Weigh In 17, after birthday cake

I counted the birthday cake last week as best I could. My son scooped the ice cream that night and it was well over a cup but it was what it was. A day or two later I had a small piece of cake again and decided that particular cake just wasn't worth the points. Ice cream was, is and forever will be a different story. I measure that when I eat it because it would be so tempting and easy to eat way more than I should. I don't feel bad about measuring though, I feel in control.

Suzanne, my leader has advised us not to weigh in at home. I've mentioned this before and she is right. If the house scale is different from WW's, it can be disappointing. Weighing at home can lead to weighing throughout the day which isn't good. Our bodies are going to fluctuate but a gain can depress a person or even lead to chucking the plan. Not good! My husband asked me to weigh on our scale and compare to WW's because he wanted to know for his sake if ours was accurate.

Our scale is far from new but wasn't cheap when we got it. It has a digital read out and is on a hard floor, not carpeting. I weighed myself in my night shirt this morning and then after getting dressed. There was a 3 pound difference. I got off, then on again. Still 3 pounds. Did my clothes really weigh that much? Maybe. The problem was this number meant I didn't lose. Convinced my birthday week was to blame and needed to be put behind me, I left for my meeting.

I am delighted to say the house scale is off. I am down another 2.8 pounds for a total of 32.4 gone! 

Onward and downward!

16th Weigh In

Today is my birthday. Wouldn't a whopping big loss have been a nice birthday gift? Sure it would have, but wishing, even on a birthday candle, doesn't make something happen.

I am down .8 for a total that is just ounces away from 30 pounds. The six of us (two sons, daughter-in-law, grandson, hubby and I) will be going to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. I had such a good lunch there recently that was low in point value, I want to repeat that. I may or may not have one alcoholic drink depending on how my points go before dinner.

Dessert will be back here, traditional cake and ice cream. I could forego the cake but a birthday cake seems appropriate with a 4 year old grandson who will sing to me and help me with the candle. I'll have a small piece of cake, a scoop of coffee ice cream (the real treat in my opinion), count everything and not feel compelled to eat cake tomorrow morning for breakfast. That isn't even a temptation now. My, how far I've come.

Onward and downward!

15th Weigh In

I got a charm today for recognition of 16 weeks with WW. Today was my 16th weigh in, but I look at it as 15 weeks of following program.

We had smoked sausage, the full fat variety, corn on the cob and broccoli for dinner last night. I've been very careful with Sunday night dinners because I weigh in on Monday mornings but I told myself this was silly. As long as I stay in my daily range, does it really matter unless I am eating something so laden with sodium that I will retain water?

Today was too cold to wear shorts but I did chose slacks over jeans. I fully expected to weigh the same or be up part of a pound but guess what...another 1.1 gone! A total of 28.8 are off my skeleton! A guest lecturer had told us that every pound of weight is equal to 7 pounds of stress on our joints. I haven't found that online but I have found sources saying it is equal to 4 pounds. Going with that number, that is 115.2 few pounds of pressure. At 7-1, it would be a whopping 201.6!  Maybe the ratio fluctuates with the number on the scale. I will ask the next time I see him but 115 pounds of pressure is nothing to sneeze at!

Onward and downward!

14th week and another loss!

Suzanne, my WW leader told us not to weigh ourselves at home. Another member and I discussed that this morning before the meeting began. We've both found this is good advice. If you expect a loss and don't have one at home, it can be depressing and lead you to weighing yourself daily or throughout the day. DON'T do this!  Conversely, if your home scale shows a loss that looks too good to be true, you might give yourself permission to splurge unreasonably or think you can go without tracking, etc.

Not weighing yourself at home is hard to avoid when the scale is right there in the bathroom and you are curious. I weighed myself this morning and prepared myself for staying the same at best, or most likely a small gain. Friday was our anniversary and we had a wonderful dinner at a place we both enjoy. I did not attempt to count points because I don't know how the dishes were prepared. If we ate there often I would remedy this but honestly, once in a while we are all doing to do what we want and damn the point value, right? We just can't let this become a frequent occurrence if we wish to succeed. I had a Scotch and water before dinner but no dessert. The evening was wonderful.

Last night we had dinner at our son and daughter-in-law's. She made a chili that was somewhere between chili and soup, using ground turkey, beans, elbow macaroni, veggies and seasonings. Again, I didn't know how to count the points for the various ingredients nor the amount in the serving. Along with this I had a grilled cheese sandwich. Oh boy....I haven't been eating cheese other than WW brands because I hate to spend the points on cheese. But these things happen. Life isn't only about counting points, it is about balance and not feeling deprived, or any other negative feeling.

The overall balance of my week carried me through this weekend's meals and I had another loss of 1.3 pounds for a total of 27.7.  I am pleased with that but even more pleased with my attitude. Hopefully I would have still been optimistic with zero change or a gain.

We had a substitute leader today whose motivational tag line is sticking with me: A goal without a plan is just a wish.

Onward and downward!

13 wasn't an unlucky number

I wasn't feeling too confident about the 13th weigh in. Last weekend was Labor Day weekend and I got lazy about tracking. I thought I was keeping the point number in my head and remembered the next day something that I had forgotten. I don't mean this in an obsessive way, but I don't want to fall back into mindless eating either.

There has been a project going on at the home of one of my sons. This led to having pizza one night which I counted and all was well. Two days later after an all day class with a Jimmy John's sandwich for lunch (14 points), I had pizza again for dinner. Two slices. Another 14 points. There will be days like this from time to time. I still made better choices than I would have months ago. I didn't have a third slice of pizza. I didn't have candy or dessert.

It is so easy to fall back into old habits. That concerns me more than the point tally at the end of the day. My normal weigh in is on Monday but since that was a holiday and Tuesday was ridiculously busy here, I weighed in Wednesday morning. I am down a half pound. Whew!

I don't expect my next weigh in this coming Monday to show much of a loss since it won't be a full week, but it will be what it will be. Our anniversary (39th!) is Friday and we will probably go out to eat. I am not blowing caution to the wind completely but I may use some of those weekly points that I rarely touch.

Onward and downward!