Round

I didn’t realize I hadn’t posted last week - I actually will check the drafts since I thought I had…
My weight on the 21st was 191 and was again today — today’s stable weight being a fluke since I had a 36 hour period of carbs over the weekend — planned, in fact for our gourmet chateau weekend.  I’m back hard-core low-carbing for the next few days, then will enjoy myself with more flexibility on the evening of the 31st, and then back to low carb probably pretty strictly for the next several weeks.

All in all I’m glad I lightened up on myself over these past weeks, with a goal to maintain my weight at 190 or so.  It’s helped me stay pretty zen during the holidays and yet still sometimes have a taste of something.  90% good isn’t always enough on low carb to lose weight, but it’s usually enough to maintain. And it’s easy enough to live…

It’s a snowy day in Paris — the first I remember seeing in December, in fact.  We don’t usually get much snow but there’s probably about an inch out there now, and the temp is warmer than it has been in days.  I’ve been wearing my big bulky long down coat this week - and couldn’t care less about the fact that everyone looks 30 pounds heavier in such apparel, because the truth of it is that it’s 1) warm and 2) fitting.  Last year I couldn’t even wear it, and it’s really a nice coat & I’m really not very vain, so I wear it happily.

I’ve been enjoying being back to exercise this week.  Other than Monday where I had a pretty hectic day, I’ve made it to the gym each day (twice in mornings!) and am enjoying it, seeing sweat, and still being careful not to overdo it.  No pain at all, which is great & what I’m going for.

I’ve also decided to keep on weekly weigh ins on Mondays but skip days of hopping on the scale in between - in just a few days I’ve felt a lot more relaxed about it, which I think means that taking a break from losing right now (til Jan 1) is the right thing for me.  My husband’s birthday is Friday, we have holdiay meals w family on Sat & Sunday, leave for my in-laws for x-mas on Weds, have a romantic weekend at a hotel/restaurant for the following weekend.   I don’t plan to go nuts, but I do plan a small peice of cake (I havent made this cake in 6 years) and I’m guessing I’ll have something nice during the romantic weekend.  And I’ll probably have to suck it up and eat something not completely low carb to keep from driving my in-laws crazy over 4 days there…  I can only pack so many nuts!

Well, my weight is still at 190, which means another week of the same.  I did get more focused, and generally cut back in a few areas, but also realized that mentally I’m not really ready for a big diet push right now.  As some of you pointed out in the comments from my previous post, I’ve had a LOT of stuff going on this year, and maybe I just need to be a bit more gentle with myself right now.

So I’m going to keep on eating low carb but not put on pressure & set my goal at getting through the holiday period by largely (not completely, not obsessively) sticking to my diet & keeping my weight roughly the same.  I think I might put the scale away for a few weeks too - but haven’t totally decided about that yet.

This week the counting that I did a few days did help me to see where I had been overdoing it - so that was useful.  But really fast counting felt like punishment, and I’ve had a hard enough year without giving myself any punishment so I dropped it.  I did stick to the lowest carb foods in general (except for sunflower seeds, which my supermarket just got back in stock).  We were invited to dinner at a friend’s house and she’d made a casserole main dish which was zucchini & pasta.  Pretty much no way to avoid eating it except to be extremely impolite, so I looked at my husband, shrugged, and ate.  Didn’t take seconds, but I did eat it, and decided that sometimes social situations will trump the ‘diet’ mentality (especially this time of year).  That of course led me to also accept dessert (ok, that was just that old ‘”on or off the diet” thinking coming back), as dessert is a course that you can always politely decline here in France or in any country.  It was good, and I don’t feel guilty - I was back on track the next day, but if I’d managed to lose anything during the week the pasta & rice pudding wiped it out…

So this week focus will be on eating healthy low carb, using up some things in the freezer, and getting to the gym 4 times this week.  X-mas travels start Weds the 23rd & I’ll need plans for that — but this week’s focus is clear.

