Saturday, August 27, 2011

I'm Making A Comeback

It's been almost a month since I've blogged.  My head, and heart for that matter, just haven't been into it.  I've been maintaning, but not losing.  I haven't been working the plan, and I really haven't cared.  I've been busy, and my diligence has been put on the back burner.  I'm almost 8 months into this thing and I still haven't hit my 10%.  Heck, after weigh-in this morning I'm back under 20 pounds lost.  It's not a good feeling.

The topic at the meeting this week was about busting through plateaus.  Most plateaus are caused by lack of diligence.  There was a check-list of things that could be causing a stall, and I went through those, identified the areas in which I'm struggling, and have come up with a plan to get back on track. 
  1. Are you tracking everything? - I have to admit, I haven't been.  I've been tracking everything until I'm out of points, but then I keep eating and don't log it.  Starting today, if it goes into my mouth, it's going into my tracker, even if that means I go over my points.  I know that if I'm committed to logging everything, I won't want to go over my points.
  2. Do you eyeball portions? - absolutely I do.  I haven't put much of anything on the scale lately.  The biggest culprit is the bag of potato chips.  I would just grab the bag after dinner and eat until I thought I had eaten 2 servings.  In reality, I was probably eating 3 or 4 servings, and then not counting it.  Starting today, everything is going on the scale.
  3. Are you filling up on fruit? - fruit is healthy right?  Yes, but it still has calories and in mass quantity can pack on the pounds.  I'm pretty sure I haven't been eating too much fruit, but since it's zero points, I haven't been tracking it.  Starting today, I will measure and track all of my fruit intake, just to make sure that I'm not going over board.  I will also have to remind myself that serving is a half cup, or one small piece.
  4. Do you attend meetings every week? - Yes, religiously!  Since I started on January 8th, I've only missed 3 meetings, and all 3 were because I was out of town.  The power of the meeting is having the accountability.  If you weigh on your own scale at home, but don't share it with anyone, then you're not accountable to anyone for how you are doing.  You could also be tempted to not get on the scale since you don't have to.  Knowing where you stand is the only way to stay on track. It's also a great place to get support, tips, and advice. 
  5. Could you be overstimating your activity? - I can honestly say that I don't do this.  I am very careful to only record what I legitimately do, and a lot of times I will underestimate since I know I will probably end up eating those points later.
  6. Do you follow the good health guidlines daily? - for my non-Weight Watcher folks, the good health guidlines include things such as liquid intake, fruit and veggie servings, dairy servings, activity, healthy oils, multivitamin, and activity.  The goal is supposed to be to check these off each day, with different minimums for each.  I have been very bad about meeting my GHG's over the last few months.  Starting today, I will make every effort to get in my minimum GHG's every day.  The one that will be the hardest will be getting in my 2 servings of dairy.  I'm a bit lactose intolerant, and I generally don't put cheese on much because of the points.  I think I'm going to make one of my daily snacks a piece of mozzarella string cheese wrapped in some lunch meat or dunked in some marinara or pizza sauce.
This week, I'm starting over.  I'm going back to the basics, and hopefully I can have a big loss on the scale. 

Starting Weight: 210.4
Current Weight: 191.4
Goal Weight: 130.0

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Power of Positive Thinking

I am officially stating that my plateau is busted.  I saw a number on my home scal this morning that I haven't seen in a looooong time.  I'm now only 12.6 pounds away from matching my driver's license weight.  I think that weight was entered in 2002 when I moved back to Ohio.  I guess all of the extra gym time is paying off.

Last week at Weight Watchers, I finally hit 20 pounds.  I'm at 20.2 to be exact.  This is the most weight I've ever lost on Weight Watchers.  In past attempts, I would get really close, get frustrated, and then quit.  Quitting is not an option this time.  I missed my 10% by 0.8, which kind of bummed me out, but I'm pretty sure I'll get it this week. 

On the Weight Watchers website, I'm part of a challenge to lose 50 pounds by the end of this year.  There is a great group of girls on there who have become part of my support network.  Every week we have a topic or question to discuss.  This week's topic was to state how much weight we'd lost and then talk about something we've gained through this journey.  We were not allowed to get down on ourselves, or wish that we had lost more by now.  I found it a little difficult to come up with an answer at first.  Yeah, I'm proud I've lost 20 pounds, but I do wish I would have lost more by now.  But once I actually sat and thought about it, I have learned a lot about myself.

I've learned patience and perseverence for sure.  It's taken me almost 8 months to lose 20 pounds.  That takes perseverence.  I've learned that I'm a lot stronger than I give myself credit for.  Even on the days I've hurt or didn't want to go, or had stuff to do at home, I've made it to the gym as scheduled.  I've learned how to stand up for myself.  It amazes me the people who have either intentionally or unintentionally tried to sabotage or derail me.  People at the meeting talk all the time about how they get upset when people tell them that they don't need to lose more weight, or they don't need to lose as much as they'd like to lose.  I have learned to take that to mean that I don't look as fat as I think I look and say thank you.  I've also learned how to say no when someone asks me for a spur of the moment lunch or treat.  I no longer feel awkward telling them that I can't because I didn't budget the points or I want a good weigh-in on the weekend. 

My goal for August is to think positive thoughts, and not beat myself up for anything that I may do poorly.  It's amazing how positive thinking can turn things around.  August is a month of happy thoughts! :)