Weighty Wednesday -- Do Over!

I'm calling a "do over" and scrubbing all thoughts of last week from my mind.

Needless to say, I managed to gain 0.2 of a pound. . . it  might have had something to do with drinking 3 glasses of water on my walk or the banana I ate before weigh in.

No matter what it was. I have to say that, in the big picture, Simple Start didn't work for me.

Don't get me wrong, it's a GREAT concept, it's just that it didn't work with my lifestyle/family/etc.

I think I'll need to do a combination of Simple Start, Simply Filling, portion control, counting points and tracking . . .

Yep, the whole enchilada.

mmmm . . . .enchiladas . . ...

That's the frustrating part of the weight loss journey, what works for one person won't necessarily work for another person. . . and it won't necessarily work the second time around.

You have to figure out what works for YOU! But you have to give time. As easy as it is to gain weight, plan triple that time to lose it.

When I reached my goal weight and started maintenance, I let one random person's comment derail my entire life. I had tracking down. I had portion control down. I was happy with all the fruits and veggies, and lack of bread products in my life. I should have stuck with the way I was doing things and trusted my body enough to know when to stop losing weight.

But I listened to this person, and look where it got me. Not quite back to square one, but I definitely have to get my weight loss mojo back because I don't want to do this yo-yo crap any longer!

Don't let someone's false concern that you are losing too much weight derail you. I did. It isn't a good place to be when I realized all it took was just a little bit their negativity to send me spiraling out of control.

Yes, it's my fault. I'm not blaming them. That's the way saboteurs work. They get into your head just enough to mess you up.

Don't let it happen to you.

Now, I have to focus and buckle down to lose the weight I gained.

Wish me luck!

Later, Peeps!

Weighty Wednesday--True Confessions

It's time for me to 'fess up about last week. I reported that I had dropped some weight. I was at 135 lbs and was basically closing in on my goal weight.

 . . . but that was before the feeding frenzy began--think killer whales attacking a pod of seals, or piranhas going after some poor schlub who had a cut on his leg and wandered into the Amazon River, or a pack of lions, wolves (insert your preferred predator here) ripping apart the weak and old antelope. Yeah, it was like that.

 . . . and the frenzy continued through Sunday night.

It wasn't pretty. And the aftermath of such a disaster was exponential.

By Monday morning, I had GAINED 6 pounds!!

Talk about scaring myself straight! I don't think this is 'real' weight gain in the span of only five days, but I'm treating it as such! I'd been playing with fire since last November, and now it has seriously bitten me in the butt! And yes, it's almost as if my fat cells have been aerated to double their normal size!

There were numerous contributing factors to this, but ultimately it was me recklessly shoveling food into my mouth.

Remember, you have to take responsibility for your own actions--I sabotaged myself.

I'd love to pass the blame onto my hormones--because they were the ones who started this mess!--but in the end it was me, all me . . . and the beef nachos from Taco Bueno, the 1/2 package of heath toffee bits (to be used in baking--yeah, right!), the uncounted scoops of peanut butter straight from the jar, the calorie packed pizza, the pitcher of frozen full-calorie margaritas, the ooey-gooey brownies with added toffee bits and chocolate icing . . . I could go on, but I don't want to make myself hungry again. 

And now I'm paying for my rash decisions.

Remember--It's okayto screw up. Don't beat yourself up about it. This happens to the best of us--even those of us with the best of intentions. It's just a minor blip on the radar of life.

And personally, I think this is one of the hardest things for us to do--forgive yourself. Yes, you screwed up. But so did I. The key is to make a plan and dig down deep. You've made it this far, you can go the distance.

So how do I fix this?

We go back to the beginning. What worked before will work again.

• Start tracking again--This is a biggie. Document everything that goes into that gaping maw you call a mouth. Keep track of your daily healthy checks! This is very important! If you eat all your fruits and veg, and drink your water, then you really won't be hungry for much of anything else.

--did you know that chewable calcium tablets costs you 1 WW point?? I didn't until I plugged in the numbers. I'll still take the 1 point hit because regular calcium tablets upset my stomach, but knowledge is power in this weight game.

• Walk/exercise twice a day if possible--I still walk every morning, but I need to do something to jump start my weight loss again. So, if the weather is nice, then I'll be working in the yard or walking in the afternoons. Any kind of extra movement is good, dance to the music while cooking dinner!
• Gauge your hunger--There is a new gauge under your plan where you log your points on your etools tracker, called "track hunger". It has a before eating and after eating place to mark your hunger strength. In one day, I realized I was eating because everyone else was eating, and NOT because I was hungry! If you're 'satisfied' before food even touches your lips, then why eat?
• Drink six cups of WATER, not other stuff, even diet drinks--checking them off the healthy checks guideline, keeps you honest about it. On a side note: I'm cold all the time and I don't necessarily want to drink tea or coffee, so I heat up a mug of water. Yep, I use it to warm my hands and I drink it down to add to my daily count.  
• Measure and weigh--When you first start watching your portions, you will weigh and measure everything . . . and then you will get complacent. The portions will start getting larger and you will start 'mis-calculating' your points. Again, go back to the basics. It's okay to keep yourself honest.
• Tape the peanut butter jar closed--this one's for me. My sis suggested that I stop buying peanut butter, but that's not realistic as I have a kid who lives on the stuff. I have to do something to keep myself out of it, OR being fully aware of what I am doing when I untape the lid and grab that spoon. I basically used painter's blue masking tape and made an X over the lid and down the sides. If you have trigger foods, either remove the item from your household or find some way to make it hard for you to get into without thinking about it.

I don't know about you, but I already feel better that I'm being proactive about my fall from grace. I want to be at goal by Easter and I need to get my wide tookus into gear!

Later, Peeps!

CHOPPED--not the food network show

When I was on my morning walk yesterday, I realized that those sweet wonderful pages that I wrote on my new story will have to be CHOPPED.

Yes, chopped.

I started the story in the right place, but allowed too much time to pass prior to my character doing something. Thirty-three day and she only made a couple of escape attempts.

THIS DOES NOT COMPUTE!

I need to change the timeline. I need to make her think she's 'escaping', but really they are letting her go. And I need to have her one ally betray her on purpose. AND I need to come up with hidden agendas by a couple of the bad guys!

AND since this is part of a quadrology, I need to start interweaving the other three story lines through this first book.

Aarrgghh!

This is driving me nutso!

*deep breath* First things first, right?

1) write the damn story
2) worry about motives later
3) worry about weaving other story lines in later
4) write the damn story and quit editing myself

There. I feel better now. How about you?

Later, Peeps, I have a story to write!