Everyone is a little bit different, but for me, I’ve found that if I don’t run at least once or twice a week, write down what I’m eating, or at least try to keep a healthy eating lifestyle, I’ll step on the scale at the beginning of the week and end up gaining weight. It makes a lot of sense – no exercise, no one holding me accountable, plus the fact that weekly weigh ins have me brainwashed into thinking that +.8lbs is a big deal doesn’t end well sometimes.
I was terrified of stepping on the scale this week for a number of reasons. I haven’t been to a meeting in over a month, which means I lost nearly all accountability – something especially challenging right around the holidays. What made me more intimidated by the scale was everything I ate in the past month. Between Thanksgiving, being home (and surrounded by more food than I knew what to do with), drinking, family, Christmas, Disney World…all of it added up in my head as a total disaster. Even looking at myself in the mirror made me frustrated.
But, I got on the scale today. As I once heard at a meeting, “you can’t just come in when you think you’re going to lose. You have to come for the good and the bad.” After I nervously stepped on the scale/stopped breathing, I looked down and realized I had actually lost weight. What?
Granted, it was less than a pound, but not what I expected at all. I was always so nervous that I wouldn’t be able to step away from Weight Watchers for the rest of my life – that I would be one of those stories about “I lost xxx pounds but then I gained most of it back…” because of lack of self control, but today proved to me that I’m really started to make lifestyle changes that are more than just temporary.