Playing games or is it?
So if you haven’t noticed I’ve been kinda frustrated with myself. I know if I follow the WW plan to a T, it should work. Even if I eat all my WPA it should work. Well for me it hasn’t. I was good at getting my exercise in, walking 2 miles during my lunch, walking the dog after work, 6 miles on the eliptical every Tuesday night, 6-7 miles jogging on the weekends, and yoga class on Wednesday night. Yes, I felt energized at the moment and proud of the accomplishments after it was done, that I actually got my butt in gear and did something. But when it came to WI it was a disappointment.
I thought buying the WW complete cookbook would motivate me since I love to cook. I have found some good recipes and some I ended up throwing in the garbage (butternut squash, sage, and mushroom casserole, yuck) It took alot of time and effort too. I had to roast one whole squash, and then peel and dice another whole squash. Make a sauce with the roasted one, then cook the diced one with mushrooms and layer them together with lasagna noodles. Picture looked great. Producted tasted awful. Sorry, didn’t mean to veer off subject, anyway. What is frustrating me even more is when I go in to the planner to log my food it either doesn’t show up (which I feel would be nice since it’s a WW cookbook) or I need to imput it in the recipe builder. I do core and the recipe states it’s core so it should register as zero points or core but it doesn’t. It always gives me a point value. So then I end up just putting it in as a quick add. Disappointing.
Yesterday I was inputting a recipe into the builder and it gave me a points value of 6 which matched the cookbook and I started thinking, that’s alot of points! So I sat down and switched my plan over to flex to see how many points I would get in a day – 19pts! That’s it. Now if you figure I need to shoot for the 8 healthy guidlines I would really be in a pickle.
3 servings of dairy – 6 pts
healthy oils -3 points (although I didn’t notice this on the flex plan)
Fruits and veggies – If I have two servings of fruit 4 pts, zero for veggies
That’s 13 points total! Which leaves me with 6 pts for 3 meals = 2 pts per meal. I could probably do breakfast with cereal and milk. And make either lunch or dinner all veggies. Then have a regular dinner and use my WPA for snacks. This is way too strict for me! I can’t do flex!
So back to why this may or may not be a game. This week I decided I really need to focus on my eating and forget about exercise (except yoga). I ate core all week, tried to listen to my satisfaction “sigh”, “gasp” throw things out that I didn’t finish. But as I stepped on the scale Wednesday morning exact same weight. So I ate my breakfast of cereal and milk, had a banana for a snack, had an apple and a grande size light caramel frappucino from Starbuck’s (3pts) for lunch, it’s my Starbuck’s diet(coffee is a appetite suppressant & diuretic), went to yoga after work and then had a salad with roasted beets for dinner. Not alot of food and did not meet the 8 GHG. But it moved the scale. Today is WI and once again I really want to see a lower number. I made myself some SF hot cocoa this morning and left the house. I am sitting here with my hot tea and knowing I will have Starbuck’s again for lunch. These will be the only two days Wednesday and Thursday that I have a “liquid” lunch. Dinner will be a normal core one. So I look at my life and say to myself. This needs to be a lifetime commitment. Can you commit to having Starbucks for lunch twice a week? Heck yeah, I love Starbucks and could have it everyday. It would be unhealthy but everyday would be no problem. So is this a problem? I eat healthy 5-6 days out of the week, than a smaller amount before WI. Would you consider this a game? I mean I kinda look at it and see myself getting better at managing portions, smaller portions and less food. That’s what I need to make a lifestyle change and I’d still walk, jog, eliptical, and yoga. I’m I being delusional? After I’m back to lifetime and I need to maintain my weight I would make Starbucks just on Thursdays. That’s the day I need to run during my lunch and deposit my check. So usually I have a hard time getting a lunch anyway. I would primarily focus on eating core to “satisfaction” the rest of the week. I guess it would be the opposite. Most people do a splurge after WI once a week, I’d just…..not sure what the opposite of splurge is. But you get the point.
It’s not really playing games. I don’t eat past noon on weigh-in day. I suppose that it isn’t really an “accurate” weight reading considering that I have nothing in my system, but from week to week, if you do the same thing and the number keeps getting lower, then you have lost.
Don’t be frustrated. Your body is probably just making sure that you are in this for the long haul before it gives up its choke-hold on any excess weight. The times when you’re NOT losing and still working really hard are the hardest on the morale, but the time when you really do have to stick it out as much as possible. The results will come, I promise.
Drink lots of water, try to avoid the Motrin/Advils (I wrote a post on that last week), and make sure that you are being nice to yourself. No beating up for missed results. You’re right, this IS for a lifetime, so you have to be able to be comfortable even when you’re not losing….I know, easier said than done.
Hang in there!
Thank you Lady S. (((Hugs)))
Thanks to both of you. Watching you two is encouraging for me in the way that I don’t have to beat myself up for being the only one that doesn’t always cope easily.
I think we all play games with ourselves and our WI’s etc. to a certain degree. It doesn’t sound like what you are doing is harmful. We all need to change things up (or down) once in awhile in one way or another.