Things are getting back to normal. It helps that the kids went back to school. The sun is shining and the winter blues are somewhat at bay. I hadn’t realized how much I was craving routine and normalcy. Not that I don’t love breaks. If I could start each day as lazily as I have over the past 2 weeks I would probably be more relaxed. But it was definitely time to get back into the groove.
It isn’t just the day to day routine either. This past weekend I had to weigh in for Weight Watchers. I have been avoiding the weigh in for the past 3 weeks. As a lifer, you weigh in once a month and need to keep within 2 lbs of your goal weight. The last time I had weighed in was the weekend after Thanksgiving where I narrowly weighed in under goal. After that small victory I set about living life until my next weigh in. Which I typically don’t weigh in until I am assured success at the scale. So week by week I would check my weight, scratch my head at the results, push the scale around the bathroom floor some to see if the number would change, and swear this was the week I would get back on track and weigh in regardless of what the scale says.
Then Christmas happened. I stopped tracking, I drank a lot of tasty holiday beer and I ate even more tasty holiday sweets. We ate out more than we typically do and with the stress of house buying and selling I was eating way more junk. Saturday after Saturday went by without me gracing the doors of Weight Watchers.
Huge mistake.
The only thing I did right was to keep running and cross training. I would of course immediately eat all the calories I burned, but it kept me from experiencing failure of an epic level.
So I set my alarm this past Saturday to get myself to a meeting. Regardless of what the scale said, I would swallow my pride, pay my 13 bucks for being over goal and get back on track. Not that it stopped me from my weigh in ritual hoping that the scale gods would be kind to me for my huge slip up.
It was not to be. I was about 1 and 1/2 pounds over goal, which isn’t terrible but definitely gave me the push I needed to start tracking my food again. The thing that has kept me coming back to Weight Watchers, even though I have been 2 years at goal, is that I never want to go back to where I was. Going to the meetings keeps me honest and on better track than if I was doing it alone. It is easier to explain away weight gains when you are only talking to yourself. When you are standing at a scale with the number blaring at you and the receptionist asking what your strategy for the week is, that is what keeps me heading in the direction I need to be going.
I have heard so many members in Weight Watchers who leave as soon as they hit goal and then come back after they have put all the weight back on… and then some. I promised myself from the start that would not be me. I wasn’t going to yo-yo. I never wanted to hear myself say, “When I started Weight Watchers for the fifth time…”
Why Weight Watchers worked for me is because of the discipline. You track, you exercise, and you change habits. There isn’t a special food to eat or a certain exercise to do. You eat what you want and move the way you want, but you pay attention and try to make the best choices possible. Which is why it is so easy to get back on track whenever I stray. I just start tracking, moving, and be aware of what I am doing.
As I sat in the meeting room Saturday morning, I was proud that I didn’t beat myself up for the weight gain. The meetings always help me gain perspective. You have the enthusiasm of the newbies and the collective knowledge of the lifers who have been where you are and know the struggles.
It reminded me why I started the journey in the first place. So as long as I am unscheduled, I will not make any excuses about why I can or cannot go to the meetings. I am going to park my butt in those hideously green chairs each week and remember how far I have come and why I never want to go back.
What has helped you keep your resolve when it comes to weight maintenance?
[...] I went to my meeting this morning like I promised myself I would. Even though I knew the scale was going to taunt me, I [...]