Choices...the good, the bad, and the ugly

    This was a VERY bad week for me. I went to Weight Watchers today and had gained 1.6 pounds. As usual, I know EXACTLY what I did wrong. Let's see. I didn't walk to the post office to take the office mail ANY this week. I usually do it every day. I didn't go to the gym at all this week. I didn't journal (write down) or keep track visually of my food intake. I went to bed late each night and woke up "late" each morning (still made it to work on time each day...barely).  I ate all wrong too. I didn't have breakfast most mornings. I didn't eat an official lunch, but 3 days this week (a frozen Weight Watchers meal each time). I didn't drink enough water this week. I ate HUGE dinners. I didn't regularly take my daily medications or multi-vitamin. I snacked too much at night this week. Last night I had half a bag of hot chili pepper cheese puffs. I also couldn't sleep and got out of the bed to have way too much English cheddar cheese, pepperoni, and wheat thins. For dinner, on two nights, I ate about half a bag of kettle chips each time. I didn't plan my meals at all this week and just threw together convenience meals that were not healthy. Verdict...it was the perfect storm for weight gain and I am the one creating these raging storms.

Keep on keeping on

     This past Thursday, I went to Weight Watchers. I wasn't scared or nervous this time. I decided this past week that I would focus on losing one pound per week. One pound. Establishing this goal, makes it seem more "doable" to me. This is also considered a "safe" weight loss. AND, if I do indeed lose at this rate that would be 52 pounds at the end of a year. That's not too bad. At least I would be going in the right direction. Anything over the 1 pound per week, would just be icing on the cake. So, it was with this new goal that I went into last week. I think I have started a morning ritual that is helping me too. I get to work early and make a 14 ounce mug of hot, unsweetened green tea each morning. It is something about the warm drink and being forced to take my time drinking it (or get burned) that comforts me. It's become so enjoyable that I've been drinking about 3- 14 ounce servings at work during the day. On the days I go to the gym in the mornings, I'm also drinking a 16.9 ounce bottle of water while working out. I also drink a 16.9 ounce bottle of water during my lunch and another one for dinner. I think this increase in water consumption has helped me some. I've been cutting back on my portions too. I have not been going to the gym as I should and could. That will be my focus this week. For the past 2 weeks, I've been going 2 times per week... one day in the morning for one hour and then on Thursday nights for one hour. I hope to get back to the gym for at least 3 mornings this week in addition to my training session on Thursday night. This week I have a private training session on Tuesday afternoon. I have also been doing exercises at home during the Biggest Loser commercials. In a perfect world, I would go every morning and every day after work as well as the weekends. I'm building up to that and I KNOW it will be that way someday.
   So, what did my efforts this week show on the scale at my Weight Watchers meeting? I lost 2.4 pounds. In the past 7 weeks on the program I have lost 8.2 pounds. From my highest weight to my current weight, I am down about 36 pounds. I'm not going to stop and I'm just going to keep on going.