Tracking

Keeping my motivation up through the long haul of this diet isn't always easy. Sometimes, it's just a pain in the ass to document everything that I eat and drink, but I know that Weight Watchers Flex Plan is the right way for me to do this. If I tried Core Plan, I wouldn't have to document what I eat or count points, but I'm afraid that I'd feel too restricted in what I was supposed to eat.

That's one of my pet peeves. I hate the idea of foods I should and shouldn't have, and realistically, I'm not going to go through life without eating chocolate, chips and dip, having a social margarita or vodka and tonic. That's just not going to happen, and in the past, when I've tried to follow diets like that, I just set myself up for failure. Learning what is a more appropriate portion size of the foods I want and will eat is much smarter. At times, it seems temporarily harder. There are times when you just don't want a little bit. You want a lot, and sometimes, it's easier to go without than push your willpower by stopping after one serving. In the long run, that becomes dangerous always/never thinking for me, and that is a guaranteed step to regaining my lost weight.

Because feedback is a great motivator for me, I decided to make sure that I gave it to myself. That's one of the reasons for so much positive body image reinforcement, and it's why I want to see my results someplace other than a mirror or a scale. When you track everything you eat, it becomes easier to track other aspects of the diet as well. That's why I created a spread sheet and graph, and why I decided to publish it through Google Docs and Spreadsheets. I know this is (more than) a bit obsessive, but it helps me. I'm a businesswoman. I respond to spreadsheets, and I've seen how simple charts help people understand things better. Public accountability also helps me, so that's why I published it.

The chart is strong visual reminder that my weight loss is not a straight line journey. Seeing the peaks and plateaus on that chart remind me that the weeks where I gain or where I just seem stuck do not have to be a permanent thing. On a week when I've gained or stood still, seeing my average weekly loss reminds me that I'm still making forward progress. Today, just because I was fooling around with numbers, I added the percentage of total body weight that I've lost, and I love seeing that. I've lost nearly a quarter of my beginning body weight!

Now, I don't think that anyone else would really be interested in my personal spreadsheet, but other people who are making a long term commitment like I am might find it a useful tool for themselves.