Wednesday Weigh-In: Oh Hell No.

Friends, I'm writing from a dark place today. I was up .6 pounds this week, which brings me to a total gain of .8 pounds since my awesome loss a few weeks ago. I weigh 172.8 pounds today. And I cannot handle it.

This last week I tightened up my workouts. I added two Ab(bie) Blast exercises and did three days of the 100 push-ups program. I ran a 5k on five mornings. I walked my dog, played in a softball game, and took walking breaks at work. I left 30 points on the table this week, but consumed what I thought would be enough of my weekly points. I tracked religiously and drank my water. So what. is. the. DEAL???

I've hit plateaus before. And usually I'm a little frustrated, but still plug along. But I've tasted too much success at this point; I'm addicted to losing. And it's been two long weeks since I got my fix. This will not stand.

I'm not a person who crumbles under pressure. So what did I do when I saw that number on the scale?

1. I grinned and bore it.

I clapped for the fellow WW members who had milestone weight losses. I listened appreciatively during the discussion while people gave their grocery shopping tips ("Shop in the outside perimeter of the store"). I masked my extreme frustration as my least favorite WW member interjected her "wisdom" about ten times during the meeting.

Judgmental side rant: Seriously, this woman is tall and thin and joined weight watchers because she wanted to lose a couple pounds (think under 10). When she hit goal, a FEW weeks later, she gave a big, weepy speech where she told us that she never had to work to keep the weight off until she hit the 40s and realized she'd gained a few pounds. Her eating was "out of control" so she decided to join WW to get some help. She dropped the pounds and "found [her]self." I'd say that she dropped to about 130 with a 5'7" frame. And that was that. 

Except it wasn't. Because she became a lifetime member, which means she gets to come to the meetings for free, so long as she stays within range of her goal weight. And she comes to every single meeting, speaking like she's an expert, telling those of us who have been part of the program much longer than her and who have lost much more weight than her how it's done. 

She's done nothing to me; I have no reason to dislike her; but I seethe when she talks. I'm sorry, but it's true.

2. I analyzed my past performance.

I hopped online and pulled up the charts and graphs you get when you use the online tools. This is why we track what we eat: when the going gets tough, we can look back and try to figure out WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON. This is what I noticed:

There's not a terribly strong correlation between the amount of weekly/activity points I consume beyond my daily points amount and my weight loss, although I did seem to have luck when I kept that amount around 50. Which makes sense because WW give you 49 weekly points.

I circled the weeks where I had a good loss

The zigzag pattern I made with my daily points consumption did seem to have an effect. If my zigzags were more severe (used a lot of points one day, and just at or under my daily points another day), I was successful. This is interesting.

Here's a successful week:

Here's an unsuccessful week:

3. I came up with a plan.

I'm going to use the zigzag pattern of a successful week and recreate it.

I'm going to change up my workout. I'll run the usual 5k 3 days a week, and the other 3 days, I'm going to run 15 minutes instead of 30, at a much faster pace. Then I'm going to do this plank exercise routine.

I'm still going to do my push-ups, but I don't think I'll return to the Ab(bie) Blast just yet. I wasn't a huge fan...no particular reason...just felt like it wasn't the most effective use of a workout.

If I don't lose this week, I'm going to beat my body into submission. This will probably include running and adding in three crossfit exercises.

If that doesn't work, I'm going to go absolutely ballistic. :)

Peace!

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