Two weigh or not to weigh? That is the question. Years ago I would weigh myself every day. I would go to the bathroom, strip my clothes, weigh myself and then hop in the shower. Every day. When I moved, the scales were not put into the bathroom where I shower, for various reasons. Losing that daily habit was a detriment for me, I liked seeing the daily weight. I knew that some days weren’t going to show a loss and some days would,and I was ok with the daily fluctuations. It kept me on track.
With the scales located in a less conducive spot for weighing daily I went back down to one Weigh in a week… If that. The only thing that kept me getting on somewhat regularly was the fact that I share my weight on a weekly basis with a friend. She goes to weight watchers on Wednesdays so Wednesdays became my weigh in day. But that said, I have been going back-and-forth between Saturday and Wednesday for my official weigh-in day. I kind of like the idea of being really good through the week weighing myself on Saturday morning and then having my cheat day on Saturday. (And I will discuss cheat days in a few minutes)I am still undecided, maybe I’ll just do both. But as I write it makes me go back to ponder the daily weigh-ins. I weighed in officially on Wednesday and found that I lost 3.2 pounds. The weekly weigh-in this week was nice because I saw that huge chunk of weight fall off. I can’t deny that I really like that. But I also like the daily accountability from daily weigh in. What a quandary. For now, because of the location of the scales it will probably remain once or twice a week. But when I move I’ll be having to ponder and come up with my answer of how often to weigh myself.
Cheat days. Years ago I used to do a cheat day/cheat meal. It worked for me. That was the day that I had pizza, not just one slice but as much as I wanted. That was the day that I had comfort foods that were high fat and high calorie. I really didn’t do desserts on that day, I never did desserts!!! And typically my calorie content was still low. I am re-instituting the cheat day concept. The sweet treats are withheld for a cheat day. Jason and I both talked recently about how much the sweet treats had crept back into our life and we both agreed that we didn’t want to be totally anal about what we ate. So we are allowing ourselves to indulge that sweet tooth on the weekend. Thus the reemergence of a cheat day. It apparently worked last weekend… On Saturday I ate at Arby’s for lunch (downgraded my fries to a small), we had pizza and wings for dinner, and we each had a Cinnabon for dessert. That is not exactly a low caloric day. Yet I showed A loss!!! Even better I don’t feel deprived. By allowing myself to have the sweet treat every once in a while (weekly), I can hopefully avoid the monster that I created when I never allowed myself to have any sweet goodness in my diet. What happened? I made my lifetime weight watcher goal went on vacation and allowed myself a sweet indulgence, it was wedding cake and a good friend’s wedding. Who wouldn’t have indulged??? But that one piece a cake turned into donuts the next day, which turned into a cinnamon roll the following day which turned into cake, and a significant weight gain when I return from vacation. So my theory for now is no deprivation… If I’m not depriving myself then theoretically I won’t lose control when I have my first bite after a long period of none!!!
My stair walking...I work on the 8th floor. It takes me less then 5 minutes to climb all the flights. I currently make it to about the fourth floor before I am starting to breath heavily. The plan is to add floors..when I can make it to my floor without being out of breath, I will add flights..climb further and then walk back down to the floors I work on and have access to. Currently I am doing it on my two breaks...but have definitely figured that eventually I can and will add morning arrival and lunch break climbs. (Right now my legs are jelly after the second climb...so when that starts to ease I will add another climb!). Especially in the winter when outdoor walks are limited due to weather. Maybe soon this elevator picture will be a thing of the past when I only take the steps!
I’m not tracking my food...and I waffle back and forth on the need to do so. Thus far I’m just lowering portion sizes (for example small fries at Arby’s versus the large ) , trying to listen more to my body and what it needs and plain and simple just trying to eat ‘normally’. So is the little voice that says to track just a leftover from years of having it beat into my head to track my food? Or is it really necessary? Right now it’s working for me to not track...but I know eventually I’ll have to make a decision!!! And I know this is a huge departure for me to even contemplate losing weight and not tracking...I’ve babbled about tracking my food for years...hundreds of posts!!! But that was then...this is now!!!
And that is my final word for the day...and maybe the theme for this whole post. That was then...this is now. What used to work may no longer be the best option for me in the here and now. Furthermore the past is the past. Lamenting about my failures and the regained weight is not helping anything. Adjust, adapt and move forward!!!