“But if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need.”
Come here, skinny people!
And this week, that means learning a bit of patience when what you expect doesn’t happen.
I’m so close to my next goal — so close! — so when the three-day holiday weekend hit and I didn’t eat as cleanly as I have been, I paid for it — and I regret it. If I’m going to nudge outside my normal boundaries, the food should be high quality and worth it; it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, and the worst part? I paid for it on the scales with a 3.4 pound gain. I have yet to lose about two pounds of it, because it wants to hang on for dear life this week.
My body’s been quite good to me, lately, losing easier than it has in some time, so I (mistakenly) thought it would come off easily. While I have some of it off to this point, it’s not all gone, and yes, I’m irritated. By the numbers, it should be coming off, because I know it’s water; I track everything that goes into my mouth and the math equaling a gain of this nature just isn’t there. Scientifically speaking, I know that. I overate, but not by that much — perhaps 200 calories on one day, and 100 calories on the other two.
If 300 calories of overeating now equals over three pounds of gain, we’re all screwed, friends. Watch out for Thanksgiving! 😉
I’m kidding, of course, but I have been frustrated and doubtful this week, which is absolute silliness. For the past couple of months, I’ve been used to seeing routine losses on the scales; when my daughter got married, I saw an expected gain, and it was off quickly. But these couple of pounds are being stubborn, and all sorts of stupid thoughts have been knocking around my brain, including that little voice that sneaks in from nowhere and starts whispering failure! FAILURE!
How utterly and overly dramatic. It’s a good reminder to me that despite recent successes, I am not past the head-games; I’m fully in them, despite being strong. Making ugly faces at the scale when it’s not being cooperative is something we all probably do, but letting that veer me off-course with negative self-talk is just asking for trouble. I suddenly wanted to adjust what I was doing, and it’s far too early for that.
This is especially true, because I have a lot of indicators of success at my disposal, of which the scale is just one, and all of those other indicators, without fail, are telling me the opposite: I’m doing well, and I should keep doing what I’m doing.
(A minor brag: now that it’s coming on to cooler weather, I have on a pair of jeans I last wore last spring, and they were tight-but-wearable. Still, I feared that infamous People Of Walmart Bubble Butt Syndrome; I was constantly making sure I wasn’t showing plumber’s butt. Today? They fit perfectly and I don’t have to worry about traumatizing anyone. Win!)
Being impatient is at the root of a lot of unreasonable diet behavior, including giving up, and I won’t have it. I’ll continue to watch the scale for a couple of weeks, and only then, once I’ve reviewed the data I collect each and every day, I’ll determine a course of action if it’s necessary. Changing things that have been working for several months because I have one week that isn’t perfect is absolute nonsense.
My overreaction is getting outvoted by patience and persistence, and maybe I’ll break through my next goal next week. Regardless, I know I will sometime in the near future, and until then, I’m dedicated to keeping up the good fight.