One thing I learned many years ago is to have a plan of action for stalls & plateaus.  I generally don’t consider myself plateaued until it’s been 3 weeks of no loss while I was making an effort.  If I’m not making an effort, I can’t really call it a plateau, just being off plan.  And we all know how fickle the scale is so one week is definitely not enough to worry about, two makes me wonder, but three there is no denying it. 

The plan of action for me usually consists of going back to tracking carefully & counting whatever it is I’m counting — calories, fat grams, or these days, grams of carboydrate.  The act of counting makes me MUCH more aware of what I’m eating and I can make changes accordingly.

I weigh in “officially” Monday mornings, but step on the scale more days than not during the week.  Those daily weigh ins are just for focus - I don’t write them down anywhere, but they usually give me an indication of what is going on - and I find that the daily pattern helps me keep focused on my weight every day.   I know my weight fluctuates by about 3-4 pounds during the week, so I wasn’t too worried — it would be back down soon.

Except it hasn’t been.  The 190s have been winning.  For the past few weeks those daily weigh ins have been up a bit or staying the same — bouncing around 189, then several days of 190 or 191 then back to 189.  I think in 3 weeks I saw 188 once only — and the numbers with a 19x more often than anything else. 

It hasn’t helped that we’ve been away the last 2 weekends and that on both weekends I was less than 100% compliant with my diet.  Both weekends I was “pretty good” but really “pretty good” means “good enough to maintain my weight” not good enough to lose.  2 bites of 2 desserts, a nibble of this or that, ‘just a taste’ of something wonderful on my husband’s plate.  Really, great self restraint, but still, it can add up.  And low-carb dieting is not for the faint of heart, as one high carb slip can add pounds really fast as the carbs add water & therefore weight.  It’s easy come, easy go once you go back to stricter carb levels, but those jumps in the scale can be demoralizing if you don’t really understand the whys.  Even if you do, like me, it’s not so fun to see much bigger numbers suddenly come home to roost.

For the past several months I’ve been eating low carb without keeping track of exactly what I was eating nor how many carbs it contained.   So I knew my Plateau Action Plan would be to go back to basics — back to counting.   Over the past few months I’ve not paid much attention to serving sizes of veggies & admit that the occaisional bite of fruit has slipped in.  I also regularly eat foods that many low-carb dieters stay away from - such as fresh cheeses, mushrooms & nuts.  Bottom line - I suspected there could be a pretty good gap between my real carb intake & what I was trying for. 

So yesterday, when the scale showed 190 (officially up 1 pound from 189, where I’ve been for 2 weeks before that) I knew I needed to start counting again.  And just over 24 hours later, I wasn’t surprised by what I found — many more carbs than I expected, and this was with me paying close attention.  Last week, when I was still winging it, I easily ate 3 times as many carbs.   So this week I’m keeping close track all week, and hopefully that will help the scale get moving down again.

I’m not particularly worried about the speed of my weight loss, by the way, nor do plateaus freak me out — I think they’re a normal part of the process & that sometimes we need to hang out at a certain weight in order to feel the motivation to go further.  I am also aware that my plateau has corresponded with my return to exercise (more than light walking) & know that can be having an impact on both my appetite and my weight.  Still, I can already see the benefits of counting & being real with myself.   I made several different choices yesterday based on this ‘back to basics & counting” approach and was STILL shocked by the numbers — so I assume this will help me get back to a losing mode.

Do you have a Plateau Action Plan?  What is your trigger to put it into effect?

I’m back to work as of yesterday.  I’ve mentioned before that I am VERY grateful to have a great & understanding boss (and very protective employment laws) at this point of my life.  I’ve been officially off work for about a month, but have been seriously off track since late May when all this endometrial cancer stuff started.  So I’m taking back management of my team and a lot (LOT) of teleconferences & such, but basically no travel until January. 

I think a more regular schedule & more mind-occupying activities is good for me now.  I like the fact that I’ll still be able to go to the gym, still be able to go downstairs for lunch & tea during the day too. 

But I’m ready to be back in my normal life — even if it means less time online .