This has been a very emotional week for me in regards to my weight loss. I have been truly frustrated and discouraged with my weight loss.
When I returned from vacation last Thursday I felt gross and I knew that I had gain a lot of weight while in Texas. Though I didn’t have a full out binge fest while in Texas, I did eat foods well outside of my current diet and indulged in comfort foods way too often.
Stepping on the scale last Friday morning I was just mad! Mad at myself for allowing the foods in Texas to take over and to lose focus on what I really want, to lose body fat and to be fit.
I knew I had to get back on track right away so I created meal plans for the upcoming week, thought through what I’d want for breakfast and lunch, and headed to the grocery store Saturday morning. I felt good about my plan, felt great about being back in DC, and knew that the start of football pre-season was on the horizon.
Although I didn’t workout Friday-Sunday, I felt good going into the work week as I had eaten well over the weekend. Monday I woke up early with Neal to lift weights, ate well through the day, tracked my points, and had an awesome first football practice that night.
Well then Tuesday morning arrived. I woke up feeling so bloated, so pudgy, and just blah. To brighten up my spirits I figured I’d see what the scale had to say as I had clearly changed my ways since Christmas… well I kid you not, the scale showed that I had GAINED a pound. Right then and there I lost it. I cried and cried (on Neal’s shoulders of course) and just didn’t know what was going on with my body. I knew darn well why I had gained weight over the holidays, but a gain since coming home? I was just so discouraged.
Although I am still in the dumps about it all, Neal did encourage me to stick to it. If I am doing all of the things I know I need to do to lose weight, then hopefully my body will adjust and the weight will come off. Do I slip up? Yes. Do I miss a workout because I’m tired? Yes. But I know that if I’m on track more than off track then my body will change.
Neal also encouraged me to stick to the plan I had created on Sunday night. As various studies show that it takes 66+ days to create a habit, unlike the 21 day studies, I decided to create a list of 4 habits I want to form.
I want to create habits in the following areas:
- Fitness every day. Now this doesn’t mean I have to do a 1 hour workout 7 days a week, but I want to incorporate fitness into every day. If that means always taking the stairs or doing abs on my off day, just something to always have my mind focused on fitness
- Track points every day, focusing on eating whole foods
- No eating after 8PM. Now if I have something social planned, that’d different, but I want to stop snacking or eating late when I’m not hungry. If I’m actually hungry, well I can wait until breakfast!
- Healthy desserts only. I’ve gotten into a bad habit of eating desserts since meeting Neal. I want to focus on eating healthy desserts only.
I also created a 66 days calendar, crossing off each day I’m successful. So far, I’ve been 100% for 3 days. I did 2 workouts Monday, yoga Tuesday, and football yesterday. I’ve tracked my points everyday, I have not eaten after 8PM, and I have not had any type of dessert in 3 days.
I also put my goals right where I can see them, on my fridge and on my iPhone.
My first three goals are:
- 219 pounds… I just want to get out of the 220’s so bad and to stay out of them. I haven’t been out of them since the summer of 2011.
- 207 pounds… this is my lowest weight as an adult. I reached it in 2007
- 199 pounds… I’m speechless.
Tomorrow I will weigh-in and share all the numbers with y’all. I know that weight loss is a journey, that it’s hard, and that it takes time… I think we all know that, but I’m just tired of it being something that controls my life. I’m tired of losing and gaining the same 10 pounds.
It has been a rough week, but I hope to see a turn around as I move further into 2013.