Week 14 - To boldly go

Last week: 214.8

This week: 213.0

Loss: -1.8

Total: -37.0

Thirty-seven pounds.  The last time I did serious weight loss was back in about 2005.  Again, it was on the weight watchers program, although at that point I was doing meetings and weekly weigh ins.  I rarely stuck around for the full meeting, just taking care of my weigh in and leaving.  I've never been able to consider the meetings support, and the lecture/discussion always hit my cynicism buttons hard.

What I did get out of it was since I was paying money for the program, I followed it, and the accountability of looking the person doing my weigh in in the eyes while they read back my number.  I think I mentioned it earlier, but this time around I'm using this blog and a couple of website forums as my accountability (www.3fatchicks.com/forum & www.weightwatchers.ca) and am paying for the weight watchers online program, so there's the 'value for money' motivator.

Back in 2005, I lost 37.2 pounds over 28 weeks.  I don't remember exactly what led to me falling off the program but I did, and slowly but surely gained the weight back plus 5 more over the next 10 years. I can't tell you exactly when all the weight came back, because I also avoided using a scale at home.  Looking back, that's a hell of a warning sign for me. If I don't want to step on the scale, I probably should, but I digress.

Fourteen weeks in, and I'm at 37 pounds lost.  I'm losing about twice as fast as I did the first time, and have matched the pounds I did last time.  From here on out (well, technically another 5 pounds before I'm at the same numbers as 2005, but close enough), I'm at numbers I haven't seen since... 2000?  1999?  That's about the point I put all the weight on.  It feels like I'm standing on the edge, peering into places I remember seeing years ago, and trying to match what I'm seeing with fuzzy, old memories.  It's a rather introspective place to be.  What was I doing last time I was this weight?  When did I first reach this weight?  How did I get there? (mostly so I don't do that again!)

Some thoughts about when I gained the weight and the weight loss, both now and 10 years ago.

• I will always need to have a bathroom scale in the house.   As a numbers nerd, I need the accountability of data to pull me up short when things start to creep. 
• While I can get away with eyeballing my portions in places or times it's not polite to whip out a set of measuring cups and a kitchen scale to do it properly, I do need to use them regularly if not every single time to keep portion sizes where they should be. 
• Being lazy will lead to weight gain.  If I don't want to cook supper every day, I need to cook enough on every second day to have leftovers.  I can't use time saver packaged foods or food mixes to cut corners. 
• As much as I still hate the gym, I hate how my body feels if I miss it for a couple days (sore, tight, slow to move) so it's worth it to just go do it.
• If I'm craving something persistently, it's better to have a small, controlled portion of it sooner than to 'break' and have all of it later.  That way I can enjoy it and not feel like I failed the diet, guilty about how much I ate, and in pain because my body truly does not deal well with large amounts of unhealthy food now.

Lets see where the next 14 weeks leads me!

Diana