Feedback

My last blog about how good I was feeling and how the scale should just be used as feedback.  Today was a true test of how well I could take my own advice.

I went to my Weight Watchers meeting not really expecting to lose much because of my encounters with my home scale this week but still hoping deep down that I would see the loss that I was working so hard for.....drum roll please.....I lost .4 pounds.  That was not the loss I was looking for.

Although it was disappointing I knew right away what I needed to do.  I even told the receptionist that it was clearly time to start taking away my nursing points.  I've been dreading this moment for months.  Samuel is 7 months old. I have been nursing him since he was born.  That means that I get extra points to use each day.  It's wonderful.  I get to eat a whole lot more food than when I was on maintenance before getting pregnant with Samuel.

The catch is that when the baby starts eating cereal, veggies, fruits, etc. the nursing mother needs to start eating less.  Samuel has been eating cereal since he was 4 months old and veggies since he was 6 months.  It is clearly time to feed myself less.

I suspected this a couple of weeks ago but I needed to test my theory by being very strict with my eating and exercise to see if my theory was true.  This was my final test week.  When I am eating, tracking and exercising like I was the past week I always have a weight loss higher than .4.

So starting today, I redid my daily pointsplus target to be one less than it has been for the last 7 months.  I'm only taking away 1 point per day to see what happens.  If I lose above a half of a pound next week then I will stick with that new target until I no longer see results again.  If I lose less than a half of a pound next week then I will take away another point.  WW recommends that when you take points away from your daily target to take them away 2 at time but I'm being selfish here.  I want to eat all I can get and still lose weight.  I really don't like being hungry.  It's a sure way to fall off the wagon completely and I don't want that to happen.

The hard part now is being patient.  I took my weigh in today as feedback, not failure.  As my receptionist said, "At least it was in the right direction."  Yes it was but after combing through my weigh in booklets for the past 2 months I see that I am averaging less than a half of a pound per week and the program is designed for an average a half of a pound to 2 pounds per week.  I know my body can do better.

The trick will be to get myself used to eating less.  Even one point per day will make a difference in my habits, but it's clearly what I need to do and it will be good practice.  I will have even more nursing points to give up the older that Samuel gets.

Did you use the scale as feedback this week?  Really think about what it said.  It wasn't just a number.  It was telling you something.  Did you snack too much?  Did you exercise enough?  Are you tracking enough?  Did you get enough liquids?  Did you do everything just right?  Listen and use the feedback to help yourself.

Corinna

"David understood God's great mercy." -2 Samuel 24:14a