Course Correcting
Working to Undo the Damage
I still am unsure why Weight Watchers doesn’t work for me when it works for most of the people who try it, but for the 4th or 5th time, it didn’t, so I have to go with the evidence.
I weighed in today and I have lost 5 of the 7 pounds I gained since starting Weight Watchers and I did it in 3 days. That tells me that somehow, it must have been water or retained stool or something, but even then, it’s 2 pounds of weight gain and not the weight loss that should have happened.
This puts me at 2 pounds over when I started Weight Watchers on Oct 8. If I can knock out this next 2 pounds, I will be back to my recent low of 253 and can work downward from there.
In the past three days, I’ve been eating low carb and whole foods, mostly sticking to the My Plate arrangement, but with fewer vegetables. I’m dramatically limiting portion sizes, even on foods that were zero point foods for Weight Watchers that I could previously eat without monitoring. I am also not eating in the morning and waiting until noon for my first meal. It’s not easy, but it seems to be working.
I am so grateful that turkey season is happening. I hate that turkey is so expensive the rest of the year. Not that it’s expensive per pound as meat in general goes, but it has so much bone that paying $40 for a turkey is a bit uncomfortable for me. I will get my brain settled around that idea since turkey is yummy, high in protein, and all around nutrient-dense. It makes no sense because during the off-season, I will pay $10 or more per pound for good deli turkey but a whole turkey is only $3-4 per pound. Even subtracting away the bones, it is better and cheaper, so I need to recalibrate my thinking instead of clutching my pearls over paying $40 for a 20 pound turkey.
Just before I started this journal, I had a huge sugar binge, which is completely out of my baseline. I enjoy sugar very much, but I have almost never gone on a true bender. Eric went back East on family business and was gone for a week. I’m not sure if it was missing him or a lack of witnesses or what, but man, I pounded down the sugar. I asked him to please bring me back A (“a” - implying “singular”) Stuckey’s pecan roll and he loves me so much that he brought me back four of them. And yes, they were gone in a week and yes, they were delicious.
My greatest love during the sugar rush were Crunch & Munch (toffee, not caramel, but caramel in a pinch) and maple bars. The only sugar I crave now is the maple bar. Man, I miss those.
I do not anticipate having a life completely devoid of Crunch & Munch and maple bars, but I do want to get further down the road before I start courting disasters, so it’s turkey sandwiches (on low-cal bread) and apples for now.
Thankfully, it is also apple season, so I have found some nice, crispy ones instead of the sort of mealy, softer ones.
I can’t see a day in my life where I can eat whatever I want with impunity, but I do see a time when I can have a reasonable balance between healthy eating and treats. It isn’t today. And tomorrow ain’t looking good either. I think the real allure of Weight Watchers was the idea that I could have those foods provided I work them into my allowed points. Apparently, that is not my path.
Meanwhile:
More apples!!
I watched the story of this poor girl:
Bless her heart. It is my nightmare to fail dramatically in front of all of you, which is part of why I made this a public journey. In its Big Brother Glory, this story came up in my YouTube feed right when I was struggling with this latest set back, so I made it a priority to stay visible and accountable with all of you.
Tomorrow’s entry will be about some of the weight loss videos/shows I watch and have watched and how they did or did not affect me.
Love to you all. Thank you for being my witnesses and my support team.
