Tuesday, August 5, 2008

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.
If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
~Herman Cain

Thank you for all the nice, encouraging and helpful hints in your comments yesterday, they mean the world to me.

So after freaking out a little bit yesterday (ok, so I freaked out ALOT), I went home from work (after drinking over a gallon of water, and eating my food for the day) and weighed in .4lbs above what I did that morning. So totally water weight. But I finished out yesterday on 21 points, and I packed myself lightly for a 21 point day today.

The digital devil showed 143.2 this morning. Much more of a reasonable number. See with weighing everyday, I see alot of fluctuation, and I've been averaging my daily weigh in's over 7 days as my "weigh in" for the week. Well my normal average is right around 143, and I'm ok with that. I realize that averaging a weigh in of 142 would many many days below that number, and I don't want to shoot for that. 143 average is fine with me.

So, when I went on maintenance, and then subsequently decided to stop counting points, I never actually had a set in stone plan to deal with gaining a few pounds and how to handle it. I basically just get 145 as the upper limit, I hit that, ever, and I go into emergency weight loss mode. That was my plan. Well I have a new one now, that is a little more detailed, and should prevent further freak outs. Plus, honestly, why would I freak over 2lbs? Getting back on plan, I could easily lose that within a couple week, no reason to freak out. So here is the new plan.

Maintain a weight of between 142-145. Average of daily weigh ins for the week should remain around 143.

An average weigh in of over 144lbs mean, raised awareness to what I'm eating. Start writing it down, don't worry about points/calories yet. Just journal it.

Average weigh in over 144.5, start journaling with points.

Any two consecutive weigh ins (daily at or over the 145 mark OR more than two consecutive weekly weigh in averages over 144lbs, go back into full weight loss mode, which will be 21 points, 8GHG's, counting zero point foods, until the scale returns back to averages of below 143. Much easier to get rid of that pound, than it is to get rid of it, and five of it's little buddies!

Also, I'm setting up some guidelines for my pointless maintenance:

1. maintain between 142-145 (sick of hearing this yet?)
2. Continue running 4 days per week
3. Try to avoid eating after 9p at night, and try to limit after dinner snacks.
4. Limit "processed foods", aka granola bars, vitatops, chips
5. Limit ice cream to two servings per week. Also on the same note, only buy the pint containers of ice cream, how much trouble can I get into with only 1 pint in the house. It's only 4 servings!
6. Eat primarily fruits and veggies.
7. NEVER, I repeat NEVER eat from the container (even if it is standing in the kitchen, that doesn't make it alright!), or take the box/container of ANY food to the couch...NEVER. Your allowed to take a bag of veggies or fruit, or a bag of popcorn to the sofa...but nothing else.

I'm taking a list of these to the fridge door when I get home tonight. All great reminders to myself, and all things that I follow pretty much on a regular basis.

So there you have it, a little more in detail maintenance plan, hopefully it will prevent future "flip outs" Anything you guys have in the way of suggestions?

I also wanted to thank you guys for the Peanut Butter suggestions last week, I have been doing well with peanut butter so far. I have only been buying the natural type for about the last year, I love it. Plus now on maintenance I've been allowing myself just a smidgen everyday, and that seems to help immensely in having a problem with it. If it ever becomes a problem I'll throw it out again, simple as that.

On a food find note. Have you guys seen all the flavors of frosted mini wheats they now have? Holy smokes, back when I used to eat these things, they just had the original one kind. I like frosted mini wheats because they aren't a cereal which I can tolerate a ton of it dry (unlike say cap'n crunch or honeycombs), so the binge potential isn't there. But I got the cinnamon stresuel ones on Sunday, and they are pretty darn tasty!

Other than that, last night the date went well, and we have tentatively planned on going down to the tigers game on Saturday and spending some time in Detroit beforehand, so I have that to look forward to. We met for coffee this past Saturday, and we had dinner last night at Max and Erma's where I had the hula bowl, YUM! We will call him "the tech" for now. He's a prototype technician for a big company in the area. He's 28 and he doesn't live terribly far from me. He seems smart, cute and outgoing thus far :) Plus he's interested in spending more time with me, who am I complain? But I will keep you posted, a third date would be a record for me in quite sometime, lol.

Running is going good. Yesterday was a rest day, and today I'm planning an easy 2.5 miles tonight after work in the nasty humidity, but I'm still looking forward to it. I'm debating on what I will make for dinner. My options are a cajun stir fry, turkey enchilada casserole or egg salad. Leaning towards the turkey enchilada right now!

Alright, back to your regularly scheduled programming now! Thanks for listening :)


9 comments:

Unknown said...

i think having a more detailed plan will help with future 'freak-outs'... my only comment would be using the word 'emergency weight loss' because it sounds so drastic and urgent... i think the whole maintenance thing requires a big learning curve so don't be so hard on yourself... nothing should be drastic when it comes to being healthy! :o)

Andrew is getting fit said...

It looks to me like you've got is sorted. :)

new*me said...

you have a plan and that's very proactive along your journey. "Tech" sounds very promising :)

Chellie has Issues said...

Your plan looks good, reasonable, and manageable. We all have freakouts, but it's good you have taken a deep breathe and made a positive plan. Way to go on the running. I was able to get back to it today and did 4.5 miles and was DYING but I did it. Keep it up girl!

WWSuzi said...

Sounds like a very good plan ;)

TB--Milwaukee said...

I like the rule about not eating from the container. I break that rule often...and I tend to not count those points either. Like if it comes straight from the container into the mouth, there's no points. Oooii!!

Carolyn said...

Turkey Enchilada casserole sounds soooooo good. You must post the recipe!!

So, do you need to jump on the scale everyday? Just wondering because I find that I used to do the same thing....Freak right out when I saw a little gain on the scale, even though I knew full well that it would be gone in the next day or two. Well now that I only weigh in every few weeks, I am sooo much more relaxed about my weight and I use other measures to guage how I am doing. I don't let the scale dictate how I feel about my weight and it's almost like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders!

You are doing great!! and I'm very exicted to hear about the second date! Hopefully the third is just as great!

Anonymous said...

I HAVE seen the new miniwheats but not yet purchased..now Im more tempted.

love the plan. especially the planning IN of the treats so you dont crave as much (or I wouldnt).

and the container thing (sigh. hard to do) is KEY.

Miz.

Anonymous said...

Good plan!