My Weight Loss Journey
Today was weigh in day: I wont lie here, curiosity killed the cat on Day 4. I checked my weight at night, a mistake. I felt the need to make sure I wasn’t going to be in for any surprises. I was disappointed at night, but relatively happy in the AM.
I had seen I lost weight during the night. But not at the level I expected. I saw that it was roughly two pounds, and I will admit, I got a little bit disturbed. But today, this blog runs one day behind, so it was Friday January 10, I realized that I was indeed 5.2 lbs down this week. Yes, after it was all said and done, I had a great week, even though at night I thought I would only be around 3 lbs down.
Why do we weigh ourselves anyways?
This is a complex question with two competing answers. From a behavioral perspective, the scale can provide us with positive and/or negative reinforcement. In the example above, it was both. It was negative in essence the evening before, as it failed to live up to the work I perceived that I did. It was positive in essence, in that the next day I saw that the work that I had done was reflected in the number I had released.
Also, on a behavioral level, the scale allows us to measure units of progress. Our mind is built upon a foundation of constructive reasoning. Within the idea of weight loss itself, is the idea of constructing a new life by destroying aspects of our old. In essence, we may not like the image we see in the mirror, or in my case, I did not like the image of the person my Doctor told me I was, and it did not fit within the overall picture I had of myself. Therefore, we decide to do something about it, and commit to aspects of a lifestyle change. At a minimum, we commit to change old habits, at least in a temporary fashion. This is where the idea of Diet comes from. Part of dies, and leads us to a new state of being. However, when we approach it from a short term construct, we may temporarily change old habits, but they inevitably pull us back to dysfunctional ways of being.
What Can We Do?
We can commit to look at this in a long term perspective. It is a lifestyle change. It took your life to get where you were, it will take your life to attain and maintain that optimum you that you wish to attain.
Friday Evening Meal
As of yesterday, I had 385 fit points. I dipped into those to have 4.5 slices of pizza. I Friday Tradition at my house. But instead of eating a whole pizza and chasing it down with a few beers, (should I say Carb Heaven… or maybe Carb Hell), I chose diet soda, water, and 4 slices of pizza. This was a big step for me. I chose… with intent… to decrease the portions of what I ate, and made a conscious decision to reverse my habit about what fluids I would put in my body.
I even counted my fit points and have 18 left. Wow. It confused me, how could the app count my daily fit points in that fashion, then I realize, weigh in day. I now know that my journey for fitness will continue tomorrow, when I earn more fit-points by doing my morning workout. I really love Weight Watchers program. They behaviorally reinforce exercise, a must for any healthy lifestyle change.
Weigh In
Weight: 287.0 lbs. (down 5.2 lbs)
Body Fat: 40.7 (up 0.8) Possibly due to working out? Will have to look this up, or possibly it is because of the scale I use.
Goal: 220
To Go: 67 lbs. (8.5% closer to the Goal)
