I have struggled with weight for many years. Took a few pounds off, gained a few pounds plus a few more back. So in May I finally broke down and joined Weight Watchers. It’s been OK…I’ve lost 10 pounds, but I’m falling off the wagon again. The last two weeks have been small gains in weight and I’m discouraged.
This week I really thought I was being good…though I failed to write everything down, and when I do that I know I’m probably eating more than I realize. But still. I managed to get out to walk 4 out of 5 work days, and Friday morning when I weighed myself I was down. I went to bed feeling pretty good about today’s weigh in.
Which is why I was so distraught when I woke up this morning and was heavier by four pounds!? Four pound? In one night? Come ON!
I decided I wasn’t going to go to weigh in, no need to do that when I already knew I was up. I wasn’t going to sit through a meeting where our leader fancies herself somewhat of a stand up comedian and often just annoys me. I left the house early, took my WW stuff with me…just in case, and a book to read. I drove aimlessly looking for a place to sit in the car and read and found myself up at the mall where I used to walk every morning in the days before the full time job.
Well, I said to myself. I’m here, it’s morning – maybe I can just go for a walk and then I’ll read for awhile. And maybe eat something really fattening just because what’s the use anyway. The mall was pretty quiet; not nearly as many walkers as in winter. I started out and immediately remembered why I enjoyed walking there so much. Energetic music playing, at a tempo perfect for walking, pretty shop windows to look at, carpet and hardwood underfoot.
I did two miles, then hopped back in the car and went to my WW meeting. Facing reality I stepped on the scale. I wish I could say I was down, but I wasn’t. I stayed for the meeting which was in full swing when I got there. The topic was not to let little things like the number on the scale get you down and off track. Today is a new day. Respect yourself. Make commitments not excuses.
I was proud that I hadn’t gone off and eaten a fattening breakfast and sulked. I was proud I walked the two miles and then went to the meeting even though I knew the number on the scale wouldn’t be what I wanted it to be. I’m glad I mustered the strength not to give in. Because today’s a new day. This is a new week. Next Saturday I KNOW will be a better weigh in.
Meanwhile I think I got a couple pounds off of Katie just by brushing her. She is not as appreciative of my efforts.
Change Is Hard 
July 30, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Good for you!!! Losing weight is very hard and scales do seem to change over night. Weird. Keep going, you will get there!!
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July 30, 2011 at 3:54 pm
The topic of the meeting turned out to be appropriate for what you were going through, so it’s probably good you manned up and went. Losing weight is tough; monitoring your diet is tough. I am fortunate in that the only time I had a weight problem was during pregnancy, in the days they said 20 lbs was the max you should gain. I gained 35. And go chastised. And told to eat better and less of the “good” stuff. So all I could think was how much I wanted chocolate – cake, candy, anything chocolate. Anything fattening. It was awful!
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July 30, 2011 at 5:21 pm
LOL at the comment about getting a couple of pounds off Katie. It was the same with Trudy the last time I brushed her, too. It’s been so hot here in Virginia that our walks are only for necessities, not just for the fun of walking. The only decent time to walk without a flashlight is around 6:30 AM, and I am SO not a morning person…
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July 30, 2011 at 5:33 pm
It’s so easy to throw in the hat (with anything in life!) when things don’t go well. Especially when you’ve put in the effort. Getting back to your meeting took sticking your neck out, sucking it up and getting it done. That’s an accomplishment. I hope you’re proud for making it happen!!
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July 30, 2011 at 5:36 pm
Good job walking at the mall and going to the meeting!! It would’ve been so easy to go for that fattening breakfast but you didn’t!! Wouldn’t it be great if we would lose 2 pounds by brushing our hair? LOL!
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July 30, 2011 at 7:23 pm
You did good.
Weight is just a number…hmm, is that how the saying goes?
