Week Four - Further Down The Hill

Thursday evening's WW scale showed that I'd gotten rid of 1.8 pounds. This brought my official weight to under the dreaded 200 lb. mark (199.6). The reading on my home scale earlier in the day was 196.

On October 22, 2001, I started a journey that eventually brought me to my goal weight of 127 pounds. I weighed 194.2 pounds on the WW scale at that time. I can reasonably expect to be at or below that weight by July 1, 2008.

As might be expected, I was surprised that Thursday's scale showed such a loss. In contrast to the previous week, last week was one of physical laziness and minor self indulgence with food. I think the number on Thursday's scale largely reflected my previous week's discipline. In any case, I was encouraged and motivated to intensify my efforts. On Friday (yesterday), I went on a 3+ hour hike with my daughter and her boyfriend. This was more exhausting than I'd expected. Today's indolence and carelessness with points is the (not inevitable) result. Tomorrow is the start of the month that will return my weight to or below what it was when I started WW the last time around. I am ready to exercise fiercely and to be in full control of what I eat.

Week Three - Grumpy, But Getting Rid of the Lbs.

The WW scale showed that I'd gotten rid of another 1.2 lbs. on Thursday night (5/22). I felt grumpy following the meeting.

I laid the seeds for grumpiness the night before when I stayed up into the wee hours of the night. As a result, after morning errands, I fell into a deep sleep. I woke up a half hour before the meeting was scheduled to begin.

My first jolt into Grumpsville was that I couldn't find my Weight Watcher book, the one in which weight progress is recorded. I'd taken it out of my purse during the week and put it on my desk in the project room. I am a hyper neat person. On my desk are small piles of paper, pretty much sorted into categories, ie. bills to be paid. I have paperweights on top of each pile. After much frantic searching, there and elsewhere, I could only conclude that the WW book had disappeared into thin air. The following day, I observed the same phenomenon with a sample menu that I had taken from a restaurant. I had put the menu under the brass lamp on my desk. When I went to get it, I discovered that it had also apparently popped into non-existence. On Sunday, it was a couple of carrots that did the disappearing act. There are four possibilities as to what may be happening: (1) an evil leprechaun is toying with my mind; or (2) my husband is gas-lighting me (trying to drive me crazy); or (3) senility has taken hold; or (4) matter and anti-matter are colliding with the result that ordinary items are regularly disappearing.

But I've digressed. The disappearance of and search for my WW book gobbled up the minutes that I could have been using to walk to the WW meeting. Instead, I needed to take my car.

My second jolt into Grumpsville occurred when I was parking my car. A pole of medium height stood at the front of the parking space. I naturally assumed that there would be a concrete block right before that pole to keep one from driving right into it. Of course, any sentence that begins with "I naturally assumed . . " has to end with the natural assumption being also a very stupid assumption. As it turned out, there was no concrete block and, though I was barely creeping forward, my car lightly tapped the stupid pole. And it left scratches on the front of my car. And a bit of yellow paint.

The absence of our regular lecturer and also our regular clerk was another jolt, though a slight one. I had been looking forward to reporting my new found discipline with the elliptical when the lecturer asked about any changes we'd made as a follow-up to the previous week's lecture. The substitute lecturer asked no such questions. I didn't get to brag.

My final jolt was being told by the woman who I sat next to that she was saving the seat for a friend. A small matter really, but I had chosen to sit there as a challenge to myself to be more outgoing. I can all too easily play the hermit. In any case, the woman fully ratified my grumpiness.

My challenge this week has been with some bouts of hunger. Veggies can solve this easily, but sometimes I don't want veggies. I've gone over my alloted points for a few days, but I'm still hanging in there. I may get rid of less weight because of exceeding my optimum calorie count; perhaps my current weight will even be unchanged, or (perish the thought) my weight may be slightly up. I'll only be weighing in on Thursday night instead of staying for the WW meeting because my daughter, Rachael, and her boyfriend will be coming up from Monterey for a Thursday and Friday visit. I think it's important that I leave them briefly to get an "official" weigh-in.

