I was away with spotty Internet access and little time. It was a great trip up home to New Jersey to visit with family and friends. Some have seen me at various stages of my weight loss; others hadn’t seen me since before my surgery. It was a trip good on my ego and emotions and rough on my food plan.
It’s amazing how quickly my body reacts when I change up my eating even a little. I immediately knew that I was holding onto water and bloating by the way one of my rings fit. When I weighed myself this morning and saw how that translated into pounds on the scale, I could have been demoralized, but I held onto rational thinking and laughed.
Weight gain at heart, really is about the numbers. In order to gain a legitimate pound, I need to consume 3600 calories more than I expend. It is not physically possible for me to eat enough food to gain four pounds in less than a week. So, even if I didn’t already know this was fluid retention and my body readjusting, the numbers would have proved it.
It’s amazing how my emotional and mental reactions to things can change from week to week. I didn’t go into mountains of anxiety and upset over food while away. I did the best I could and enjoyed the meals that I shared with family on friends. At a barbeque on Saturday, yes, I ate more dessert than I normally would, but I’m over it. I woke up this morning and got back to work and eating right.
I also had a bit of an epiphany. Even when I’ve had great adherence to the food plan, the weight loss is much slower. I know that happens when one has less weight to lose, but it seems reallllly slow. I believe it’s a good time to reevaluate my food plan and see if it’s still the best one for where I am now in my journey. Maybe the food plan needs adjustment. I don’t know if I can get up to So Miami for an appointment with the bariatric nutritionist, but I sure as heck know where to go to talk to other people who are on this journey and are ahead of me in their progress. The information is out there and easy to access, thanks to the internet. This all feels very proactive.
While in Jersey, I chatted with my sister-in-law about how slow it’s been. Her first response was, “Hey, at least your weight isn’t going up.” Her second comment was that if I gained all of my weight back, she’d kick my ass. I explained that if I did that, she’d have to get in line because I’d be kicking my own ass. I am absolutely determined that I will not gain back all of the weight that I lost. Even if I never lose another pound, I’m not sliding back up the scale.
It helped me to remember that no matter what, I’m learning how to maintain. For someone who has been a lifelong yo-yo dieter with multiple times of weight loss/weight gain/weight loss/weight gain, breaking that cycle is major progress.
Sometimes it surprises me that there are still realizations like this for me to discover. Now almost a year and a half after the surgery, I still have things to learn about myself, my weight loss battle, my journey to better health and fitness.
It’s a good thing that I like to learn. 😉
Weighty Matters 
Hooray for not stressing out over not keeping to completely to food plan while with the family.
I’ve been doing Weight Watchers on-line for the last 20 months or so and have lost over 40 pounds. (‘m currently about 10 pounds from goal.) There have been periods when I’ve just had to say “screw it, I’ll get back on plan [on a given date]” when I’ve been places where there is just no way I could really keep on plan such as Tanzania where the diet is very carb-centric and fried. I also blew it in late winter/early spring when family situation made it difficult, but not impossible to stay on plan and get any exercise. I am now in the process of re-losing the six pounds I picked up in those 5 months – which DID include two weeks on Tanzania.
Anyway, my point is, that recognizing that there are and always will be times when I have to let myself relax a little bit on the food plan….I just have to ALSO plan (as in set a time abd date) to get back to work on the exercise and the discipline as soon as possible. And it sounds like you have been doing just that!
I love it when we discover new things about ourselves. We’re always a work in progress. 🙂
It’s good to realize that you can make new realizations along your journey, no matter how far along it you are. Because you will probably continue to make new realizations about this very topic for the rest of your life, especially given what a large part your weight has played in your life.
I’m so happy you are doing so well!
I think the most awesome thing about this post is that you didn’t stress about minor derailments while you were with your family. It’s so easy to fall into self-blame and self-criticism in those situations, but you are in this for the long haul. The occasional screwup is not a problem. Good for you.
yay you!
You’re doing great Mary, just look at the last couple of pictures you’ve posted. What I remember seeing is a happy, confident woman with a dazzling smile. Finding the way off the plateau is a challenge, if anyone can manage it, it’ll be you. Soldier on!