If you look at my graph of monthly average weights for the year so far, June looks like the worst month ever. Horrible no good very bad weight.
But.
For once, the numbers don’t tell the whole story. June has actually been a turning point for me, mentally. Not only have I hit a breaking point as far as how I feel in my own skin — I once felt awesome, but today I’m wearing shapewear to hide my lumps and bumps — but I’ve also discovered how to keep myself on track, and what will derail me if I let it.
I’ve been using my personal bullet journal to plan ahead all my meals, my lunchtime activity, and my evenings (to keep me occupied and out of the pantry). One week, I planned to attend the annual ice cream social at work, knowing that they always serve a low-cal option or two. Sure enough, they had a low-cal vanilla… but they also had Moose Tracks, and how could I pass up Moose Tracks?! I figured it couldn’t be THAT many more Points…
Not only was it a LOT more Points, thanks to the fat and sugar, but the indulgence did something to me. For the rest of the week, I kept straying from my written plan, sneaking snacks, padding out my lunches with extras, and eventually abandoning my plan entirely.
Lesson learned: I need to avoid sweets. They can send me down a path of binge eating that I’m trying my best to avoid. Whether the trigger is physical or mental, its unwelcome, and it’s avoidable.
This week, I not only planned ahead, but I entered my plan into the Weight Watchers tracker in advance. That way, when I went to buy my Mini Garbage Salad from the food truck on Thursday, I was able to pass by those delicious cookies, because I’d already tracked my entire day, and I didn’t have any extra Points to allot for a cookie.
This week was also helpful for getting me back on track because my husband was home on vacation. That meant I wasn’t alone in the evenings, so I wasn’t lonely or bored or depressed and tempted to self-medicate with food. It also meant that if I did genuinely want to eat after dinner, I ate real food — plums and peaches, mostly — instead of eating a fourth meal of carby goodness or a giant dessert of sugary chocolatey over-the-top-ness. (Edit: We don’t actually have the stuff at home for a “giant” dessert, but a handful of Biscoff cookies topped with Lindt sea salt dark chocolate squares comes mighty close.)
Now that I know what works, and how I feel when I do it right, and that I can lose more than two pounds in a week if I just stick with the program, the results will be the motivation, as they’ve been so many times before.
My weight loss success has been cyclical over the years. Luckily, I’ve only ever regained a fraction of what I’ve lost — I’ve never rebounded to my starting weight in any of my weight loss cycles, including Atkins (starting weight 254 in 2003), WW before baby (starting weight 210 in 2008), or WW after baby (starting weight 194 in 2011).
I’m due for a hardcore losing streak, though.