Week Two - I'm in the Groove

Last night, the WW scale showed that I'd gotten rid of 2.8 lbs. Some of this is attributable to my wearing lighter weight shoes and clothing than the ones I wore last week. Also no last minute carrots bulked up my weight. Even so, my success is solid. I am firmly on track.

My biggest challenge this week was on Sunday night. Having gone to bed, I couldn't fall asleep. As I've mentioned before, sometimes eating cereal helps with this. I got up and microwaved a serving of the frozen oatmeal with raisins and milk that I described in my previous post. I dutifully deducted 6 points from my 35 weekly points, after which my "what if" mechanism began to chat. If I had oatmeal every night, I'd go over my weekly allocation by 7 points. If I had the oatmeal, I wouldn't have the extra points for days when I wanted to go beyond my daily point allocation. What would I do when my weight put me in the 18 daily points category? Having gotten rid of 5 pounds, I already have had to scale back from 23 to 22 daily points. Thankfully, I was able to put the "what if" chatter behind me and go to sleep.

As it's turned out, I used only 12 of my 35 weekly points during the week that ended yesterday. I could have gone on a 23 point binge last night and still remained "legal." In terms of ice cream, that would be like 4 cups of mint chocolate chip which, if I'd had it, would almost certainly have pitched me into the wild turbulence of gluttony. These weekly points were like money in the bank for me. They provided a sense of security.

I didn't notch up the exercise last week as I'd planned. Today I put in 33 minutes on the elliptical. Just so I can say at next week's meeting, that I've done so. That is so much of what WW meetings are for me; WW is a place where there are people who can witness my success and applaud me for it. I value my on-line friends for this as well. I am looking forward to finally being able to consistently write about my on-going success with getting rid of the re-re-re-gain.

Week One - Onwards with Success

I got rid of 2.2 lbs. this week. It was a week that included an over-night stay in a hotel on Monday followed the next day by Matt's final (hopefully) spinal operation. I came prepared with food + attitude. We had dinner at the hotel. I chose broiled salmon and substituted a salad for the rice and (buttered) vegetables. I brought my own salad dressing. For breakfast I had my usual at home morning meal, a block of previously frozen oatmeal made with non-fat milk, raisins and stevia; thankfully the hotel room had a small microwave oven. My lunch, also from home, consisted of carrots, soy cheese, and a 120 calorie baguette from Trader Joes. Later, at night at home, I "binged" on carrots, a zero point food item under the new Weight Watcher plan.

Yesterday (Thursday) evening, I walked to my WW meeting. I'd been eating carrots and slamming down the coffee prior to the meeting. My weight on the WW scale reflects this. I've pretty much adopted the attitude that my job is to follow the program and the numbers will take care of themselves. My behavior at home following the meeting suggests that, despite this attitude, I was disappointed that the scale didn't proclaim a larger loss. This disappointment is totally illogical. It is the long term that matters, not the week by week showings on the scale. If eating carrots upped the number on the scale, it is truly a matter of no importance. I don't take my shoes off or dress more (or less) skimpily to play the numbers game at the scale. Even so, even as I deny feelings of disappointment, I was (am) disappointed (illogically so). The way I handled food upon my return home shows me my (denied) disappointment. Still full from dinner and even more so from the fruit I'd had for dessert, I went on to have a half cup of gelato (140 calories) followed by a serving of the oatmeal (about 300 calories) I'd described earlier. Even so, I was still "on program." I had enough extra points to do this "legally."

So . . . I've had a successful first week. I'm going to notch up the exercise this week (and I'm not going to worry about how many carrots I do or don't eat).

Weight Watchers - Again

Just a quickie post for now. I rejoined WW on Thursday. As it turns out, there is a meeting within walking distance of my house. The group is small; eleven people besides the lecturer and clerk were there. The program has been slightly changed. I get fewer points at my current weight than I would have on the previous program, but some of my low-cal faves like uncooked carrots and a number of cooked root veges are now o point foods. I feel really good and optimistic about the group and my long range success.