There’s no new weight loss this week, but this is also no surprise; I celebrated this past weekend, and one of the things I’ve grown to accept is that celebrating means paying a price for it later on. This week, I am regaining my ground by losing what I gained last weekend during a planned cheat.
On the left: me, in September, 2013. On the right: me, yesterday.
Every year for at least the past decade, I’ve gone to a local wine festival; sometimes with a group, sometimes with just my husband, but it’s always a good time and I look forward to it all year long. This year was no different, and I carefully considered my food options before going — and planned a cheat weekend.
Mind you, that doesn’t mean I go crazy. My carb and calorie budget is like money; I have so much to spend each day, and I want it to go as far as I can. I won’t blow it all on a lukewarm fast food cheeseburger and fries. While I’ll stretch the carb and calorie budget for a splurge on a cheat, it’s still within a certain range; and even then, I have to consider whether the food I enjoy during that time is worth the additional time it takes to lose whatever weight I gain from the extravagance.
When I do this, I find that not only do I truly enjoy the foods I choose much more than I would normally, but I’m also a lot more likely to not eat something that ends up not being as satisfying as I hoped. While I had a fantastic dinner on Friday night, with a lovely choice of wine, Saturday’s lunch of potato soup left me disappointed. When each bite is treasured, I put a lot more thought into whether I should take that bite. It is a choice, and even if I know in advance that I’m going to relax the rules a bit, I still don’t want to get angry with myself for eating something that just wasn’t worth it.
Next week, I’m sure I’ll be back to losing; after my recent losses and the progress I’ve made, I’m more determined than ever to see continued success.
Apart from this, I had a lot of good reinforcement during my special weekend. Not only was getting around a lot easier than I thought it would be, but I felt good about myself. Mind you, I’m still a very large woman, and I know that, but I truly feel better these days, and I have a sense of pride in myself that helps me walk better and stand taller.
I was able to do some things that I haven’t even considered in a couple of years, like taking a ride in a horse-and-carriage; getting up in it would have been too difficult before. Now, I can do it.
Just yesterday, I took progress pics for the first time since being on this diet; I took baseline pics when I started, and I’ve been a little bit scared to take new ones. I was seriously afraid that I wouldn’t be able to see a loss — and not without reason. I admit that there are times when I look at comparison photos that friends have done, and I have to really search for the differences, so I have (needlessly) worried about whether mine would show anything at all… and if I might get so discouraged, looking at the photos, that I might end up playing head games with myself.
That wasn’t the case at all. I won’t post full-length side-by-sides until I’m done losing weight, but I have included profile photos as side-by-sides. I am very happy with the progress, and I can’t wait until I’ve lost even more. I’m excited! And if I can work up this sort of enthusiasm when I’m still at least 100 pounds out from even beginning to think of a stopping point, that’s truly good news.
(Note: side by side comparisons won’t be published on the internet. Unfortunately, people on the internet can be extremely cruel to the obese, so for now, I’m only posting head shots publicly. Thanks for understanding.)