When you get off of your weight loss plan

As you know I typically go to my Weight Watcher's meeting on Saturday mornings.  Last week I had a very busy Saturday and realized on Friday that there was no way that I could make my normal 8:30 meeting.  We had to be to Catholic Charities to do some volunteer work at 8am. I told my husband and my weight loss buddy, Pattie, that we would have to go to the 7am meeting that morning.  Pattie was not able to join us.  Bryan agreed to go.  Friday night we stayed up late to watch a movie with my 2 oldest sons.  The Saturday morning alarm rang waaaaay too early for my body.  I snoozed it once and then turned it off the second time.  I slept another 30 minutes and then woke up realizing that no only would we miss our WW meeting but we were now making ourselves very short on time for the rest of our plans that day.  I woke everyone in the house up and started our day in a hurry.  I was disappointed that we were missing our meeting but I got over it quickly.  In fact I got over it very quickly since I was expecting a slight gain.

We went on with the rest of our day.  I ate a healthy breakfast and counted the points.  We had a picnic at Catholic Charities after our gardening work was done.  My first plate of food was very healthy and I counted all of the points.  My second plate (yes, there was a second plate) was not as healthy but I still counted the points.  I tracked it all when I got home and was a bit disappointed to see the total.  Oooops, maybe I'll just take the day off.  And that's what I did.  I let the day go.  I don't even remember what I ate the rest of the day.  I just remember taking the day off.

Sunday started off well.  We took my 7-year-old son, Ethan to his First Reconciliation Orientation Class. He was so excited to have Mom and Dad all to himself and to be looking forward to an exciting year in second grade.  After his class we took him out for breakfast.  I ordered an egg beaters omelette with lots of veggies in it.  I asked for fresh fruit instead of toast.  The waitress said they wouldn't make that substitution so I told her that it didn't matter to me how it happened but I didn't want any toast but I wanted fresh fruit.  I was charged extra for the fruit but that wasn't the point.  I wanted to enjoy my breakfast without breaking the "points-bank."  I didn't look up any points in the restaurant but I did write everything down so I could enter it all into the computer when I got home.  I was disappointed when I got home and figured out the total of my breakfast.  The hashbrowns were a points nightmare.  Oh well,  I still intended to finish the day strong.  Bryan decided that we should go on a family hike. He looked up a new trail for us to walk and off we went.  We brought no snacks.  That shows how far our family has come in our strides to become healthier.  We used to bring snacks on our hikes.  We only brought water bottles.

After our wonderful hike we were hungry and it was dinner time.  We went to Bryan's current, favorite restaurant.  It's an Asian all-you-can-eat buffet.  I know he picked it because he loves it and because there are lots of healthy options.  The problem it that there are also lots of unhealthy options.  I decided when we walked in the door to throw in the towel and eat.  Not the best choice.   At the end of our meal I came back to the table with a cookie.  I knew I was a bad example and completely unhinged when Bryan looked at my confused and said, "What are you doing?"  I answered, "Uhhhh, eating a cookie?!"  We chuckled but we both knew that I needed to get a grip.

Monday came and I got back on track.  I tracked every bite and made the decision that if I stayed on track for the rest of the week and exercised that I could turn the week around.  I did it.  On a few days I even ate 2 less points than my plan allows.  I ate enough those days and didn't need the points so I decided that's what I needed to do to get some control.  That's not recommended by WW but I knew I was in no danger of hurting myself and I ate lots of fruits and veggies and other healthy foods those days.

I went to my meeting yesterday.  I felt great and was hoping that the scale would agree.  I lost 1.4 pounds.  I can't tell you how excited I was to see the number I saw.  To be honest, it's a number I've seen before.  In fact I just saw it back in April because unfortunately I've gone up since then and had to re-lose some weight. It didn't matter that I had seen it before.  What counted to me was that I got back to a number that I hadn't seen in 4 months. I broke through a barrier that I have been hovering around for 3 months now.  Next week I look forward to making another great stride towards a lower number.

I want to encourage you to forgive yourself when you get off plan.  It's okay to mess up once in a while.  We are human.  We cannot expect perfection our of ourselves.  Just remember that the sooner you get back on track, the sooner you can undo the damage you did.  Also, the sooner you get back on track the easier it will be.  We don't want to hang on to those unhealthy habits that creep back into our lives.

Have a great day everyone and I'll talk to you again soon.

Corinna

"But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, 'You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off'; do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand." -Isaiah 41: 8-10