The Weigh In

This plateau I've been on has been driving me crazy, and when something is making me nuts, I have to find a way to either change or make peace with the situation. Being the list maker that I am, I first had to determine what the possible root of the problem was and came up with several possible solutions.

1. A nine month plateau could be a signal that this weight, though significantly overweight is where your body wants to be. It's a very viable possibility.

2. I haven't been truly diligent about points tracking. I'm into my second year of this. It's routine. Worse, it's old. I've been around longer than some of the instructors. When I go to meetings, I'm not hearing much new anymore, and new info keeps me motivated and going.

3. Possibly, I haven't made the best food choices for awhile. That won't explain nine months, but it will part of it.

4. I know I've been less active. There's no doubt about that. I don't remember the last time I did Pilates. The exercise ball is dusty, and I haven't been walking in over a week. Definitely not good. This is not the only spell I've had like this.

These are four good, viable options. Each of them has its own merit. The first is both the most comforting and the scariest. This doesn't get the media's attention like the "obesity epidemic", but there are overwhelming amounts of scientific evidence that a person has little control over their body size. Fat people tend to stay fat, and thin people tend to stay thin. I don't think I'll ever be thin. I'm just not built that way. Rounded breasts, belly and hips are a part of me. They always have been. I look at my thin daughter, and she has a belly at barely over 100 pounds. That said, I'd still like to be smaller. I'd like to take more pressure off my knees and ankles. I want to really be able to hike again, not just walk on a level track. There are all sorts of reasons to keep this weight loss up. That is, if my body isn't at that range it says is normal for me. If that's true, continuing to diet is just beating my head against a wall, and I want the gray matter I have left.

The other three possibilities I listed are controllable behaviors. It only take a minute or two after every meal to track my points. Eating good food for me has always been a simple issue of planning well with respect to my budget. The last is the easiest to control. All I have to do is stay off my butt. Since I made my list, I've done well at controlling 2 and 3. I've had lots of veggies, cut down more on soft drinks and upped the water intake. I'm making efforts to stay on my feet and moving good chunks of the day, even if it's traditional exercise. So far, so good

This morning, I went to my Weight Watchers meeting. I missed last week. I knew I'd lost some weight. I could feel it, but I really wanted to know now much. I'd lost 6.6 pounds in two weeks, bringing my total weight loss now to 129 pounds. This is officially the smallest I've been in 21 years.

Am I off my plateau? I don't know. It's too soon to tell, but today's weigh in felt so good, and I just want to keep on going.

diets,weight loss, Weight Watchers