When I first started trying to lose weight, I weighed myself once a week to keep track of how I was doing. After a while I found myself *splurging* during the week... convincing myself that it was okay to have a chocolate bar or an extra mug of hot chocolate or a bowl of chips because I'd have time to work it off before I weighed myself again.
Of course that didn't work out well. Eating healthy for two days of the week didn't provide any sort of weight loss. And I was spending those two days panicked about what the scale was going to say (on top of feeling guilty during the rest of the week). Then I decided to weigh myself daily to keep myself accountable. That backfired too. Weight fluctuates and I'd find myself feeling negative when the scale jumped up by a pound or two. Plus, while it's frustrating when you stay the same weight two weeks in a row when you're weighing yourself once a day. It's brought to a whole new level of frustration when you've weighed yourself 14 days in a row and seen the same weight all 14 times. Chuck in a pound of water weight on the 15th or 16th day and that's when I give up and dive, face first, into a bag of chocolate chip cookies.
I briefly tried weighing myself once a month but that didn't work out well either. Picture three and a half weeks of *splurging* with half a week of panicked "I'm going to weigh myself soon". The end result wasn't pretty.
The thing is, I did lose 40lbs almost two years ago and kept them off (I've been on a plateau since the summer of 2010). I know I can do it. I think the biggest issue right now is mindset. I just can't picture getting below 170lbs. I can't picture me being in the 160's.
So now, I'm taking things one day at a time (someone get that farking soundtrack out of my head now please). I'm doing my best each day then letting the day go. I'm not striving for perfection... just for doing my best.
Yesterday I exercised with the Wii My Fitness Coach for 15 minutes in the morning (I try to do this daily) then went out for a walk in the green space across the street in the afternoon. I cooked a healthy dinner (vegetable tomato sauce over fibre rich pasta) then went to the gym for an hour long Bars and Plates class. Today I was stiff and sore but still exercised for 15 minutes this morning. Now I'm walking to my doctor's office (a half hour walk) to get the results back from my cholesterol test, which I took back in December. Tonight I'm making a healthy dinner (pasta with homemade pumpkin sauce) and treating us to homemade chocolate mousse. Not the healthiest choice but it's Valentine's Day and that's my one treat. Tomorrow will be a new day.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
Yup, every day is a new day! I rarely weigh myself too, I go by how my clothes are feeling. I also totally understand the not being able to visualize weighing less. For most of my adult life I was 140lb. I wanted to be less, but I didn't have to kill myself to be that, and I wasn't a real plus size yet, so I was fine. Then I had my fairly rapid weight gain almost 3 years ago. I was miserable all the time and felt like I'd never get back down to 140lb. I can't believe I used to think I was 'fat' at 140lb! Anyway, since going low carb, my weight has been dropping off quickly! Since the start of December, I've lost 15lb, with pretty much no effort--I'm never hungry, I eat wonderful things (like chocolate mousse!), and I haven't even been exercising. I had no idea I was insulin resistant (there's no real test!) and that's why my cholesterol and blood pressure was so high! High cholesterol has almost nothing to do with the fat you eat; it's about the carbs. I highly, highly suggest you give it a try; you might be surprised...I know I certainly was--I was the most doubtful person ever when I joined a low carb group. Luckily they didn't kick me out! I will never eat a meal of pasta again, but that's okay...getting off my meds is worth it! I hope you have a great Valentine's Day!
ReplyDeleteThankfully my insulin levels are normal, I know insulin resistance is related to obesity so I've been lucky. I'm working more on eating healthy, including good carbs (lentils, barley, fresh fruit and veggies etc). The pasta I have is the PC Blue Menu Omega 3 spaghetti. It contains ground flax seeds, lentils, and oat hull fibre. Each serving has 6g of fibre and 13g of protein. And I'm upping my exercise. I walked downtown and back today and plan on going to the Y after work tomorrow too. We'll see how this goes in another month or so.
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