Standard

I remember the last time I did Weight Watchers, my "standard" weight loss was 2.6 pounds per week. For some reason, I saw that number a lot. This time around, it's been very schizophrenic--down 2, up 2, down 6, no change. But this week I got into the groove--I ate a ton last Sunday, including a burger and fries, spending all my flex points. The rest of the week I was right on track, for the most part. And then today my loss was 2.6 pounds.

I am happy with that, of course, but I am more focused on what's going to happen next week. I am going on vacation, to Weetacon, and there will be much eating and drinking, I am completely aware of that. I've already decided that my goal is to maintain my weight loss--I am not going to try and lose any more. I am also going to go to a meeting while I am there, as I did with the Disneyland trip. It kept me on track then, and it will keep me on track now. I also am going to write down what I eat, even if it's a horrorshow of epic proportions. And of course, I am going to try and keep the focus on fun and friendship, and not food. And I will dance a lot.

I originally wanted to lose 10 pounds before Weetacon--well, I've lost 8.6, which is pretty good. My next goal is to maintain this weight loss during my vacation. And my goal after that is keep going to Weight Watchers no matter what happens.

If you guys have any other suggestions for keeping weight off during a vacation, I am all ears. In the meantime, I bought smaller jeans for the trip, and they totally fit me.

Mental Floss

At today's meeting, we talked about the key to weight loss being one's mentality. I think that's absolutely true of long-term success on something like Weight Watchers.

We've all been there: We think we're only going to eat one cookie, but we eat the whole package. We go way over on points for lunch and think "well, there goes the day" or "there goes the week" and eat whatever we want from then on. We know we've gained weight one week and we don't want to go back to the meeting, we don't want to weigh in. We go on vacation and eat the world, feel like we've irrevocably blown it, and we stop going to meetings at all, we stop writing things down, we give up.

I've certainly been there; my lowest weight was 211 pounds, and now I weigh 240 pounds, and that's not the world's happiest thought. But I have to keep going forward anyway, even though I am "re-losing" weight that I already lost. The key to that is totally mental. It's as simple as not giving up.

This week I did not lose weight and I did not gain weight; I am still exactly 240.6 pounds. I stepped onto the scale sure that I'd lost weight, just wondering how much. (I was hoping for 2 pounds.) And I stepped off thinking, well, maybe it's that "fluid in the joints" thing someone mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago--is that even a real thing? Maybe it's the fact that I have my period. Maybe it was the glass of wine I had last night.

Ultimately, after listening to the things that were said at the meeting, I realized that it doesn't much matter whether I lost weight this week or not. I know I ate well and healthily this week. Yesterday we went on a wonderful long bike ride on a trail I'd never been on before. I felt good about myself walking into that meeting--I felt stronger, leaner, positive I'd lost weight. And why should that positive feeling go away? I had a good week. I feel good.

My other blog, Big Fat Deal, is all about emphasizing health and happiness above body size. Today I remembered to practice what I preach. And of course, to keep writing things down, keep riding my bike, keep eating well. The weight will come off eventually. I'm not in a hurry.

Real Numbers

I was in a negative mood as I headed on over to my meeting this morning. I don't know why. I felt as if I'd tried so hard this week, and it was so hard, and I wasn't going to lose anything, or not much, or it was in some other way going to end badly. Maybe I was mentally preparing myself for the worst.

Well I shouldn't have worried! I lost 6 pounds this week! (I suspect that many of you were right about last weeks 2-pound gain and that it wasn't real for some reason, either the scale was off or I was retaining water or something, which means I still lost 4 pounds of real weight, which means hooray.)

I also keep changing the clothes I am wearing for weigh-in, which probably only makes a slight difference but for the record, to control for that variable, I am going to stick with my tank top and gray yoga pants from now on.

6 pounds feels like a real number of pounds to have lost, for some reason. It is well on the way to 10 pounds, and then I'm 20% of the way there, if I want to lose 50 pounds, which would be nice. Every 5 pounds is 10% of what I want to lose, and that feels significant also. It feels like something I can build some real weight loss on. It feels better than last week when I was back at square one (or thought I was).

This week I have a challenge in that I like to prepare myself to use all my Flex points on one "cheat" night, and this week I have two potential cheat nights. One is Valentine's Day and one is today's birthday party for our friends' twin babies. I guess I'll see how the birthday party goes and then if we have to change our Valentine's Day dinner plans, so be it. But I will be looking for the veggie platter the second I get there, that much I can tell you!

I'll keep you posted. Stats in the sidebar.