For the last three weeks, at my official Saturday morning weigh-in, I’ve recorded a gain.
They haven’t been big gains — up 0.1 one week, 0.6 the next and then another 0.3. When you add that up, it’s 1 full pound in the wrong direction.
Even so, that’s NOT the way I want to go.
Following my Saturday morning WI, I buckled down, started tracking religiously (instead of half-assedly), stayed within my Healthy Eating Zone and began daily check-ins with the scale.
Surprise, surprise (not) — as of this morning, I’ve managed to not just hit the weight from my last good WI on July 25, but drop below it.
Heck, if I can keep up the focused work, I might make it into the 240s this week.
Considering I’ve been bouncing around the 250s since March 13 (pretty much through quarantine), I’m looking forward to falling into a new weight decade.
In other news …
Is anyone else looking forward to fall? I can’t wait for the start of Pumpkin Spice season.
In fact, I have a couple of bottles of sugar-free Pumpkin Torani Syrup left over from last fall. I could start PSL season early! Apparently, Dunkin’ already has — or will tomorrow.
This is not a PS iced coffee — it’s coconut, 2 Splendas & cream for 4 Points. Excuse the blurry Boomerang screen grab from Instagram Stories.
The scale wasn’t my friend when I weighed in Saturday: up 0.6 for the week.
I’m not all that surprised, as I’ve been in a very snacky mood lately. I can’t seem to stop eating in the afternoons.
Sigh. Send help, please!
The blip could have something to do with the salty foods I’ve been eating lately, too. But it’s probably the uncontrolled snacking.
My weekend was quiet, save for one momentous event:
That’s right. Now that I’m only working Monday-Thursday, I took advantage of my first Friday off to get my very first mammogram.
Only 8 years late, since you’re supposed to get a baseline mammogram at 40.
Better late than never, right?
I have to admit, I delayed for so many years because I was scared. I thought it would be painful (it wasn’t) and take too long (it didn’t).
I really need a haircut. COVID, go away so I can visit my stylist!
My general dislike of doctors, which I inherited from my mother, didn’t help, either.
But I decided it was past time to put on my big girl panties, take off my bra and get the girls scanned.
Did I mention it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared? I was in and out in less than an hour and — surprise — it didn’t hurt like I’d heard other people complain. Their horror stories played a big part in my avoidance for so long.
Now that I’m nearing the Big 5-0, I feel the need to take better care of myself. My mother died at 59, after a heart attack, quadruple bypass and undiagnosed diabetes. I don’t want to go that route.
Had my annual well woman exam and bloodwork late last month. My cholesterol and sugar levels are good (though I’d like to see my fasting blood sugar even lower than 96).
Next up? A Friday morning visit to my new dentist. I’m paying for dental insurance … Might as well use it!
Aside from the mammogram, this weekend was uneventful. Thanks to COVID, I continued doing what I’ve been doing every weekend since April: went nowhere and did nothing.
Join the club, right?
We didn’t even get to the grocery store, which may be bad news when it comes to sticking to WW for the week.
I ordered some Star Wars masks a few months ago, on preorder from shopDisney, and they finally arrived this afternoon!
Now that I look at my picture, that R2 mask may be upside down. Oops! #blondemoment
I’m not sure which of the masks is my favorite. I’m torn between Baby Yoda and R2D2. The classic Star Wars movie art is great, too.
As transgressions go, it wasn’t a massive one … but I did eat something that’s supposed to be off-limits.
Let me start from the beginning. I made the mistake of stopping at Arby’s on my way to work, during the lunch rush, when I hadn’t eaten breakfast. (I didn’t wake up ’til nearly 10, and wasn’t terribly hungry, so it didn’t make sense to fix breakfast when I could wait an hour or so and have lunch.)
As I stood in line at Arby’s, I was suddenly ravenous — and I convinced myself I needed a 4-piece mozzarella sticks with my bun-less roast beef sandwich. I’d been doing so well on the low-carb plan that I deserved the “treat.” Besides, they couldn’t have TOO many carbs, right?
Let me tell you, those mozzarella sticks tasted fantastic. And a quick check of the LoseIt! app (hours after the fact) tells me a 4-piece mozzarella sticks has 9.2 grams of carbs and 0.5 grams fiber for 8.7 Net Carbs.
Not a diet-buster by any means.
Unfortunately, the marinara dipping sauce added another 5.2 NC … Oops. Lesson learned: Bring own marinara next time I feel like cheating with mozzarella sticks.
But you know what? I’m not sure I’ll feel like cheating again anytime soon. This was my first time straying from the low-carb plan since I restarted on Jan. 1. I’ve had a couple of days where I’ve gone over 20 NC, maybe to 25 or 30 … but there’ve been no massive “oh my god, let’s eat EVERYTHING IN SIGHT” moments.
And, even with that slight amount of carbs, I noticed a slight dip in energy around 3 or 4 p.m. … the same afternoon slump that used to plague me every day. Before I started Atkins the first time, I’d fall asleep on the couch watching The History Channel every afternoon I had off.
In fact, last night I stopped for gas after work … and then I pulled into the parking lot at In N Out. I’d been thinking of a burger for about an hour — but after I parked and cut the engine, I realized I wasn’t really hungry.
“Why eat if you’re not hungry?” I asked myself.
When myself came back with no good answer, I restarted the car and drove away, burger-free.
I’ve had other victories over food lately, too. When our lovely newsroom assistant brought in brownies the other day, I barely looked at them. Okay, I did note there were two kinds: cream-cheese frosted and turtle … but neither variety was strong enough to pull me off the low-carb path.
It’s a process, I know. There’ll be other cheats and setbacks … but I remain convinced that consistently eating low-carb is easier than any other diet I’ve tried. I’m thankful for the structure and the way it allows me to live without constantly obsessing over my next meal.
P.S. Since I have no pictures of mozzarella sticks, enjoy this gratuitous shot of me at my lowest adult weight, having fun at Olympic Garden in Vegas. I’ll get there again (hopefully both to that weight AND to Olympic Garden)!
Yes, that was me, at my lowest adult weight. You don’t want to know how much we had to pay for a lap dance. I was miffed they gave ’em away for free in “Magic Mike.”
Adventures in weight loss, cooking & life 