Up and Down

Really tired of this cycle I seem to be stuck in. One week I'm up, the next week I'm down. I wouldn't mind so much if there was general progress in the down direction, but there's not. I'm very close to where I was when I first started WW again.

I was down 2 lbs this week. That is awesome. I'm feeling good and I knew it was going to show a loss. I need to keep this going though. I can't go ,'oh yeah, I lost. This week I can slack a little.' That's kind of what's been happening. I go down. I think I've got it wired. Then I lose focus. So I want to take a few minutes and look at what's working for me and how did I lose 2 lbs. this week?

First was the food. I did not track every day, but I was extremely mindful of what I was eating. Not only did I consider what I ate but how much I ate of it. I never walked away from a meal this week stuffed. Never. So mindful eating.

Second was the water. This week was back to school and back to the habit of drinking 64oz of water a day. I fill my 32oz cup up in the morning and at lunch. With all the talking I do as a teacher I need that to keep my mouth and throat lubricated. The fact that it also helps my body is an added side benefit. When I'm at home, no matter how much I try to make it a habit, I just don't drink that much water. So drinking my water.

Third has to be routine. Being back to school, I'm back on a regular routine. I eat breakfast at 7:15. I generally eat lunch at 11:30, I have a snack at 3:30-4:00, finally dinner is usually 7:30ish. I eat every 4 hours or so. It's not something I planned, it's just the way it works out. But it works for me. When I'm home I find it hard to stick to a schedule like that. I sleep later, workout and then don't eat breakfast until almost 10am. Then depending on what I'm doing, I can eat lunch at noon or not until 2pm. Or not at all. Then have dinner at 7 or 8. Now that I look at that, I can see that this is not good. So routine.

Finally the workouts. I have not worked out every day but I did workout 2 days and these are killer workouts. I'm doing the BCx Bootcamp and the workouts really kick your butt. I can feel my core muscles and I'm seeing muscles in my arms. The week before I did the entire week and I think I'm having residual effects from that, but these are great workouts. The success this week is that I did the 2 workouts at night. That is huge for me. I get these routines and schedules set in my mind and breaking out of them is difficult at best. For example, I have it in my head that I workout in the morning. That's it. I do. So working out at night just goes against everything that I believe and that makes doing it hard. Also, I have this routine in my brain: come home, walk the dogs, clean the bird room, relax, eat dinner, watch TV, go to bed. Relaxing usually involves 30-45 minutes on the computer. Watching TV is usually done prostrate on the couch and generally lasts an hour or more. Now, why can't I replace one of those two things with working out? No reason except that it's not on the schedule!!!! Stupid, I know, but true. So I am going to work on switching that around this week. I have this weekend and Monday off. I'm going to work out at 6:30 each night - that's generally the time I'm done with everything else. So that will be 3 days of working out. Then I'm going to try and do 2 more nights during the week. That will give me 5 workouts for the week. Yeah!!!

Someone at the WW meeting last week said that weight loss is an inside job. That is so true. And being successful at weight loss requires recognizing those thoughts and beliefs that are holding you back and changing them. Maybe I used to be a morning workout person but maybe I'm not anymore. Things change, people change, this too can change.