The Daily Weigh-In Dilemma and Valentine's Day Splurges

WEEK 6

Current Weight: 284.2 pounds
Pounds Lost: 11.8
Pounds Still To Lose For Goal Weight: 104.2
Progress Towards Tulum: 31.9 miles (approx. 3494 miles left to go)
Measurements: Waist (3.5" above belly button) 36.5" // Hips 56.5" // Neck 14"

I missed a week! I plead "crazy, busy work schedule" as my excuse, but I'm back now and still slowly slimming myself.

Despite the fact that Mondays are my official "weigh-in" days (when I record my weight in this blog and use it as my yardstick (or fatstick, I suppose) to track my changes) I actually weigh myself almost every day. A lot of days I see little or no variation, but then other days... During Week 5, I was 284.2 for the last three days of the week. Then, last Monday I stepped on the scale and voila! I was magically 286.2 pounds. There are a lot of reasonable reasons for these kind of variations - water weight gained or lost, normal fluctuations, hormonal shifts, a ginormous meal the night before. The problem is that none of these reasonable explanations can ward off the sneaky feeling of depression that creeps over one when staring down at a weight gain on a "weigh-in" day - especially when you know that you've been eating healthy and drinking water and trying to do everything right. It makes you wonder if you can do it, if any of this is even helping, if it wouldn't be better to just give yourself up as a lost cause. I can (and do) let these feelings wash over me and slide off of my brain like water off of a duck's back. I pick myself back up, I mutter a few imprecations at the scale, I reassure myself with a glance in the mirror that my neck waddle is receding, and I move on. I strive to be better, knowing that even "better" isn't going to cut it sometimes. Some days you are doomed for the upswing, and some of those days will even be "weigh-in" days. It helps me to weigh myself every day(-ish) because all of those 284.2s preceding my "weigh-in" of 286.2 last Monday are a reminder that this IS working, that Monday was an off day, that I need to (as always) drink more water, ride more Marcy, and keep my chin up and my food homemade and nutritious. Of course, it helps even more that even after a weekend of unhealthy eating habits, my weigh-in today was a good one...

Speaking of that weekend, it was Valentine's Day this past Saturday. B got me Lindt truffles, knowing my love for chocolate but also knowing my fear of eating too much of it. He felt that the truffles would be a compromise - not too unhealthy on their own, but still delicious. *sigh* Sadly I threw caution and prudence to the wind and ate the lot with B's help during the day on Valentine's. We also made big ribeye steaks with a delicious roasted mix of broccoli, potato wedges, red onion and garlic. It was heaven. We finished the evening with bowls of homemade apple crisp, still warm and cinnamon-y and delightful. Sunday I made us a glazed ham to carry us through the week. I think with a little ham, a lot of salad and some wheat ciabatta, the meals we have can be delicious and healthy.

To recap Weeks 5 & 6:

• Mid-week lunches of roasted broccoli and shrimp risotto from Week 4 weekend and whole wheat spaghetti with tomato sauce and ground pork
  
• Mid-week dinners of chicken and veggie pot pie and "light" kielbasa with sauerkraut
  
• Twice-daily snacks of steamed shui mai dumplings with sweet chilli sauce (from bbcgoodfood.com), hummus and veggies, or sun-dried tomato dip with pita bread
  
• Weekends of hearty pasta soup soup (from bbcgoodfood.com) and the aforementioned scrumptious steak dinner
  
• 4 days of Marcy-riding
  

As always, I trumpet a continuing cry to myself of:

"DRINK MORE WATER AND RIDE MORE MILES!!!"

Marcy and my daily weigh-ins will thank me.