Day 56: Wahoo!

Somebody got another 5lb. sticker last night! I am so excited that after 5 weeks of dancing around the same number on the scale, I finally managed to get beyond it! I never realized I was dealing with the ups and downs for that long, but when I went back and looked at my weight log, it really was 5 weeks (actually six weeks if you factor in that I was gone and missed one meeting).

I feel so good now....it was like that one number was holding me back from really trying and now that I've gotten past it, I feel like I can conquer the world....or at least my weight.


This week: -4.6lbs.
Total: -11.6lbs.

I attribute my success this week to three things:

1. I obsessively tracked every single morsel of food that went in my mouth. I knew on any given day how many points I had consumed, and how many I had remaining. I told myself that I wasn't going to use any of my extra weekly points until Friday's date night, and I held to that. And even then, I only used 7 of them. I also tracked my points religiously during the weekend, when I normally slack off. I think holding myself accountable to the foods I was eating really helped me to say no to the things I was just eating out of habit. I remember one instance in particular, where I was in my mom's kitchen and there was a little basket of Easter candy sitting out. I reached in and grabbed a little chocolate and started to unwrap it without really thinking. Then I suddenly realized what I was doing and put the candy down and walked away because I didn't want to have to put that on my points tracker. At the meetings they always talk about how important tracking your food is, and now I can testify that it really does make a huge difference.
2. I got in 2 really good workouts that I'm sure gave my metabolism a boost. I have always said it takes a lot more effort for me to break a sweat than it does the average person. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but I sweat like a hog during those Zumba workouts...it felt great, too. I'm glad I had such a good loss this week because now I'm really motivated to amp up my workouts so that they become more challenging for me. I'm getting to a new fitness level now where walking everyday just isn't going to give my body the exercise it needs for weight loss. Yes, walking is great exercise, but it's not going to help me take off the pounds anymore.
3. I think sometimes when we are working at something, it just takes our bodies a little while to respond. My Weight Watchers instructor said something like that last night, and it makes sense. I haven't done horribly on Weight Watchers over the past 6 weeks...there might have been a couple of weeks where I just phoned it in. Or a few workouts here and there where I didn't give it my all, but by and large, I think I tried pretty hard. And especially over the last couple of weeks. And now my body finally responded to what I was wanting it to do. That tells me that I need to be consistent and persevere through the weeks when the scale doesn't show me what I want to see. If I stick with it, and do the right things, eventually it will show on the scale.

I'm very excited about my weight loss this week, and I'm hoping it continues. Obviously, I can't expect to lose 4 and a half pounds every week, but I can at least expect to continue to see my weight decreasing, little by little.