Weighing In

I have been feeling so great about my progress with Jazzercise that I was confident I would lose at least a pound or two a week since I've been exercising. Last week was great, and I lost 1.8 pounds! Yay! But today, after a week of eating good and exercising daily, I actually gained .8 of a pound. And what sucks is that this was the last week of my first weigh-in card, which lasts about six months... and I just really wanted to see a loss on that last week. Oh well. At least there is an overall loss, but mentally it's still tough to swallow.

Denise, my weight watchers leader, said not to be discouraged because the first few weeks of hard exercise often produces weight gain. She was saying something about how during the first weeks of exercise, water or something binds itself to your muscles, causing temporary weight gain. I tried to search the internet for what she was talking about, but I couldn't find anything about that. I guess a small weight gain at first makes perfect sense, though. Just for the basic reason that you are gaining muscle mass, which weighs more than fat compared to the amount of space it takes up in your body. I certainly feel like my clothes fit differently this week, so I can't focus on the number on that scale. This week i will just have to measure my success in terms of the fact that I have stuck with an exercise program for two weeks solid, which is HUGE for me. Hopefully next week I will see a significant loss.

Isn't it funny how this is one of the main "wars" Americans fight on a daily basis? I mean, with all the unhealthy, fatty foods in restaurants and the over-processed, sugary food in the grocery store that we all grew up viewing as "treats" or "rewards"... we are basically a country of fat people who desperately wish we had the self control to be thin and healthy. It really shouldn't be this hard to eat right. Sometimes I am really ashamed of myself for loving bad food the way that I do. I crave it, really... especially chocolate and sugary things. Oh, and Pizza of course. Why does cutting that stuff out of my diet make me sad? I don't exactly know, but it does. So, I am learning to cut the portions down and make better decisions overall without completely cutting out everything that I love to eat. Over six months of working on it, I can definitely say that I have made progress. However, as with most other things in my life right now, I don't think the progress is good enough, and that's where I start to talk down to myself and let what is basically a success, still bring me down. I need a serious attitude adjustment.

So, here's how I will choose to look at it... This was the last week of weighing in on a member card that has a bunch of ups and downs on it. Next week is my first week of weighing in on a brand new card, a new beginning, a new chance to make it. Next week is my first week of weighing in a card that, by the end of it, will show me at my goal weight of 145.