A GOOD DAY

Yesterday was a good day. I was out of town for a work conference and spent some time worrying about how I was going to resist temptation. Here's how the day went.

Breakfast as home : Kashi with milk.
While waiting for my ride: iced capp (planned on this in advance)
Lunch: half a roll, ceaser salad and lasagna (didn't finish) cheesecake for dessert
Dinner: rib tips with steamed veggies and coleslaw
Snacked on 4 pretzels that I brought from home through the day

So what made this a great day:

1. I planned ahead and brought healthy snacks (pretzels and an apple)
2. I knew I wanted dessert at lunch so I planned accordingly and had only half a roll and not all the lasagna.
3. I really savored and enjoyed the cheesecake
4. I turned down a chocolate chip skor bar cookie at Costco. We were a short time from dinner so I decided to wait. I actually wanted one, but once I said no, I didn't want to take one anyway.
5. Had the ribtips instead of the full ribs and steamed veggies instead of fries.
6. Did not have dessert at dinner
7. Did not snack when I got home.

YAY ME!!!!!! The only thing that would have made it better is if I could get some physical activity in during the day. But it was a lot of driving and sitting.

SELF SABOTAGING

Every weekend I tell myself that I will not go overboard. That I will not binge. That I will treat my body with the respect it deserves. And every weekend I do all of these things. And every Monday it gets a little bit harder to get back on track.

This self sabotage always seems to occur when I've seen some success. I lose some weight (8 pounds this time) and think I'm on track. I'll just have this little treat. And that turns into a daily little treat. And then I have a big treat. And then this past weekend occurs. Giant bowl of ice cream, half a large bag of ruffles and super size chocolate bar in the span of 4 days. Not to mention the vast amounts of diet soda. And I felt gross and overfull and dehydrated and like I was coming down with a cold again.

I think the worst part is that I consciously made the choices. I said to myself "I know this is going to make me feel worse, not better but I'm going to do it anyway". Why on earth would I do that? And now it's Monday morning and I am trying to get back on track but find my mind thinking about the chocolate bars on the counter. Seriously contemplating them until I catch myself and give a good mental slap to think about something else.

Today will be different.

HOW TO TRICK YOURSELF INTO EXERCISE

There are many days when I just don't feel like getting my exercise in. It's been a long stressful day full of cranky bosses and clients. It was a long stressful night full of cranky children and spouses. I'm just plain lazy. There are a dozen other things I think I would enjoy doing more.

On these days I tell myself that I only have to do a half workout or that I'll just walk. Yeah, it's an old trick but it works for me. Some days I really only do a half workout. But you know what it's half a workout more than I would have done otherwise. And more times than not, I actually end up doing a little more or a lot more than half a workout.

For example, last Monday was a combination of all 4 reason I wouldn't want to workout. I convinced myself to just go and walk. Then I convinced myself to do two half mile intervals of jogging. But during my second 1/2 mile I got absorbed in a magazine article (yes, I know it's weird that I read while jogging) and my legs and lungs felt really good. Before I even realized I had done 1.5 miles and managed to eke out another .3. And I actually didn't want to work out at all that day.

So, get thee to your exercise option. You never know, it might turn into your best workout in weeks.

OFFICIAL THURSDAY WEIGH IN

Weighed in this am at 182.2, same as last week. I am moderately happy with that. I was really hoping to get down to 181.x but after the weekend I had, maintaining is a good good thing. Goal for next week 180.

Thanks to Roni for reminding me that Hunger is not an Emergency.

http://weightwatchen.com/2007/09/hunger-is-not-emergency.html

ROUGH WEEKEND

Those two words pretty much sum it up. Didn't exercise for 3 days. Ate everything I could get my hands on including chocolate bars and too much ice cream. And made the conscious choice to do these things. Knew I would feel gross afterwards and did it anyway. Gained 1.5 pounds. And am back in the thick of things this morning. Have already made it through 0.75 liters of water (it's 10:30 am) and had an apple for a mid morning snack. I would really like the scale to say 181 on Thursday so it's going to be a strict week for me.

OFFICIAL THURSDAY WEIGH IN

This morning I weighed in at 182.2, down 2 pounds from last week and thrilled. But I think my scale is feeling a little wonky today. I weighed in when I woke up and it told me 183.2. I was happy. Then I ate breakfast and used the bathroom. Weighed before getting in the shower. 180.2 Thrilled but thought no way. Reset the scale (as I almost always do) and it read 182. Did it again. 182.2 Again 182.2. Yeah a little obsessive but I wanted to make sure it would read the same twice. I will do the same tomorrow. Weigh in 5 times, one after the other to see if my scale is dying.

Anywho, all morning, after this great weigh in, I wanted junk food. Had my daily soda and a 100 calorie bar. Didn't work. Had lunch and a couple of pretzels. Didn't work. Had a licorice and KitKat Chunky. And now I don't desire any more junk. Lesson learned. If I had simply had the KitKat in the first place I would have avoided an extra 300 calories in trying to avoid it.

TACKLING STRESS EATING

On the weekend, I discovered that the 100 calorie bars really satisfy a chocolate craving that won't go away. But my tendency is to go overboard. And today, after lunch, I wanted to get one. Just because. I wasn't hungry. I didn't particularly want chocolate. But I wanted to get one because I felt I could. Because the scale was down this morning to 183.2. Because my jeans fit me straight from the dryer. But I held off, telling myself I would get one at 3.

Then I read an email from an online friend who had the same start weight as me who weighed in at 182.5 and I wanted that. BAD. So I didn't. YAY ME!!!

But I am having a bad day. A sad day. A down day. A stressed day. A day that normally would have me heading straight to the ice cream and lots of it. But I went to the gym. I picked up some groceries without picking up chocolate. DH went for a walk and although I asked him to bring home diet soda, I did not ask him to bring home chocolate. He did for himself and I had a bite. And that was enough.

So I consider this a win for me vs stress eating. But man was hard.

LISTENING TO MY BODY

Two days of wanting to do nothing but eat and two days of letting myself indulge in some not so healthy snacks. Two days of maintaining my loss. Obviously my body knew it needed some extra calories for whatever reason. Today I am back on track in order to meet my goal for next Thursday.

OFFICIAL THURSDAY WEIGH IN

Yeah, I know it's Saturday but it's been a hectic week and I couldn't get around to posting on Thursday. I did weigh in on Thursday. Twice in fact. When I woke up I weighed in at 185.2 and after I went for a walk and at breakfast I weighed in at 184.2. Either way I met my goal and have set my goal at 182.5 for next Thursday.

I have this weird thing that happens to me when I meet a weight loss goal. I get hungry and cravings. This time was no different. All day Thursday I wanted to eat. Managed to keep it in check. But on Friday it was still there, so I planned on having pizza (thin crust at home) and ice cream Friday night. Kept my calories down during the day by thinking about my "treat". And a weird thing happened. Even though I had 2 slices and half a pint of ice cream, I wasn't stuffed. Just pleasantly satisfied. Normally the pizza alone would have had me stuffed.

And pleasantly this morning I weighed in at 184.2. Back to regular eating habits starting this morning.