Weighty Matters

After last week's setback, I was determined not to fall into a funk but to just keep plowing on, and to keep going. And YAHOOEY! did it pay off -- I lost all that increase from last week and a little more!! I might have even had more but I enjoyed some really, really good ribs on Sunday with some friends....definitely worth the splurge! So what's the plan this week? Same as this week. Same as last week. Keep tracking, keep moving, keep making more good decisions than bad ones. Keep breathing -- deeply, purposefully, mindfully. Keep listening to what my body is telling me -- I'm hungry; no, I'm good; ow! that hurt; I'm feeling good, let's do 2 more minutes!........ And success will come.

because holy Moses, according to the scale, I not only fell from Grace, but probably on her as well. It said I had gained back everything. Okay, whatev. I am choosing not to believe the scale. Did I do everything right? No..... primarily in that while the week before was Shark Week, this was Manatee Week (as in water-retaining sea cow, thank you Jeff Foxworthy!) I didn't always make the best choice in that I ate more processed food than I should have. Worst was when I made a great recipe with a higher-sodium ingredient that I normally would have. And while there's no pressing physical or medical need for me to control my sodium (hypertension, etc.), the cardiac history in my families is enough to make me try to watch it as much as possible..... that and one of my meds might lead to retention. Que sera, sera. But I'm more proud of my non-scale victories, of the things I did right. I worked out. I tracked every day, including the times I went into the weekly points allo

Okay, stats for this week, down 3.2 more! WAHOO!!!! Planning does pay off, huh? Who'd a-thunk, right? So..... I was sitting at the meeting this week and speaking with another member. She mentioned that she'd heard part of my story, and as we were talking, she said, "Wow, I bet your numbers at the doctor's office went way down." I said, "Well, I don't know..... my numbers were usually pretty good to begin with, no hypertension, no diabetes, none of the usual things. But then again, I didn't go for annual physicals, just whenever I needed to. I hated the doctor's office." She looked puzzled and I said, "Well, if I'm in there with a cough, I'm not there to be told that I need to go on a diet." She nodded, laughed and said, "Yeah, true....." I hated the thought of going to a doctor's office, knowing they were going to put me on a scale. It finally reached the point that I simply said, "I'd rather not,

This thought occurred to me just a few moments ago, and I knew that if I didn't put it down SOMEWHERE, I would forever forget it...... and it actually made me stop what I was doing long enough to really think about it. Knowing what it takes to succeed is not the same as being aware that you have what it takes to succeed. If you're reading this, stop. Go back. Re-read the bold print. Slowly. Carefully. (Proofread for me, if you'd like.) Welcome to my reality prior to May 2006. I knew  what it took to lose weight. I had every diet book (except low-carb stuff) on the shelf. I could read, absorb knowledge, and on occasion, attempt to put those things into practice. I. KNEW. This. Stuff. But I didn't know my stuff. I didn't know that I had in me what it would take to lose the weight...... okay, scratch that. I wasn't aware that I had what it took. It was buried deep enough that I hadn't discovered it yet. One day, when I opened myself up to the possibil

This week, I decided that I was important. Okay, allow me to rephrase a little. I decided that I was important enough to stop letting other people and other forces to control my time and energy. I'm not sure how I managed to cede that power over to them, but it doesn't matter, really. What matters is that I take it back. So the haphazard, harried nature that my life has become must now cease. Tombstoning it, baby. A little more order is in order. A little more control over my choices, my time, my energies, with just enough flexibility for those little curveballs you're so fond of zinging toward me. I decide what. I decide when. I decide where, who, why, how. Some of those elements may not be within my power to control, but I'm claiming the ones that are possible within a particular situation. It is time for me to reclaim my life. For the last year, it's been everyone else's schedule -- when they can fit me in, or when I can squeeze in a moment for this t