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July 30, 2011 at 9:39 pm
Good job getting out there and walking! For the life of me I can’t figure out why something that makes me feel good is still so hard for me to do. LOL I thought it would be better once I got into a routine, but I have been walking an average of 20 miles a week now for 7 mo. and I some days I still struggle to find motivation. It’s so bizarre. I do recommend it though, cause whether I feel like going or not, I feel better after I’m done.
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July 30, 2011 at 9:53 pm
Dad needs to join you. He was in good shape until he retired from the military and didn’t have to worry about weigh ins anymore. Guess I’ll just have to get after him.
Essex
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August 1, 2011 at 1:24 am
The most important scale is how you feel and it sounds like you felt great. I have a sheltie “Linus” camping with me and he is just so darn cute.
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August 1, 2011 at 5:32 am
It always amazes me that our bodies are designed so it allows us to put on weight easily and yet it is so difficult to take it off – I wonder why that is? No doubt there was an evolutionary reason for it – either that or someone is having a great old chuckle at our expense. Don’t you love it when you get all the fur out of the baby – I often look at at wonder what I can make with it 🙂
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August 1, 2011 at 8:13 am
Good for you! Don’t let the scale (aka: Mr. Bad News) get you down. Just keep on swimming, Dory.
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August 1, 2011 at 1:55 pm
As a long-time lifetime member of WW–who has had to take 40 lbs off TWICE and then some 5 or 10 or 15 lbs off again more than once–in other words, I fight with my eating desires, my exercise attitude, and my weight all the time, too–I can tell you that people’s weights go up and down at odd times for the most inexplicable reasons. Different people having weighing schdules that work best for them. I weigh myself every day to keep myself facing reality. I often go up or down 2 or 3 lbs (and, yes, sometimes more) in a single day and often with no apparent reason for it. My “official” weigh-in is on Fridays, and something out there hates me and ensures that my highest weight in any week is on fridays. Like this week. Thursday, lookin’ good. Friday–up 3 pounds! Today–back to where I was on Thursday. It’s nuts, and you have to pretty much ignore it and look for the long-term trend. I just have a piece of graph paper where every friday I note my weight and connect the dots. Then I can see whether long-term I’m going up or down.
The other thing is tha a lot of people lose a lot of weight in the first few weeks if they are really good about eating properly after a long time of not eating properly, and then the body’s survival mechanisms kick in and say, oh, the food supply is drying up, is it? Guess I’d better stop burning fat or you’re going to be in bad shape this winter until the food comes back in the spring! Eventually your body adjusts to your new eating habits and the weight comes off again, but usually more gradually than in the beginning, and some weeks with no sign of coming off at all. Long-term is what the weight monitoring is about. Short-term is what picking your food & exercise goals is about. I like your choices to go to the meeting anyway and to avoid a big binge to punish your body for not cooperating with you. 🙂 I find that I need the meetings the most when I am least inclined to want to go to the meetings.
And I also find that writing everything down, everything, all the time, no matter how ugly it seems at the time, is key for me. I don’t have to show it to anyone, and in fact won’t, because it allows me to be completely honest with myself.
Lastly, for me, getting out and moving my buns every single day is key. If I get in a mile or two of walking every day, I do find that it’s a little easier to control my cravings to eat, and that plus the calorie burning helps.
None of this is to say that I find any of this to be easy. Sometimes easier than others. Sometimes just bloody impossible.
Good luck. Have fun with your food choices. And make sure you use your free points to treat yourself regularly.
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August 1, 2011 at 1:56 pm
Oh, and if you don’t like your leader, can you try a different day or time? There are some leaders who turn me off on going to meetings. I don’t need that.
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August 1, 2011 at 5:04 pm
Thanks Ellen! I often forget about the extra points that are available. Not sure exactly what they are for. Guess I should ask at the next meeting! My leader is adored by her regulars…but she’s a one line stand up comic that I can’t always follow. On the other hand, people participate so it’s not teeth pulling for her to have a discussion, so she has that going for her! Thanks for the support and ideas. I agree about doing some sort of exercise every day. That’s been key for me too…and the writing it all down which I am only sporadically good at so far.
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