feel after I weigh in. A bad weigh in can send me to bed or lead to a binge. I can't figure the reason for this pattern  out and my leader is no help. I've tried eating simply filling, this is when you don't count points but eat foods that have little to no points value and are power foods like fruit and vegetable.Well I do that and that works for a week. Then when I try it again another week I gain weight. I can't seem to shake this pattern. Today, I wanted to yell at my leader when she suggested I needed to eat more, maybe indulge more. So if I eat food I shouldn't eat I gain weight.  And even when I don't eat 'bad foods'  I still gain weight. I'm sick of the lectures and the whole mentality that at least I'm losing. At this point the only thing I feel that I am losing is my sanity and money.  I need to lose weight and that's it. If eating more was a solution I would never have had to join WW. Does anyone else have a pattern? And if so how do you shake it?

Uphill battle

Hello readers,

I am still on the Weight Watchers program and so far I've been fairly successful.  I am averaging about 2 pounds of weight loss per month. So in a total of five months I have lost 10 pounds.  The problem is that even with the successes it's still an uphill battle. I'm not sure what it is about my body but it's determined to make this weight loss difficult. After each large loss I gain back a half pound the following week. Last week I lost 2.4 lbs and then this week I gained back 0.6 lbs. It's disappointing and discouraging.

Frankly, at times it's enough to make me want to quit. Part of me thinks that trying to lose weight the right way isn't worth it. By the right way I mean slowly and semi-steadily. I'm not sure what to do to stay motivated but I catch myself thinking maybe it's not meant to be. I realize that half a pound is nothing but I hate that this is a pattern with my body that I can't seem to shake off.

Except for a brief period of time I have always been the chubby girl and maybe that's just who I am. But I am tired of being the chubby girl and want to break this habit and make this battle a winning one. So dear readers, I need some advice. How do you break a pattern when you're not sure what's causing it and turn a struggle around?

Almost a Quarter Down!

It's been a while since I've been on here and my weight loss is still going strong. Just not fast enough frankly.  My group leader says I should remember that losing weight slowly is a good thing for reaching and maintaining long tern goals. I just want to get into a pair of size 8 jeans already.

But, I suppose she's got a point. I do tend to get hung up on the amount of weight loss or the number I see on the scale. So far I've lost just over 7 lbs.  and while I'm pleased with that I can't help but wonder how much farther along I would be if I hadn't been tripped up over the holidays.  And of course other things stall my progress as well, my visits from mother nature, my love of Coke Zero, and the occasional over indulgence. Still, progress is progress.

Besides, the slow but thankfully steady decline of my weight one more thing bothers me and that is really allowing myself to enjoy a treat without guilt. That's a hard one. Every time I go to a meeting I am tempted by two point chips, or three point chocolate bars. One of the newest snack bars is a chocolate-caramel-pretzel bar. Yum. I never buy them because I fear them. I am afraid that if I even have low point foods in my house I will eat them instead of food and balloon. Looks like I need to work on more than my weight. So as I said almost a quarter down but still no less neurotic. Until next time.

In the Name of Progress

As I work on my weight loss goals I've had to deal with my share of disappointments. My weight fluctuates with the amount of stress and let's just say lady days. Last week was proof of that when during my cycle I gained a pound. I know it's not much and yet it was a hard thing to stomach. And yet it was all my stomach's fault well, partly.

I become a chocolate fool during my time of the month. The candy jar at work was no help. I kept adding Hershey's miniatures to my coffee until it became a chocolate mess. The truth was it was pretty gross and yet I couldn't help myself. Needless to say I was pretty disappointed in myself when I stepped on the scale. But I was grateful for the support of the woman who weighed me. She reminded me that more than likely I was holding onto water weight. My husband reminded me that every road to weight loss has its own pace. Losing weight in a healthy manner meant that there would be some downfalls and some plateaus.

Keeping that in mind I worked harder this week. First thing I did was toss away the candy dish. I got loads of support from my co-workers and I felt good about my actions. Later, I added more water and reduced my salt and soft drinks. Even diet coke can't be that good if you drink more of it than water. With these changes made I was happy to find that I lost 1.6 lbs this week.

It looks like we're back on track and I will do my best to keep up the good work. Until next time keep on working.

And we're back

This week was surprising. At my weigh in I discovered I lost the 2.8 lbs that I had gained last week  plus 0.2 lbs. It was a nice surprise.  It seems I was right to forego the excess Coke Zero and mini Snickers. This week I plan to continue with the work.

I've been running with my dog and incorporating strength training at the track so hopefully next week I'll have another nice surprise. Tonight I plan to make a vegetarian chili and eat more veggies and fruit all around. Hopefully this chili will be the first of many veggie only meals that I will make. I'm not familiar with tofu but I think I will give it a whirl.

Until next week, keep moving.

"You're kidding right?"

Hello readers,

It's been a while and I am sad to report that this week's weigh in was less than gratifying. It's been a crazy week with the slew of holiday parties and increasing work loads and I gained nearly three pounds this week, 2.8 lbs. to be exact. I am not pleased. When I saw the number my response was , "You're kidding right?"

I was considering asking the girl behind the counter if she was playing a trick on me and tipping the scale. But, she assured me the number was correct. I decided to forgo the meeting because I was that upset and felt the need to move and not sit and listen to others celebrate their weight loss.I kept going over what I could've done wrong but couldn't think of anything ... at first.

On the surface I ate very well and stayed in my allotted points range. But I did drink more Coke Zero than water this week and added an additional cup of coffee practically everyday. I guess without water the bloat follows. Top it off with the fact that I replaced quality foods with low cal sweets. Yes, the points range was safe but I was still eating junk and it really showed on the scale.

I'm going to take some sound advice and up my veggie and fruit intake. I will replace diet soft drinks with water and head to bed earlier to avoid the need for an extra cup of coffee. I may not lose all the gained weight for this week but at least I will be back on the horse.

5 pounds down!

So last week I found out I lost a little over five pounds. I was thrilled but a little worried. After all this is the week of Christmas and that means tons of food. I've been playing with my points this week decreasing the amount I eat and then increasing the next day in the hopes of keeping my metabolism working. Today was my biggest challenge. We had a holiday party at work and the smorgasbord of food was overwhelming.

Even so, I planned to eat as healthy as possible. I piled on the raw veggies and fruit and planned on eating the turkey another  person brought in. Unfortunately, another co-worker brought in burgers from the In-N-Out Burger across from our building. I didn't feel I could turn it away since it was one of the few items that couldn't be packed up and reheated. Also, it was presented to me as a gift and not a food option.

I ate it and it was pretty good. But for 13 points it was hardly worth it. The rest of the day I ate smarter and piled on the power veggies and fruits. I realize that life is always going to throw me challenges and that I'm going to have to deal with it. Today I think I did pretty well and I hope I continue to do so in the future.