I have gained 23.4 pounds from my lowest weight, which I only saw for a day or so back in May (143.2).
And it was very important for me to share that information on here with you guys, because otherwise I would be misleading you and probably end up feeling so guilty that I would have eventually left the blog and gained back everything. So it was the right decision to be upfront about my new weight of 166.6.
However, now it's time to figure out how the heck it happened (to avoid a repeat) and to figure out what the heck to do about it (to re-lose).
What the heck happened?!
I'm trying to figure that one out myself. It seems like an awful lot of weight to gain between May and October. Especially under the radar, with most of the weight coming back on within the last few weeks.
There are several possible causes-
1) I wasn't honest with my tracking. This is easily fixed by being honest with my tracking! If I bite it, write it. If I drink it, ink it. There are more annoying little phrases like that, but you get the picture.
2) I was eating too much CRAP. This is probably the most likely scenario. I ate a lot of simple carbs and junk food, every day. Right now, I'm solving this problem with a 21-Day-No-Junk-Food Challenge, which is going great!
3) I was overthinking things, switching programs, and not being consistent with anything. BINGO. I was switching from MFP to WW and back again, and never being truly consistent with either program.
What the heck to do?
As I mentioned in the confessional post, I am planning to lose 12.6 pounds in 9 weeks, which is about 1.4 pound a week.
My Fitness Pal has a setting that will give me a net calorie goal for losing specific amounts of weight. Right now I have it set at "lose 1.5 pounds per week" in order to get to my goal weight of 154 in 9 weeks.
Weight Watchers does not have that option, and is a slower weight loss, which is GREAT and is something that I have loved about WW, but for now I really want to get back into my 12's... so...
My plan for the 9 weeks is to do My Fitness Pal's plan with the 21-Day No Junk Food Challenge, and then to do a week of Weight Watchers, and then to start over again with MFP/NJFC.
Why have the week of WW with junk food included at all? Because I really do enjoy me some junk food, and I don't want to feel deprived. Also, it should help my body not get bored with the same stuff over and over, by having a higher-calorie week every 3 weeks.
The NJFC is going really well for me! The first 3 days were the worst, kind of like when I quit smoking. But since day 4, I've been doing very well with it, and haven't felt deprived AT ALL. I get to eat more, with fewer calories. It's kind of amazingly true what people say about healthy and whole foods: They fill you up with less food, and you are almost always satisfied, instead of constantly looking for another sugar fix.
Okay, so that's my plan, y'all. I hope it makes sense! What will I do for Xmas week and starting in the new year? I will post about that when it gets closer.
P.S. Tasty Tuesdays are coming back next week. :-)
4 comments:
When you do your junk food week- take note of how you feel. You may discover you don't enjoy that junk food as much as you think you do. At least that was my reaction when I would "treat" myself. A treat shouldn't make you feel crappy and there's no reason you should get bored eating whole foods- there are literally millions of possible things you could eat. (Yes, I am proselytizing clean eating- because it makes this all so much easier. I really think when I made that change was when I stopped having issues with eating.)
I definately will! :-) I do still think about what you said a while back to me, that if I ever want to be an intuitive eater, I will have to STOP WANTING JUNK. And I do want to be an intuitive eater some day, so I'm taking steps towards getting away from junk food.
Good Luck Leah! This healthy eating thing is SOOOO hard! I've been gaining quite a bit of my weight back that I lost on WW and it makes me so mad!
Leah, I am SO with you! I probably gained about the same in roughly that same time frame. Difference being, I was already at my highest weight. *Cringe*
I'm ready to change. I've been pretty much doing the same things you have with the dishonest (if any) tracking, inconsistency, and ridiculous junk food. I'm trying to figure out how to get out of that rut myself. (Actually, just blogged about it myself. haha)
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