a weigh in epiphany

Weigh in today was a huge disappointment... I knew this morning when I first got on the scale that there was some extra weight *that had not been with me this week*... although I hadn't seen any major changes over the week. On the way to weigh (say that five times fast!) I was just praying, "PLEASE DON'T LET ME HAVE GAINED" because... I can be patient about the weight loss but it would break my heart to gain!

Well. I didn't gain. I lost... .2 pounds... which is like... a trip to the bathroom... but... we had a great meeting talking about plateaus and the way that weight comes off and how you really have to average your last four weigh ins before you consider yourself at a plateau and if you're losing less than a half pound a week... then it's a plateau.

I stayed on plan all week so... what went wrong? I'm blaming salt. I had a turkey sandwich at Subway on Wednesday and I had two frozen dinners this week... and my body just turns into a sponge when there's any salt around. I also had a small - slider size - burger last night and I just can't do red meat. I know this... and I knew when I was eating it that I was setting myself up for disaster... but... I also know that this is a marathon, not a sprint... and that there are times that I'm going to eat something outside of my usual pescatarian diet.

Pescatarians... btw... eat vegetables, eggs, dairy and fish but no poultry, pork, beef, etc. It seems to be what works best for me as far as keeping my appetite under control.

I also had more bread last week than I've had in any other week so far. This is obviously counter productive for me.

What I want to do is educate myself on what works for me and what doesn't. I think it's setting yourself up for failure to put any food on the "never again in my lifetime" list... but there are definitely foods that, for me, have to go on the "rarely" list. And this week I learned - the hard way - that salt and bread are on that "rarely" list for me.

SO... the meeting was great. There's a woman in our group who has lost over 170 pounds with Weight Watchers and has maintained for a year. It took her 2 years and 2 months to do it. That totally inspires me. It's a slow process, without a doubt. A part of me wishes I could afford gastric bypass or banding or some sort of aid... but honestly... I know that I'm strong enough and smart enough to do this without surgical intervention. So what if it takes me a year and a half to reach my goal... the time will pass anyways... I might as well allow the passing years to make me healthier and stronger, not fatter and sicker.

I guess, from that perspective, this weigh in WAS a success for me. I learned some important things about my body and settled in for the duration.

One great thing for me... a really sweet lady from our church has joined WW and we sat together and got to chat and encourage one another. I am glad to have someone to buddy up with. We share the same birthday... not the same year. Angie is in WW but she is lifetime and doesn't stay for the meetings often due to her schedule.

After my WW meeting, I went to the grocery store. I was sooo proud of my shopping cart! There was nothing unhealthy or processed in the whole cart... since Austin is out of town. I kept it under my budget for the week and... I'm gonna have lots of good things to eat.

My weekend plans are major vegetative action, other than food prep, a little cleaning and exercise. My goal this week is to add 30 minutes activity to what I did last week... last week I had two hours and five minutes of activity... so I'll go for two hours and 35 minutes this week.

Hope you have a great weekend! Love and hugs!