Ok so I kind of have a victory over the scale story that isn't a NSV:
Yesterday, I weighed myself for my weekly weigh in and discovered I'd gained 7lbs since the previous Friday. I was in shock because I was completely out of control (compared to being on plan) over the holidays and gained 5lbs in about 6 weeks, but with the new year I took myself back in hand, with getting myself back into control with my eating. This week, I decided to add in the exercise portion and went back to running (C25K Week 6) in the morning and pilates or yoga or wii fit before bed and doing this everyday especially because recently my work has been really sedentary with lots of report writing and late nights, added to which it's TOM.
Anyway, point being, I've never (to my knowledge, anyway) gained this much weight in a single week. Let's just say I cried my eyes out, yesterday (to the point where I actually felt too sick to seek comfort in food) and was just really over the whole thing, and in one of those "I'm-going-to-be-fat-forever-I-can't-do-this" bubbles. I had been feeling so good too because the running was going well, I was fitter than I thought that I would be after the time off exercise, I wasn't at all sore, everything was great.
So last night after the dramatic reaction, I came to a realization as I thought about whether it was even worth it to continue, that I can't let the scale be the sole determinant of how healthy or happy I feel in this journey. Obviously I'm happier when the scale goes down and that is totally fair. But if I'm getting fitter and eating better, eventually the scale will reflect that, but even if it doesn't, my body will reflect that and my health will reflect that.
I think I feel like it takes so long already, that when I put in effort and make long term sacrifices for my health, I somehow "deserve" to lose the weight and certainly not gain 7lbs. But the thing its easy to forget is that I didn't gain this weight in 5 minutes, its a lifetime of poor decisions. And I know I'm never going to be as happy and confident at this weight, so whether or not it comes off in 5 minutes, I might as well work at doing something about it because the time it's going to take me to lose all this is passing anyway. So whilst I'm going to continue to use the scale as a marker of my progress, because in general it is a good marker, but I'm not going to let it be the beginning and end of my view on my plan. I just have to grade myself on other things as well.
So people, so I don't feel like I've set some kind of weight gain record, what's the most you recall ever gaining (pre-plan if you like) in a single week?