Angel Food (lowfat)

My weight today is 157.4 - a -.2 lb weight loss for the week. Only a fifth of a pound lost, but I’m moving in the right direction.

 I continued my trend of blowing my diet on Friday and Saturday. My weight was 155 on Thursday, but even the promise of such a healthy weight loss didn’t keep me from eating too much this past weekend. My brother had come for a visit, and he needed some TLC after a really rough week. “TLC” often means good food, of course. We had our usual chili - it was great, but already I’m getting tired of it. The real kicker on Friday night was pear crisp with ice cream. My stomach was already full, but I didn’t pass all that butter and cream. I would have felt much better if I had.  Saturday, my brother came to my house for dinner. One of my roommates had kindly bought steaks to share. We also baked potatoes and made mac n cheese. Why the double carbs? The steaks were NY strip and so, so good. At least I packed away half of mine in the fridge before digging in.

Despite the stark reality of my weekend overindulgence, I actually feel pretty good today about my dieting. My progress is slower than I’d like, but it’s progress all the same. Planning my meals is really helping during the week, so I just need to be smart and plan my weekends, too. I also sat down last night and sketched out a reasonable workout schedule. I’ve been telling myself that I’m too busy to exercise with work and school. But, I’ve realized that if I have hours to spend playing Wii Golf and watching the Food Network, then I definitely have time to work out.

So - specific weekly goals:   155.9 (1.5 lb weight loss) by 10/15 and cardio 3 times this week.

My weight this morning was 157.6 - a respectable 1.4 lb weight loss for the week. I probably actually lost more weight, but I ate a late dinner. I’ve definitely noticed the correlation between eating late and a higher morning weight (it makes perfect sense).

Last week was a great one for me, not just because I lost weight. The scale is the meaurement, but it isn’t what’s important. Instead, I found fulfillment in things besides food. Probably everyone of us blogging on this site has a “food issue” - whether it be comfort, entertainment, etc. that they confuse with food. I think mine is fulfillment. I often am unfulfilled at work, so I snack all day. Ditto for weekends where I am bored or not quite contented. 

 Last week/weekend, I tried to fill my time and  space with something besides food. I kicked butt at my job. Not only was I more productive, but - surprise! - I wasn’t as hungry. This weekend was a little harder, but I did well. Hanging out with my brother, running around taking pictures, exploring a farmer’s market, reminded me that there is so much good out there that I don’t need to fill up on junk. It’s kind of a larger metaphor, isn’t it? Fill up on the good stuff, and you’ll have less room for the bad.

Goals for this week: lost 1.5-2 lbs, get exercising again

My motivation to eat a sane amount of food over the weekend lasted about twelve hours. Friday night, I had one bowl of chili at my parents house. When I got home, my roommate and his family had made juicy ribeyes and baked potatoes. I love ribeyes. I was able to resist their beckoning sheen of fat, solacing myself with four glasses of wine (8 pts, I know) and some fried okra.  Saturday I was even weaker in the face of adversity (re: unhealthy food). Where did it all come from - the brunch, the mac n cheese, the grilled burgers, the chocolate chip cookies? I ate about twice what I should have.

It was no surprise that on Monday that I weighed: 159.0. A - .2 weight loss for the week, which barely counts.

This morning, after a mere 1 day back to counting points, I am already at 157.6. (At that rate, I’ll weigh 20 lbs by 2008!) Joking aside, I am cautiously optimistic about this week. Counting points seems to get easier every day. My big goals for the week are to exercie more and to be 157.0 by October 1. I was a dismal exerciser last week, only doing one day of cardio, one day of weights, and one day of yoga. I don’t want to be skinny and flabby like before. I want to be skinny and strong. Blogging and an email support system is really, really helping to keep my encouraged and moving toward those size 8 jeans again!

After the chili debacle of earlier this week, I have settled quite nicely in my WW routine. After several abandoned attempts to lose weight over the past 6 months, I am finally remembering the commitment and the (let’s be honest here) minor amounts of suffering I went through to lose 75 lbs. This is tough! I have to say “no” a lot. When I allow a treat, I have to compensate for it somewhere else. For instance, yesterday I drank a full 20 oz coke. That meant dinner had to be kashi waffles and edamame. (I need to go grocery shopping.) I am about 6 points ahead of where I should be this week, but (1) that’ s not too shabby and (2) I can still make it up this weekend.

So, let’s see how well I can do these next few days. It’s one thing to stick to points during the work week. It’s quite another to tackle a weekend during football season when your roommate has family in town. I’m skipping the church picnic on Sunday, so I won’t be contending with fatty grilled meat products. Most importantly, I need to be honest about dieting, as I was a few  years ago. I’ve been embarrassed to admit it this year because it was like admitting a failure. But, to hide from people that I need to eat healthy is ridiculous. It’s like a person smoking to be cool, even when he has lung cancer. It’s simply unhealthy. I can’t wait to report back on Monday to tell how the weekend went. And, here’s to looking forward to weigh in for once!