Good Morning,
Let me start by sharing my morning weigh-in of -26 lbs. Yesterday it was -24. I've bypassed -25 somehow. I can live with that!
Weigh-ins are interesting. I now weigh myself every morning - naked - after going to the bathroom - and before showering. That gives me the lowest possible weight for the day. I've also learned that my digital scale can vary. I have weighed myself, gone out to the bedroom for a minute and come back, weighed myself again and gotten a different number. Sometimes the 2nd time is higher and sometimes it's lower. If I don't like the first number I see, I try again in a minute or two and go with the best reading. Almost always, I weigh anywhere from 2-4 lbs more later in the day (late afternoon or evening) - even after going to the bathroom and being naked. That's why the 4:30 -5:00 weigh-in at the WW meeting is frustrating, although I do think the scale there is lower than my home scale anyway.
Before I weighed myself daily, I never realized how much weight fluctuates normally. Up-Down-Up-Down. Daily. Hourly. It usually defies logic.
Today, I want to focus on the specifics of what I'm actually eating, because that defies logic, too. For most of my life, I've heard "Move More + Eat Less = Lose Weight." Well, I'm here to tell you, I am living proof that that's not always true. For a number of years, I took Water Aerobics classes off and on. I would go 1-2 times a week for 10-12 weeks at a time. In doing that I NEVER lost a pound. Not 1. Last spring, I worked out at the Rec Center with a personal trainer - lifting weights, using the gym machines, "walking or jogging" on a Nu-step machine. Never lost a pound. Not 1. How is it possible that I was moving more than in my usual fairly sedentary life, and didn't lose a pound? I still don't get it, but it was sooooo discouraging because I would be doing things that I was told were good for me, and it wasn't showing on the scale. Of course, I realize that doesn't mean it wasn't still good for me, but if the goal is to lose weight.... You get my point. For me, the "move more" thing has never equated with losing weight.
That leaves "eat less". Now, I used to think that eating "healthy" food was all that was necessary. It turns out that the definition of "healthy" varies from one source to another. If the idea of "healthy" is living on salads with light dressing and fruit, then one probably isn't going to lose weight. At least I'm not. According to WW, healthy food is basically any food "within moderation". As I've talked about before, I am losing more weight faster by eating all the points that WW has assigned to me for a day. I started at 33 points. I went down to 32 after 10 pounds, 31 after 15 pounds, and now I am at 30.
Let's talk about a typical day's worth of Amy's points. Breakfast usually consists of a bowl of Cherrios. A "bowl" for me is 1/2 cup with 1/2 cup of 2% milk. If I have fruit in the house, I include that - a banana or strawberries in the bowl, or a separate cup of melon or pineapple. In my WW Tracker, I have a Meal set up which includes these items, so I can easily add my "cereal w/fruit" each morning from my Favorites list. That combo is 3 points. Sometimes I add 1 piece of toast with margarine and jelly - that is 4 pts. I usually only add the toast on weekends because many times on weekends, I have breakfast late and don't eat much lunch. (Hubby only eats 2 meals a day - ever. So if I am trying to coordinate with him, that affects my choices.)
Lunch on a school day often consists of a sandwich - 1 slice of bread, usually Pepperidge Farm Swirl Rye/Pumpernickle, a little mayo, 3 oz of deli turkey. All of that is 4 pts. A low moisture, part skim cheese stick is 2 pts. Chobani Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt is 4 pts. If I add a WW chocolate candy treat, that is 2 pts. Lunch: 12 pts.
Subtotal breakfast 3 +lunch 12 = 15 pts (half my day's allotment)
Dinner: Salmon - 5oz = 6 pts, 1/4 cup coucous= 1 pt, green beans = 0, 2 Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits = 9, WW ice cream bar = 3. Total for dinner = 19. I could have just had 1 biscuit, but I love them and so I ate 2 and now I don't feel deprived.
Day total = 34 - which takes 4 pts from my extra 49 weekly points.
What I'm learning is the importance of portion control and choices. Before I was on WW, I used to eat Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal. A serving is defined at 28 biscuits. Add 2/3 c of 2% milk to that, and you have a breakfast of 7 points. That's a lot of points to invest in breakfast, and it's not really that much more satisfying than the 1/2 c of Cherrios.
Well, that's it for today. Thanks for joining me on this life-changing Odyssey!
Come back again soon and don't forget to feed the fish. Their food is 1 pt per click! They get 30!
:)Amy
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